SMUGGLERS' BAY

We drove around the bays today to check on my sister's house to make sure that it hadn't suffered any storm damage. Between McLeod Bay and Urquart's Bay I counted 19 slips most of which covered half the road and some had covered the whole road. After ascertaining that the house and property were OK we went for a walk to Smugglers' Bay which is one of the several Bream Head coastal walks. These are fabulous tracks maintained by DOC and Whangarei Council that house a kiwi sanctuary. The tracks were in good condition but with some washouts from flooded streams and run-off. The storm must have been wild there on Friday night. The reserve area is also a farm with young cattle wandering about. Some are friendly and some are skittish. Richard would have been scared of either variety. The beach at Smugglers was great with the sea still a bit wild. The water was a friendly temperature though and we enjoyed a frolic and sitting on the beach looking out to the Hen and Chicken islands. This is where the Niagara was sunk by a German mine in 1940. This was a serious sized ship - about 13,000 tonnes and was one of the biggest passenger liners to operate in New Zealand waters at the time.

The mine was one of many laid by the German raider Orion a sneaky bastard of a warship tricked out to look like a freighter.

 Fortunately there was no loss of life - the major loss was 8 tonnes of gold bullion which was mostly recovered in 1941 and in 1952. Out of the original 555 ingots there are still 5 missing at a value of several million dollars. Worth a dive? The Niagara is resting at over 400 feet which makes for a dangerous and highly specialised expedition. I won't be doing it. As the Niagara had just left Auckland on the way to Canada the fuel tanks were full. These tanks, quietly rusting away may one day collapse and release over 4000 tonnes of oil into our coastal waters unless a means of pumping it out is found.

I like going to Smugglers' Bay after a storm because I always imagine that I will find a crate of whisky that has been uncovered from being buried in the sand or the surrounding dunes. Smugglers gets its name from the fact that in the late 19th century local residents would arrange for boats to land contraband (liquor and tobacco mainly) at this bay before continuing on into the harbour and docking at Whangarei where the excise and customs officers were based. They would unload crates and carry them away across the land where we had our walk and hide the goods. It conjures up a romantic image of hardy settlers running from the customs men and hiding crates of tobacco and whisky before making their getaway. Around the point, in the harbour not far from Urquart's Bay is Frenchman's Island.

This is a tiny island that has a natural cavern inside that was hollowed out and a chimney and door put in. It looks like something out of Lord of the Rings. Apparently someone would be based in there on smuggling nights and if the customs and excise boat was seen coming out from Whangarei a fire was lit and the smoke was a warning signal to the smugglers over the hill at the next bay.  Needless to say I didn't find any whisky but I won't give up looking. Maybe now that TSB knows the story he will come up and dig up the entire bay.