Marin

Even though it's right across the Golden Gate Bridge from a

major city, much of Marin County has a almost rural feeling to

it. If I lived in San Francisco, I would want to come here

frequently just to decompress from all the busy-ness of the city.


I really enjoy coming to Muir Beach when we're here. It reminds

me a bit of Taylor's Mistake, near Christchurch New Zealand. It's

compact, peaceful and there aren't huge crowds. Lynn enjoys

watching the waves and I think it reminds her a bit of the beaches

in New England, where she grew up. While we were walking on

the beach, we were lucky enough to see a small pod of porpoises!


The National Park Service and the Golden Gate National

Parks Conservancy are restoring the wetlands near

the beach, returning the area to a more natural state.


Once you drive north from the beach, the drive is pretty

steep and you'll come to the Muir Beach Overlook. Walking

down a small trail will allow you to see for miles up and

down the coast.


During World War II, this entire area was lined with small

bunker-type facilities called Base-End Stations. From these

stations, soldiers would view ships and triangulate the speed,

distance and direction to coordinate with nearby Artillery Units.

All of the hardware has now been removed, but it would have

been a cold and blustery assignment to work at one of these

stations.

While we were driving north to Stinson Beach, we saw these

interesting looking sail boats headed south along the shore.

In all, there were seven of them and they reminded me a bit of

Chinese Junks or Polynesian Catamarans. I would find out

later, they were indeed Catamarans, and of New Zealand

Māori origin! They had left New Zealand in April on a

trans-Pacific voyage to tell of the plight of the world's oceans

and of Pacific peoples. It's really amazing that one part of

"our" world is connecting with another part, so far from each

other, and totally by chance!


You can read more about the voyage and the voyagers by

clicking THIS link...


Stinson Beach is a more traditional bathing beach located

just up the coast from Muir Beach. It was a weekday, so

it wasn't very crowded. However, not a lot of people were

getting into the water since it was a chilly 56 degrees

Fahrenheit. The water never gets that warm in these parts.

It takes a pretty brave soul to swim in these waters on a

regular basis.

Just up from Stinson Beach is a really pretty drive up

Mount Tamalpais, or Mount Tam for short. It's the

highest point in Marin County at 2,574 feet and most

of it is protected parkland. There are lots of pretty

views and beautiful woods on the drive to the top.

Once you get to the top, the view is pretty remarkable. It was

a fairly hazy day, but you could still see San Francisco and the

East Bay pretty clearly, as well as most of the Marin Headlands.

Well worth the drive up the twisting road.

In other visits we've seen Muir Woods National Monument where

there are huge Redwoods and Point Reyes National Seashore.

Both of which are also located in Marin County. However, we

just didn't have time to go there on this visit. Maybe next time.

The Maori Flag

For those that read this blog that aren't very familiar
with New Zealand, the original, indigenous people of
New Zealand are a Polynesian people called the Maori.
Maori and English are the official languages of New
Zealand and the Maoris are a very strong influence in
the culture and ideology of the nation...especially on
the North Island. At midrats tonight, there was a
large contingent of New Zealand Defence Force members
who had had a few too many, whooping it up in the Galley
as it is their last night at McMurdo before going home.
These folks were all Maori and one gentleman was waving
a large Maori flag.

I'm not a resident of New Zealand and I'm not a Maori.
However, I am a vexillologist and I do have an opinion
about the Maori flag...both for aesthetic and political
reasons. Overall, it's not a bad design. Easy to
recognize, fairly modern, yet tells a story. However,
it can also be a political lightning bolt. In New
Zealand, as in America, many feel that the indigenous
people got the shaft. Whether you feel that way, or not,
the Maoris feel that way and they have a right to their
opinion. In a room full of Anglo Kiwis, (especially an
older generation) the Maori flag being hoisted might
have flared tempers. In the galley, however, it was
just another flag. Even to the one Anglo Kiwi that I was
eating dinner with. I'll give the Maoris that were
having dinner the benefit of the doubt that they were
just having a good time, proclaiming their pride in
being Maori and not trying to stir up any trouble.
After all, that's what it SHOULD be all about.
As for whether New Zealand needs a new flag or not, that's
a different opinion for a different blog post...

From the Flags Of The World Website:

The Tino Rangatiratanga flag is increasingly becoming
well recognised as a symbol of Maoridom.
John Harrison, 15 September 1998

I recently read some details of the Maori Independence
(Tino Rangatiratanga) movement’s flag. The flag is black
over white over red, with the thin white stripe being
broken by a circular — almost spiral — pattern towards
the hoist. It was designed in 1990 by Hiraina Marsden,
Jan Smith and Linda Munn, and was the winning design in
a national contest to find a “Maori Flag”. The symbology
of the flag is as follows:

BLACK represents Te Korekore (the realm of potential being).
It thus symbolises the long darkness from which the earth
emerged, as well as signifying Rangi - the heavens, a male,
formless, floating, passive force.

RED represents Te Whei Ao (coming into being). It symbolises Papatuanuku, the earth-mother, the sustainer of all
living things, and thus both the land and active forces.

WHITE represents Te Ao Marama (the realm of being and
light). It symbolises the physical world, purity, harmony,
enlightenment and balance.

The spiral-like KORU, symbolic of a curling
fern frond, represents the unfolding of new life, hope
for the future and the process of renewal.

As a whole, the design represents the balance of the
forces of nature, masculine and feminine, active and
passive, potential and physical, air and earth. It
can also be interpreted as symbolising the white
cloud rolling across the face of the land, as in
the Maori name for New Zealand, Aotearoa ("Land of
the long white cloud"). Source: Otago University
Student Newspaper The Critic, Issue 10, April 1996.
James Dignan, 21 August 1996

In the newspaper Dominion of 4 February 1998 there
was a news report about a Maori-sovereignty flag of
ed, black and white which was flown above the national
flag of New Zealand at a publicly-funded primary school
of one hundred students, seventy of whom are Maori,
in the Northland community of Helena Bay, 40 km
northeast of Whangarei. This decision to fly the
flag was reported to have angered several politicians
and local residents who claimed the flag is offensive
and inappropriate. Labour Maori-affairs spokesman
Dover Samuels said that the red, black and white flag
was not the Maori flag but rather a symbol for Maoris
who believed New Zealand was a sovereign Maori state.

Mr. Ed...In Maori

A horse is a horse, of course, of course...
But is it a horse...if it's in Maori??? The nation of
New Zealand does an excellent job of making the most
of it's bilingual status of making sure that both English
and Maori languages are fairly evenly presented in
most mediums. Nowhere did this seem more obvious
lately when we discovered that the 60's sitcom, Mr. Ed
was being broadcast on the Maori television channel...
not in English, but in Maori! What was scary was that
I really didn't have much of a problem following the
plot line even though I know all of about two words of
Maori. Does that say something about the Maori
language or the simpleness of Mr. Ed. I'm pretty sure
it's the latter and not the former. I read an article
the other day, stating that Maori was an endangered
language. Well, I'm here to tell you, it's alive and
well and being broadcasted in the form of Mr. Ed
re-runs.