Hui -day three

KmThe day began after breakfast with a sunny start and the powhiri for the TV star of the day, Tamaki Coffey, who was made very much welcome, and later in the tent he gave us a talk about his rather modest start in life in Lower Hutt.  With a humble working class background of simple factory working parents he discovered he was different at an early age, so he began a pen-pal relationship with a gay man where he had to intercept the mail to prevent his parents from reading the letters. He also had a friendhip with Polly Filler, a very OUT drag queen, now starring in the Melbourne drag scene. At sixteen he came out to his parents and he says his real life began then, when he told his Mum and Dad who he really was.

He eventually went on to become a big TV star and came out publically when he won Dancing with the Stars, giving his favourite charity, the Rainbow Youth, over two hundred thousand dollars.

He met his partner Tim and had a civil union inviting a bunch of his favourite drag queens and some of his best gay friends. He wanted the straight guests to witness and understand just how well they were in their long-term gay relationships. He was a charming charismatic speaker and naturally received great applause.

After Tamaki a Samoan came on stage to tell his very different story of coming to NZ as a young man to really discover who he was. Both stories were salutory lessons in acceptance and individuality.

Some of our people...

Tamaki settling in..

The powhiri...

Picnic at beachside Raglan..

Weather showing us its best face.

Well after another one hour bus ride to Raglan, a pretty air-strip cum beach town, we returned to prepare for the the big final feast on Saturday night. It was indeed a big Maori food affair, with so much seafood and meats, vegies and salads, that people were tempted to really overeat. It was also an event  welcoming the presence of Samoan dignitaries. The floor-show after dinner with, amongst others, several hula dancing boy-girls was a fitting end to a big day and really the end of the main events of the Hui. A bus was also there to take people to the  Hamilton Gay Pride celebration especially postponed to coincide with the Hui. This I left to those with more energy and fewer years than myself, feeling an early night might be the better option. I needed a good sleep!