Day two of Hui

Last night we did the general mihi, with personal introductions of where we come from and who our family are and everyone had to sing a waita of their choice. Heta was head of our group, very mixed as most were, and we chose to sing 'Run Rabbit Run' in Maori, very simple but met with great applause because of that. The evening was not as long as I would have thought, just about two hours, and most  adjourned for a cup of tea before the lights were out at eleven. But that was not the end, as the excitement had generated such chatter which lasted well into the wee hours of the morning. One person in particular had to be asked to be quiet as as she continued to laugh and chat like a steam train at full speed. 

Hopefully tonight she will be asked to keep quiet after lights out.

Heta catching up communications

...Maori whanau who have passed on decorating the walls....

...the morning after at the ceremonial raising of the flag...

Chanel on verandah...

...morning sunshine makes for a fine day ahead...

Another korero with two members of Parliament, the Maori Leader of the Caucus and another very powerful Maori woman politician, both of whom spoke with great skill and gusto. These women want to see the causes of their people to be put to the fore as they should be for total equality, especially acknowledging gender identity and the varieties of which that exist everywhere. We are not just a black and white race, nor are we just gay and hetereo, we are all those in between - trans, intersex, bi, and still deciding. This must be recognised at a State and political level for all of the future generations not to have to suffer the indignities that our generation and the ones before have suffered.

Basking in the sun before a bus tour begins.

This Hui, still on the second day, has opened my eyes to a wonderful vibrant community which should be an example to all the world with what it is achieving in the name of social and sexual equality and community participation. All this with such a sense of joy and pride is a privilege to experience.

Picnic lunch on banks of beautiful Waikato River..

....where we all had a packed lunch and met two local dogs from the National Marae

The back of the CEO of NZ AF, Shaun Robinson

However the day was not over by half. 

In the late morning we had a twenty minute bus ride to, and a guided tour of, the National Marae which had been opened by Queen Elizabeth in 1974. The history of The Waikato, this rich agricultural area and also the meaning of the enormous mural in the dinIng hall of the Marae was explained by our knowledgeable Maori guide and we met two lovely dogs who had been swimming in the wide and beautiful Waikato River. The Marae was situated right on the edge of rhe river in the most superb position.

On returning to our Marae and a pigs rib dinner, true Maori cuisine, we were treated to more informative talks with some wonderful waiata singing. A new speaker who had replaced the cancellation then appeared and proceeded to stun the large crowd with a fantastic power point presentation of the history of the Maori Kings which were essentially a part of rhe Waikato region. Her talk was straight from the heart. Mamae was her name, and she was the resident historian in the National Marae and also the owner of the two dogs we met at the river's edge. 

In a fascinating and unexpected delivery (she volunteered at the last minute to replace the scheduled speaker) Mamae was the star of the night and remained with us for a cup of tea after the  talk and we exchanged deatils and I took some photos of the group. She is in the process of writing a true history of the Maori Kings and kindly presented us with a small precursor of same. A marvellous end to the day and an exceptional lady.

The Hui at Whatawhata

After a somewhat dramatic beginning (my alarm failed to wake me at six am!) all is in order at the Marae and I have secured a mattress next to friends Heta et al in the Marae dormitory. The welcoming ceremony was very long and dramatic as the home tribes welcomed the visitors with much pomp and circumstance. We arrived about half an hour late and asca group waited respectfully outsed the Marae gates until it was time for us to be admitted. Amidst lots of very loud demonstrations by the home Maori, calling warm welcomes and much other extended Maori rhetoric, with the reply being well equalled by the visitors in strength and duration. Then the long line of hongi, nose rubbing and kissing, where every visitor was welcomed by the hosts. Then all went into the very large dining hall for tea and scones or soup and hot bread, all very nice. Then registration for all guests which was well organised considering the large number and that spme were preregistered and some not. All facilitated of course, with lap top computers. 

As I rest on my mattress after the eight hour drive where we experienced all sorts of weather, happily interspersed with some coffee and nature stops en route, I see how all is in the right place, and at the right time. Each individual can do what s/he wants, with an example opposite me, the daughter of two of the men in our Wellington group playing quietly with her one of her fathers. There is every possible gender mix one could imagine here, and everyone is totally accepted and welcomed. The kaumatua, the elders, are well respected and all of the local iwi, (tribes) mostly females, are all quietly observing the younger ones who are singing waiata, Maori songs, outside the Marae. The atmosphere is warm and supportive, all complicit in the knowledge of the total acceptance of their differences and individuality.  

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Bleak Day at Evans Bay

Today has been a day of total reflection. The weather is awful, winter returns, and I am staying at home, having forgotten my RV at Parliament House to promote Women's condoms.

I am also booking my return flight with BYOJet to Manchester, there to make the European ECK Seminar in August next year at Birmingham. Manchester, because it is in the middle and on the Finnair flight which I find is a good way to avoid Heathrow, that labyrinth of terminals. Also I hope to take a coach ride to Edinburgh where I have never been. So my two weeks only will be busy, but affordable and interesting. Am forgetting London, far too big and I have done that before too many times. Will just explain to friends I have to be back for big bro's 80th birthday and am time-poor, which is very understandable. I will also have a week to recover in Sydney on my return, there to make some serious sorties to Newcastle to see what it offers and what is available for me when I come back at end of September.

In the meantime I have finally heard back from Interfaith and they have acknowledged my input and even thanked me! A big worry gone as I feared I may have made some people angry with all my questions.

New Zealand and I are different, I am realising this more and more each day, and the Hui in Hamilton will probably confirm all my suspicions, it is time to make plans. Really it is all done and dusted, I just have to make sure I have a more than elegant departure, and that I leave no karma behind, for the future will be a big challenge too.  Newcastle, here I come!

Clouds clearing...

...but cool winds blowing

....and Koroi's clothes still damp on line.

..but the vines love the rain

...inside empty, even the hall is dark!

The Memphis Belle on Courtenay

It's Melbourne Cup day in Wellington! And time for me to make a bet on the TAB. I check out the papers and decide on three horses, each way bets just to be sure.  Have decided on a favourite Signoff, not so favourite My Ambivalent, and finally, locally owned Who Shot Thebarman, just for the name.

 Probably I will not win anything but it is my only bet of the year.... This cafe above, called the Memphis Belle, which I have long looked at but but never frequented, is very, very hip, not so chic but typical of the Wellington scene, not unlike The Laundry, but because of its position right on Courtenay Place, it has a large passing trade. 

The coffee was OK, served with a Cruffin, a hybrid  Muffin Croissant, and now I am staying a little longer to try their lemon and honey drink, served in a jug with a small glass, a touch which I like. All the cafe fittings are pretty rough, picked up from the street some of them it seems. The clientele is musical, bearded, and young. The outdoor area traverses the island in the middle of Courtenay Place, with a line of public loos right opposite, so it is not the most salubrious of addresses, but very convenient. 

I'm sure it does good business, and way until the wee hours of the morning no doubt. The background music is super cool and the street view from my tired chair is colourful in the extreme. The sun is shining as I hope it is also in Melbourne for their big Cup Day celebrations. I do miss OZ when it comes to the Melbourne Cup, this and Aussie Rules footy are two reasons for returning, small ones, but still there!

Final postscript: a German bred horse called Protectionist won the Melbourne Cup by four lengths, followed by an English mare who has now come second three times, Red Cadeaux, followed by my third choice Who Shot the Barman, bred in New Zealand, so it was a good result all around the world, but especially for Germany which now has another $2.6 million dollars to boast of, the handsome prize winning money.

Am in this funky caffe on the 'strip'...

Keen barista.....

Who will win this year?

Is it Lucia Valentina, a locally owned horse?

But no Kiwi bred horses this year!!

Cafe full of hipsters....

And a large variety of clients.

Last post in Gotham

Today was just another Monday, the plumbers arrived trying to find the ever elusive crack in the pipes under our house, it is their fourth day at doing this and I wonder if they will ever find it.

The three housemates are all absent, the kitchen a battleground after last night K preparing all his meals for the week, or so he said. But that's the cost of having a house full of twenty somethings, you have to give in, or give up. 

It will be nothing compared to the four day Hui I am going to in Hamilton this weekend which will be quite a testing ground. The Maori hospitality is legendary, but so are their customs, which are quite strange to the uninitiated. I have experienced a Marae, so I know what to expect, but with one hundred other Takatapui there it will be novel, to say the least. 

Tomorrow is Melbourne Cup Day, a favourite day of mine which I don't ever wish to miss, at least to be able to watch the race on the small screen. No doubt I'll find a place somewhere, knowing the penchant for Kiwis to love their horses, and gambling.

Btw, the Gotham coffee to day was less than exciting, I'll give it just one more chance, they never give me a really hot coffee. Also as I was in bed this morning I have finally given up my attachment to Bella and so when the time comes I will find the right person to look after her. It will be someone's gift from me, and back in OZ there is another super car waiting for me, perhaps even a Kombi camper van! Who knows, it is one car I have never had. Or a Renault Megane!

Dan Carter All Black star scoring in Chicago..they won by sixty points!

Gotham just not getting it?..

Chalk Cafe

Am having early coffee with Tom at Chaffers on the Dock.

Very busy...

Happily Tom gives me good advice about driving to Whatawhata on Thursday, drive carefully!

It is 100kph limit on all Kiwi roads and my lovely Bella would love to scream along at least at 140 kph I am sure, so I will have to be super-careful if I drive Heta to Hamilton. Also Tom told me it will cost me $5g to send Bella to OZ if I needed her there, two grand is for OZ taxes as they want to protect their auto industry. So it looks like that would be a needless expense and an important lesson in attachment, yet again. So enjoy the moment, and that moment is here in Wellington!

Am now in Te Papa to hear the talk for the launch of J's husband's book. Then home for a rest before more talks at Vic Uni, the Liburn Lecture by Jack Body, then my dancing. Another very busy Sunday.

The launch of Traditional Maori Music Te Ara Puoro

With waiata and speeches...

I had to buy the book, it was too beautiful, but decided to forego the Liburn lecture, need a nap at home.

Saturdee...

Last night I saw Hillary reach the summit of Everest, with his guide Sherpa Tensing Norgay, to be sure. It was revealing insofar as the Auckland beekeeper was really the lucky one to be next to Tensing when the time came to reach the summit. Modest as always, he was reluctantly deified but stayed on in Nepal for many years later with his wife and family doing good things for the Sherpas in a good Kiwi tradition. And it was a great adventure movie which was hard to experience, even from the relative comfort of the seats in the Film Archives. What brave mountaineers they were. The Conquest of Everest, a UK production certainly worth having on your shelf. 

Today, lovely weather, results in a coffee with Tom at Newtown and a decision to climb a modest mountain he said, at the back of Karori. Someone else had also told me it's an easy walk and I hope so as I have to be home for a nap before the 'Topp Twins' Special at the Opera House tonight.

Kiwi stories of death by pistol and methamphetammine

Cool quiet Newtown on the other hand

 And below, Lorde strutting the stage as NZ most successful pop star, evah!

My ticket for the Topps

Well they certainly lived up to their legend, Linda and her twin sister. Born in the South Island on a dairy farm, with parents who only knew about cows, these two gay sisters, and their gay brother, certainly brought their family up to date in social and sexual mores. Supremely talented as Country and Western singers and composers, they combine their acerbic wit and many musical talents to totally captivate an already captive audience. They are indeed New Zealand Royalty, where Lorde and Kiri Te Kanawa only have a limited audience, the Topps are across all social stratas and are adored by their public for being true Kiwis, who, although world famous, choose to live quietly in their small town of Wanake. It was a great night out, and included support acts worthy of a show themselves.