The Marae - day two

It was a great start to the Noho at the amazing Island Bay Marae last night. A good sleep saw us dive  headfirst  into a packed program today and there were some great bonuses, especially the talk by the founder and builder of this beautiful wooden edifice, Bruce, who is now confined to a wheelchair after a serious accident while looking after his Marae. He told some great stories and had to be wheeled away by his lovely Indian wife when he became over-tired. There is a great book to be written about his life and what a story he has to tell before he dies.

The woodshedin the beautiful acreage surrounding this historic Marae

Looking towards the entrance of the Marae

Inside with a korero happening

A wonderful portrait ofa returned Maori soldier, his hands having been  blown off by a hand grenade in WW2 and when he returned home he was given nothing as recompense from the Government! This was one of many paintings and great artisan works on show inside this marvellous building with a history to be recorded.

With friends Bernie and Lancewho came down from   Auckland with many other takaatapui for the Noho.

One of the many fascinating mihi's presented

The Auckland groupgave a thoroughly professional show with a bracket of startling Waiatas.

Weekend Noho

Cold and wet but warm at heart, that's the Wellington I know well. Into Memphis after delivering Bella to Bho at Europe Motors for her yearly WoF, that is Warrant of Fitness. This is a certificate I need for the sale so it a step forward in that direction. Next week it is detailing and photos in Trademe to let the public know I have a beautiful bargain to be bought, that is,  if they love Roadsters!

It's busy as always here and I see Guy arrive with his Dad, to be later joined by his Mum and younger brother. This is a family of Diplomats and it is obvious that Guy will follow in his parents' footsteps and be successful in that career. Interesting how children follow after their parents as I continue to wonder what my father could have achieved had he not drowned in his alcoholism like his brother before him?

It is Daffodil day today in the city and I stop to give a gold coin to Cancer reseach although I am not a great believer in the modern invasive and debilitating treatment of cancer. I think more holistic reseach is showing other methods are more effective in the long run, but the drug companies are making their billions of dollars out of promoting this toxic chemical treatment. Since the arrival of AZT treatment for HIV I have been more sceptical than ever of the power and thrust, and ulimate dishonesty, of many global drug companies, supported all the way of course, by the all-powerful FDA.

This fraudster at least was caught and gaoledfor two and a half  years

A Czech tragedyin the snow made me think of Tanguy's friend's disastrous end. Many intrepid visitors are stupidly unaware of the treachery which lurks in the changeable weather and dangerous slopes in the winter months. This woman was so lucky to have survived but she lost her partner and may never fully recover from the experience of a month in a shack waiting to be rescued.

Interesting pic of Mayoral hopefuls -two impeccably dressed ladies and two men chugging their beers on a televised q and a show. Who will win I wonder? Or will light-rail be the casualty?

This is the electronic excellence of Wellington I saw it in action on my arrival on Wednesday, a super-quick transfer from plane to carpark, that is when you don't have booked luggage.

Aussie Mel Gibson getting more newswith his new movie coming out, he regrets not buying a beach on the North Island in the eighties when he was filming 'The Bounty', poor Mel!

The Bats Theatre is such a bastion of creative theatre, I am sorry I can't see ths fascinating 'Yoga' one woman show tonight which is the last night. Pity I will be in the Marae practising my poi!

Or can I see this great Kiwi movie at Film Archives!

More discussion on roadworks vs public transport - it will never end, we just love our cars.

Guy  'en famille' at Memphis...

This recent earhquake in Umbria isanother disaster for Italy. This ancient country is more prone to 'quakes than New Zealand it seems, and when they come they are totally catastrophic with their ancient buildings never surviving. At least here they have established strict laws for building now and the fear is abated quite a lot.

On now to pick up Bella and prepare for tonight's arrival at 5pm at the Marae. It may be a very cold night out so my duvet is coming with me.

Getting into gear

A wet and cold day today it's back to the wintry Wellie scene, and everyone is rugged up including me. After all, we all know the weather is an integral part of the charm of this wild and wooly city, making you very aware that life is to be lived to the full, no good  worrying about the next earthquake.

I go into Memphis and have  a good coffee with Anita who is always a source of some tid-bit of news. Today it is her visit to Auckland for the Cold Play concert. She had bought a ticket for her partner Andy  for his his birthday, and also managed to get two cheap return flights in a deal offerd by Air NZ. They have an interesting and good relationship - she with her chronic fatigue looks after him as best she can while doing volunteer work in Victims' Support to fill her day and help others in a similar situation.

This is the true historyof the Pakeha - Maori wars which everyone should know

Morning at Memphis...

The old guard goes out withpomp and circumstance

Finally a Wellie Cat Café, about time!

Kiwis punchedabove their weight in the Games, as always.

Gideon has gone crazy and shaved hisbeautiful blond locks in winter!

Two great Kiwi sports champs...

Serious floods in Louisianabrings out Obama

A new AB hero in the making!

This wonderful home of learning,Wellington City Library

...and its ever popular café upstairs where I often see someone I know and today was no exception.

Tonight a welcome return to my swimming session at the great Kilbirnie pool. I love it because it is twenty-five metres which perfect for me. Also our coach Gareth, an ex-London Olympics swimmer, is exceptional. So after a good one hour session I finish some shopping at the Kilbirnie Pak'n Save and get home for a good night's sleep. I fear tomorrow, which is day one of the Noho at Island Bay Marae, may not offer me an equivalent opportunity, but it should be a great experience gathering with all my Tiwhanawhana friends to sing Waiata and practise the poi. I am staying one night not two, finishing late on Saturday night which I think will do me fine.

Today I also wrote to give my apologies to the Interfaith executve as I won't be attending their AGM on Sunday. It has been quite a learning experience with Wellington Interfaith but I'm afraid,  frankly, they were not at all what I expected and Eckankar will no longer be represented on their Board when I leave for Australia. Things are just done very differently here in New Zealand in the area of religion.

Memphis return

It was a soft landing at Memphis today a late start but it was good to be back with my own mug of excellently espressoed coffee. Tom came by for a catch-up, busy as always, and we enjoyed a cheese scone together. His birthday is the weekend before my Aussie departure, he will be 59 and wants to have a potluck dinner that night at his place, so I put that date in my diary.

Ths is the trend these days, but is it just in this progressive Kiwi climate? I think not, it is gaining force in many first-world countries with the young.

A Japanese Sudoko expertwho comes every day for his 'hit'.

Front page news,but thirty-five years ago it was never thought of, something to which I can personally attest. Progress has certainly been made for non-ambulant people, thank goodness!

Home to do some emailing and then on to my HU song at Flashdog and my weekly Scottish dancing, tonight with a few visitors from Chicago who were warmly welcomed. One tried dancing the other two just looked on but it made a nice difference to our normally pretty predictable night of dance.

Only four more dance nights to go!

Day of Sam's funeral

Well, when one believes that everything that happens day-to-day is for the good, it makes life much easier to live and one is able to enjoy it to the full. 

Last Saturday, when I discovered a day too late that my flight home to Wellington  was scheduled for Friday and not the Saturday that I had firmly fixed in my head, I knew there would be a reason for this   strange turn of events. After going quickly into emergency mode, that is singing the HU to be an absolute clear channel - everything worked perfectly. I rebooked a return flght for Tuesday and then I just took a bus back to my bemused brother's home and with him and his mates watched the demolition of the Wallabies by the All Blacks. 

Sunday was a lovely day of visiting another friend in Thirroul and returning to yet another unexpected meeting with good friends of my brother who happened to be staying the night. Then Monday was a visit to the city accidentally to witness Mass in a the chapel where my mother was married, and back that evening for a pub-dinner with more friends of my brother whom I rarely saw. 

Finally today I was able to attend the sad funeral of Mike's very good friend Sam who had died tragically the very week of his retirement. It took place in the Woollahra Synagogue and it was packed with besuited men in yamulkas. I knew no-one but the widow, and she was swamped by all the men. 

So after the funeral I had a light lunch with another friend, Annie, at Bondi Junction, emailed a congratulatory note to Michael Kirby on his excellent article on the postponed and much discussed Same Sex Plebiscite, and then made my way to the airport in good time for the same flight I missed on Friday at 6.45pm, albeit three days later.

All was good in my world, indeed it was better. My relationship with my brother has been firmed with all this unexpected connecting with his friends and my return to Gosford is now firmly secure for September 30.  

I now really know why I missed that flight on Friday, and my thanks to the HU for setting it all in motion.

The article by renowned former High Court Judge,

Michael Kirbyis a wake-up call to the Prime Minister.

Turkey in dire straits....

Even the Telegraph is signalling the stupidity ofpostponing this most divisive plebiscite.

Ladies who lunch at Bondi Junction...

The toll of a Gold-driven Olympics... ... the exhausted Chef de Mission!

Annie holding forth at lunch.....and generously offering to buy me lunch but we agreed to go 'Dutch'.

It will be nice to get back to my old bed tonight in Wellie and my accustomed things to do, although it will be with a new agenda for the next six weeks.

Outside the synagogue farewelling Sam, a somewhat sombre moment.

Monday in the city

It is colder today than I thought and a return visit to the Queen Vic for an overpriced coffee and

croissant makes the awful news from Turkey and Syria seem even worse. The craze for Olympic news is over but the recriminations continue about the Australians' poor performance. But it is also the administration under fire with big boss Coates having to bear much of the blame.

More bombing of Kurdish people in Turkey....

This is the reality of patriarchal countrieswhere girls are taken at age thirteen to marry a much older man and have no rights or knowledge of anythng else. Is this just?

Trump finally has someone who may save hisimage a little - a smart woman who was Ted Cruz' former advisor.

Another smart woman sitting next to me atthe Metropole

For all Brazilians this was theircrowning glory. In football, their greatest passion, they beat their arch-rivals Gemany in the finals to win Gold. A nation rejoiced.

This was one of the biggestcontroversies in the games regarding a perceived inter-sex athlete winning gold - she was congratulated later by her wife.

Here is St Phil

Photo of St Patrick's Catholic Church right in the cityat Church Hill. It was where my parents married in 1929 so I dropped in and happened to witness a noon Mass. It was a nice memory of my dear Mum who passed on eight years ago.

Inside the traditional church..where in the recesses of my memory I recognisd the Confessional where about fifty years ago I had my last confessing experience, not a very successful one either!

Not far away is the Barangaroo site of theinfamous city casino being built by billionaire gambling supremo Jamie Packer. He bought this most historical site throwing in this patch of green as a sweetener. How corrupt is the NSW government when gambling takes precedence over a revered Aboriginal site.

The weather turned wet and very chilly after the Mass so I high-tailed it back to Malabar. Tonight we are going for a pub meal with my brother's friends at Pagewood, and tomorrow at nine a.m. is the Jewish funeral ceremony of Sam Samra, one of Mike's best friends for over fifty years whose accident with a bus terminated a very heaithy life just one week ago into his retirement from work aged 72..

The beginning of work of Packer's Casino I fear there may be some unpredicted problems occurring here over the next few years of the construction of Sydney's highest building. Remember you heard it from me first!

Sunday at Thirroul

Well things certainly change quickly and it really takes one to the realm of living in the moment. Last night on arriving at the airport for my return flight to Wellington after seeing the excellent Spanish movie 'Truman' with Patsy, I checked in for my scheduled flight at 6.45 with Air NZ. Or I tried to, with no success, and on asking at the desk what was was wrong I was shown clearly that my ticket was not for Saturday 20th but Friday 19th. I had mistakenly missed my flight! In somewhat shock I sat down to consider what to do and on ringing Virgin Airlines I was told I could only buy a replacement ticket for $917 being First Class, the only one available. I immediately surrendered to the situation by singing HU quietly to myself. As I was returning anyway in October I decided to go online and search for a reasonable return flight. 

So quickly I went on wifi to Cheapflights and booked an Air NZ flight on Tuesday same time, 6.45pm, with a return on Thursday September 30 at 4.15pm from Wellington, including one piece of booked luggage. My departure from Wellington was now sealed with that flight and I felt quite good about it. Now to phone a few people to say I was delayed till Tuesday and there were no problems there.  Richard, who was booked to see my movie 'Theorem' at 4pm will just have to wait for a more suitable time, if there is one! 

So with my new booking, and just a few dollars lost as I got a really good deal, I phoned my brother to say I'd be home for the Bledisloe Cup party. He was qute OK about that as things like this had happened to him before too. Home in an hour with more provisions, I joined him and his three friends to watch a superb All Blacks team in great form demolish the Wallabies 42 to 8, a fitting end to a very happening day. Mike also cooked some delicious pizzas for everyone to scoff while barracking for the poor outclassed Aussie Rugby Team.

After a good long sleep I awoke on Sunday to decide to visit old friends John and Anne at Thirroul which is just an hour by train on the beautiful Illawarra coast. Also I discovered now I would be able to attend the funeral of Mike's good friend Sam which is scheduled to take place at the Jewish Synagogue at Bondi Junction on Tuesday. All is well when you accept the will of the Universe and I am grateful for all the changes that occur in my life, whether they are planned by me or not, as was this latest one.

On Elizabeth Street at the Bahista Café

...which is opposite the oxygenating Hyde Park

It is a popular spot for many, open 24/7.

This is the latest Aussie star, pentathlon gold-medallist Chloë Esposito

 

Below Malcolm Turnbull showing just how weak his pledge of government is!

At the State level, it's just another gravy train, with the Liberal government splashing out for a luxury weekend conference at this famous Blue Mountains resort.

Below is a view from the train of one of the tranquil beaches which come before you meet the one-time steel metropolis of Wollongong.

And relaxing in his  Thirroul home is old friend from school days John.

...and below is Anthony their youngest boy.

We had a simple lunch with Anne preparing a tasty quiche and salad, just right for a light meal on Sunday. We then had a couple of hours to catch up chatting about family and plans for Anthony's future which certainly needs thorough thinking as he is a very capable boy with Down's syndrome.

The train now takes me back for a bus pickup to return to Mike's to meet his friends Fritz and Judy who are up from the south coast to stay overnight with us in his Malabar home.