We're finally getting a chance to get caught up a bit. Here's some more detail on the first couple of days of our trip. I'm sure we'll get even more up in the next couple of days.
Day 1—Everyone got in safely although the main American group’s flight had an exciting sudden drop while over the pacific, sending unbelted passengers to the ceiling.
Our first activity was very special and moving. We went up to One Tree Hill in Auckland, which is considered a very sacred Maori location for a powhiri. A powhiri is a Maori greeting and blessing that brings groups together as family. It is essentially the Maori people thanking their ancestors for life: that includes mother earth, sky, air and water and then welcoming us and blessing our journey. It is something that the average visitor doesn't get a chance to experience. The final step in the welcoming is called the hongi - a traditional greeting that connects the third eye to third eye that allows a breathing in of the other persons spirit. For those of you that don’t know, the third eye is in between our eyes. Most people think a hongi is pressing noses - actually you press foreheads, and then nose (gently) whilst breathing in - each other's 'spirit'.
One of the most amazing moments was when Michael, one of the trip organizers spoke. It was a windy overcast morning and just when he started to speak, offering his formal welcoming, the clouds broke and the sun shined warmly on us. The clouds returned after he stopped speaking only to break once more at a very appropriate place.
The next stop was to the War Museum that has a huge amount of Maori cultural/historical pieces. There we learned more about proper Maori protocol for approaching their marae or meeting places. This is important for us to learn since we are going to be spending one night in a marae.
The countryside is really beautiful and we quickly got out of the city heading for the coast. Our accommodations the first night were at a fantastic B&B that had been built just for this purpose by the American owners.
We arrived to this beautiful spot only to take off again to get to a winery/sculpture garden before they closed. Many of us weren’t necessarily in a hurry to leave the b&b but once we got to the garden at the BrickWay Winery, all of that hesitation went away. The walk felt good through the bush, we heard and saw great birds and enjoyed the sights and smells being in the woods (bush).
Instead of trying to squeeze something else in, we grabbed dinner and had a picnic by the beach.
After dinner we headed back to the b&b to enjoy what they had to offer. We sat in the hot tub, had a little more wine, looked at the stars and chatted. The daylight is really long here because it is summer so even though we didn’t get a ton of time at the b&b it felt like we had a chance to relax. There isn’t as much light pollution here, especially since we were staying in the country, there were so many stars including a good show put on by the shooting stars.
Day 2
After a fantastic night and great sleep we woke up to bright sunshine and blue skies. The b&b served an excellent 2 course breakfast that included homemade muesli, a few different types of yogurt, fresh fruit (including native passionfruit), aloe juice, and then a second course of custom made eggs bacon etc. As tempting as it was to stay longer, we had to hit the road for another pretty full day of driving. We headed across the island from east to west. On a map looks pretty small but it takes forever since we are in a van towing a trailer and all of the roads are secondary. The last part of the ride was through the largest remaining forest in New Zealand. The forest is famous for having ancient kauri trees. Today’s schedule was particularly tight, the drive was long and we were all pretty tired still from the trip. After driving through the forest, we turned a corner to a panoramic view of the bay and the amazing sand dunes across the bay. It was great to arrive, but we had about ½ hour to unwind, get settled and then have dinner before we went on a tour of the ancient kauri forests. Kauri trees are some of the oldest (maybe the oldest) trees in the world. They were decimated during the early 20th century with their wood being used for everything from housing to boats. The trees/forest we were visiting represented the largest percentage of what we left. The trees we visited during our tour were 2000-4000 years old. There are trees that have been pulled out of swamps that carbon date back 45,000 years. They were about 100 feet tall and had a girth of about 51ft. The pictures in no way communicate the scale of these ancient giants. The Maori considered the trees we saw the father and grandfather of the forest. These trees are all protected now and are carefully attended to, although there is no way to stop nature taking it’s course. One of the trees lost a massive branch last year in a storm; a predatory vine that was growing around it had weakened it.
The kiwi is the symbol of New Zealand but it is a very shy nocturnal bird-which means it is not spotted very often. Many of us were hoping to get a chance to see a kiwi during our evening forest walk. While we didn’t get to see a kiwi, we did hear a kiwi. Our guides played kiwi calls on the stereo, giving us all a chance to hear what they sound like. Once we turned the stereo off, we actually heard real kiwis calling in the bush across from where we were. The male and female have different calls; we heard the male pretty near by and a female more distant.
The nights have been pretty chilly here, but we are all enjoying being away from winter, we got back to the hotel and spent some time outside learning as song in Maori to prepare for our visit to the marae the next night.
Day 3
We slept in a little this morning since we really didn’t have a commitment until the Roma Marae at 2. Our trip getting there involved more lovely countryside and a quick little ferry ride. The proper procedure for entering marae ground for the first time is to wait outside the property until we were invited in - by a maori woman elder singing the 'karanga' prayers. We were arriving in the afternoon so that we could watch the laying of the hangi for dinner. A hangi (pronounced honey) is a meal steam cooked by hot rocks in a hole dug in the ground. Before we helped get the hangi going, we were welcomed through a Maori greeting ceremony. During this ceremony the Maori tribe is introduced by their speaker, who recites their ancestry. It is Maori tradition to educate children from birth about where they came from and who their families are. Our 'tribe' then responds - our driver Tim, who is part Maori, spoke for us, and then we sang the song we've been learning. They were very appreciative of our effort. The Maoris that we have met have been able to trace their family back generations. This particular ceremony was both traditional and modern. The family members were casual, even while following the ritual.
The servings for the hangi were wrapped in foil; a fire in a pit heated the rocks. The pit was amazing because the clay in the soil had essentially become stone from the heat of the fires. We arrived during the removal of the ash from the pit, the fire had been burning a few hours prior to our arrival so the stones were hot enough to continue the cooking process for a few more hours. Once the ash was removed, a crate with the food was put into the pit, on the stones. Water was added and the steam captured by covering the whole thing with wet clothes and a tarp, the tarp was then covered with dirt. While dinner was cooking we split up and went to the beach or wine tasting at Okahu Winery.
More on the rest of the day later.....
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