Our very own Andie Palmer is conducting research in New Zealand, and she sends greetings and this picture.
I was fortunate to be in the north country for a Nga Puhi iwi working group meeting on their upcoming Waitangi Tribunal hearing this past week, and then at a hui on one of the maraes to discuss problems with the pollution of their most beautiful harbour, the source of most of their food and livelihood. This is at the ferry dock in Rawene, Hokianga Harbour, next to Patu Hohepa's nephew Charlie's fish and bait shop. The blooming Pohutukawa tree, sometimes called the Christmas tree plant, gives an idea about what the weather can be like here at this time of year. Even with this gorgeous weather, just before I took the snap we were huddled in the cool dark of the fish shop (that's the awning peeking into the picture on the left), watching home videos of a beautiful Polynesian voyaging waka, currently running trials off the North Island and about to begin a circumnaviagation of the country, in preparation for the replication of a journey from here in Hokianga Harbour to Easter Island. It had just launched a few days before! Hokianga Harbour is the site recorded in genealogies, or whakapapa, of the Nga Puhi, as the first place that Kupe and his wives came to land after leaving Hawaiki, thus beginning the population of Aotearoa. All those I am working with are steeped in the history of this place, and their ancestors.
As ever,
Andie