Well what a fantastic experience this has been! I must first send my thanks to my last Helpx host, Candice, for inviting me down to celebrate with them. It may be true that she'd asked because she was hoping I'd do most of the driving, and alas I don't drive at all, but it turned out the Tuhois considered my presence not only welcome, but as it should be.
Candice and I drove first of all to Rotorua, about 3 hours away from the Urewera, where we stopped at a motel that had its own natural hot pools. We were due to meet Candice's friend Paul, and a few others that would be heading to the Marae (meeting house). When we got to the motel front desk and said Paul's name, the manager said to us that it had originally been booked as a room for 3, and that's all it could fit, and we were 5 already. Paul hadn't arrived yet so we said he'd explain all upon arrival. It turns out only 3 were indeed staying overnight at the motel, but about 10 of us were 'having a meeting' as Paul explained to the manager. A Maori meeting in the hot pools to discuss how everyone was! Apparently the manager had no problem with us all using the hot pools, so long as only 3 of us stayed overnight.
The rest of us went back to Huihana's house and had a great evening. I made really good friends with Huihana, Paul and Ceecee and was really pleased to know they'd be coming to the Marae as well (although Huihana wasn't coming).
We ate some great food and got a good night's sleep, all ready to head down to the Marae on the 24th so that we'd be there for the New Year celebration the next morning on the 25th.
It was a beautiful drive down through the Urewera, the magnificent scale of the forest was apparent within minutes of entering the narrow track road that lead for hours into it's heart. Wild horses roam free (although a little startled by Candice's dog, Maru who would bark at them out the window) and the river was so pure and clean it felt as though it had a real life of its own. It was explained to me later that some of the horses have a rope around them, which I had noticed, because some of the locals would catch them and ride them back into town, then let them go again. The high rock hills towered over us with immense prowess, guardians of this ancient place. Let there be no doubt, there is no other way into this forest but to take the narrow road. Only those who'd spent their lives here could find a natural way through the terrain, and even that would be most impressive. The lake centered in the middle was as calm as any water I've seen, and as blue as the sea.
We arrived at the Marae - Waikaremoana, at about 3pm only to discover there was no one else there. A caretaker told us we weren't supposed to arrive until 5pm. This was very strange, comment Paul, since the celebration was tomorrow, there should be a whole heap of people, including Rose, the spiritual leader. Dr Rose Pere, affectionately known by some as Mother, lives next to the Marae itself, so we went to her house and found that everyone was there. A whole hoard of a household, filled with joy and laughter and welcoming smiles. I was instantly welcomed as though I'd been expected and indeed anticipated. No one asked me why I was there or why I felt I should be celebrating a Maori New Year at a Maori marae. Rose herself indeed thanked me for coming and let me know that the fact that I had arrived meant I was welcomed and wanted at this celebration. I'm fortunate enough to come from a home filled with love, and so I know implicitly what a home like that feels like, and this home had been filled with love for so long it was genuinely hard to hold back the tears. 
As it turns out, the celebration wasn't until the 26th, so we had plenty of time to get comfortable. A whole extra day to soak in the wonder and friendliness. Very quickly were given Kai, which is food, and this was the day when I first ate fish and like it! It was, I believe, a smoked Red Snapper, caught in the river. It tasted not just edible, but actually delicious. A first for me and a wonderful omen of things to come.
When it was time to retire, we went back over to the Marae and went through the rituals of prayer, song and hongi before entering, then settled down to sleep. I got pride of place at the head of the hall, since I had travelled the furthest in order to be there. It was a cold night's sleep, but a very comfortable one. We awoke to find it had started snowing! Some of our group had not seen snow for years, and some of the younger ones had never played in the snow. It was commented by Rose that this was the Papatuanuku - the Earth energy - welcoming me to their sacred space. I noticed during the as we stood out front paying our repects, that the snow fell completely flat and calm, but when we started singing, the snow blew first towards us, then to the left, then away from us and finally to the right, before settling back into still, flat falling. This was also seen as a sign of acknowledgement of the four directions, for which respect is also paid.
Over the day we listened to Rose talk about various issues, she is a fantastic lady who speaks with real honesty and power. I laughed so many times at her stories and anecdotes. It seems anyone can come to her house and she will welcome them in for Kai and a bed. Some people come just to pay respects, others come on their own personal mission. As she said at one point, a gentleman had turned up once proclaiming to have been her master in a past life, she said all she saw was a honky looking for a bed, and put him to work in the garden! But jokes aside, it must be noted that her knowledge is full and her heart overflows with love and compassion. She spends her life in the pursuit of a better world where all are one, and love pervades everything. It wasn't until emerging from the Urewera that I realised she is in fact famous in New Zealand and was even awarded a CBE by the Queen for her contribution to education. I've barely met a person since who hasn't at least heard of her, most ask me how on earth I managed to meet her, let alone be welcomed into her home and celebrate not only New Year, but as it turned out, also her birthday (the 25th)! We ate endless Kai, it seemed that the plates and dishes from the one meal had only just been cleared away when more plates of food would emerge for the next meal. It was always Kai time, and I was grateful for it! 
That night the sky cleared and revealed the Southern Hemisphere's stars for me in full. Never in my life have I seen a sky so clear and bright. The Milkyway was so bright that I could barely make out Orion. I stood and stared at the sky for a very long time, I got my flute and played to the stars, I think if I had been alone I would have slept outside. Upon waking, the star Sirius was the first thing I saw, and it was the star we were celebrating the ascension of - Takaroa.
Over the 24 hours of the New Years Eve and Day, we experienced a full four seasons worth of weather. One thing I've noticed having celebrated New Years on the 31st Dec/1st Jan is that the 1st Jan doesn't ever feel any different than the 31st Dec. It's just another day really. What I discovered in the Urewera, is that the 25th July actually felt like a crescendo, a real end of all that had been building, and that the 26th actually felt like a new beginning. A new day, a new year. The day felt young like a baby, and I could actually feel the difference between the 25th and the 26th. I may well continue to celebrate New Year at this time.
As the Sun came up we sang and sang, Rose lead the Haka with full body symbols, despite being in her 70's. One girl in particular who sang was incredible, she could make the trees themselves vibrate with her voice. I felt my bones through to my teeth and back into my blood  and my vision shaking and vibrating as she sang her song of love for the world and Papatuanuku. I will never forget that feeling.
I won't go into detail of all the happenings and workings, the rituals and the sharing of energies and stories, as it was something special to be beheld by those who were there, but take it from me, it really was something special, and I hope to see them all again one day.

I have just emerged from the depths of the Urewera forest celebrating Maori New Year known as Takaroa (not Matariki, that is celebrated by different Maoris) with the Tuhoi Maoris. I will write about what it was like later, but just so you all know I'm out safe and sound! It was a truly wonderful experience!

A few days ago I went with my host Candice up to Whangarei to see a Maori healer. We picked up Candice's friend, Janice on the way. She suffers from cancer and Candice was hoping the healer could do something to help her. It was a long 6 or 7 hour drive to get there, but we took a fair few stops to make it easier on Candice, as she's not used to driving for such long periods of time.
We arrived at his house and it was suggested that I would perhaps have to sit in the car whilst the healing itself was done, but we'd play it by ear. From the outside his house seemed quite normal, I don't know what I was expecting, but I prepared myself for him being equally unassuming. I was introduced to him with a strong warm handshake and a big smile, his name is Kingitanga and I felt very much at home. At first I didn't think too much to look at him. He was about 5'8" and in his 60's with one or two teeth missing, he laughed like a mad man and stamped his feet on the floor when he got excited.
He started by explaining to us his lineage. He had photos and family trees and other such documents showing how he was a direct line descendent of the first Maori King's daughter. Then Janice starting telling him all about he life and how she had come to be where she was now. Amongst other things, she said she had high blood pressure that she could feel in her chest, cold hands and feet almost all the time, and had lost a lot of weight recently due to not being able to eat properly.
As I watched Kingitanga while she was talking, I kept noticing that sometime he looked like the man I'd been introduced to, and other times he had this, well, the only way to describe it is to say he had this different face on. It was still him, but there was a dignity and strength to it that simply wasn't there before. A certain something in his eyes as they looked at Janine. After Janice had told us her story, he explained that he had been scanning her body while she was talking, and that the spirit of her daughter, who had died sometime before, had not moved on and was in her body, causing her to become ill. He said that her own spirit was unable to keep her body healthy because of her daughter's presence. He got her to stand and held her hands, and he looked at her with this same different face I had noticed before. He spoke very forcefully but not aggressively to her daughter's spirit and told her to go. He also said he was opening her heart so that she wouldn't have high blood pressure anymore, and he removed the cancer's spiritual attachment to her body. Very soon, he said, her tumor would be gone, completely. Now that her spirit was back in her body instead of her daughter's, and the link to the tumor had been broken, her body would heal itself, no problem.
I told him of my intention to walk the length of New Zealand, or Ao Tearoa as is its Maori name. He said I may come across areas of power that might attach themselves to me, and asked me to stand also. He held my hands and blessed me, filled me full of the golden light. He said that if I feel I'm under threat at any time in the bush, I can say his name and his four feathers will hear me and come to make sure the energies there know I'm a friend.
Before he did the blessing on me, I was really quite tired. We'd gotten up before 5am and had driven 6-7 hours, then spent another 5 hours at his home. My head and eyes were rolling and I had to stop myself falling asleep! After the blessing, I was wide awake and stayed awake all the way back to Janice's house, where we stayed overnight. Janice herself lost her cold hands and feet, they were now warm. She didn't feel her heart in her chest as she had when she'd said about her high blood pressure, and she ate a huge amount. She has an appointment with the doctor at some point next week. Here's hoping her tumor has gotten smaller or gone!
All in all, it was a really special experience. Thank you Kingitanga!

I have been asked to spend the next two weeks helping a Maori lady prepare for Maori New Year, known as Matariki. We're off to see a Maori healer tomorrow, spending two days in Ngawha Springs (pronounced Ng like last sound of Ming - a - fa, Ngawha) then we spend a week preparing for the celebrations, then we spend nearly a week actually in the celebrations in the depths of the Urewera! I feel very privileged!!!

Coromandel is a wonderful sub-tropical region in the north of New Zealand. The temperature never drops below about 10C and the Sun is warm enough during the day to make it very reminiscent of England in late Spring (except with more rain). The weather can change within a few minutes from clear skies and Sun to grey clouds of doom and heavy showers, but it will just as easily change back!
I've been building the clay pizza oven for Robyn (pictures of progress will follow as it develops) and it's been progressing really well so far. Robyn is a queen of reusing bits and pieces and letting nothing go to waste!
I had a day off yesterday and went hiking up into the hills, took lots of pictures which probably don't look as good as they did when I took them!
There's a railway here that one guy built single handed! His name is Barry and he started building it just so he could bring clay from up the hill down to his workshop so he could make pottery and such. After a while he couldn't stop laying track and decided to open the mini railway to the public so he could make some money from that too. 26 years after he started, and 3km of track later, he has the Driving Creek Railway and it really gives some stunning views of Coromandel. He's now in his 70's and still does it all single handed (although he pays a few others to do the public tours and sell the pottery). It's a great inspiration for how long you can keep doing the things that you love!
I've only a few days left with Robyn, then I'm off to Annette and Tim's.

My first full day at my first farm-stay from the Helpx.net website has been going really well. My host is Robyn, who runs Indigo Bush Studios and also sells various pieces of artwork from clothes to pottery in a shop here in Coromandel Town.
I've been kept busy with cutting back banana trees, flax plants, shifting compost and chopping wood, it's great to be working outside! I'm now researching into how to make a clay oven! Food has been simple but lovely, just the way I like it. Robyn has invited me to her neighbours tonight for some drinks and merriment, I'm really looking forward to it.
I got ID'd in the local supermarket (or just market really), which hasn't happened for a while. I didn't have any ID on me, but I managed to blag it by dropping Robyn's name and that I was helping her for a week. What made it stranger is that I haven't shaved for nearly two weeks and have decent beard growth!
The weather here is still very much like a really good spring in England with a touch more rain. Robyn says is cold but it's actually quite a pleasant temperature I think. There seems to be a Coromandel coastal walk nearby, I've seen trail signs for it, maybe if I get a long afternoon off I can see how far I can go on it.
For now, all is very well and good, I'm really enjoying myself and the whole experience!

Auckland is a fantastic city! It really has a great relaxed feel to it. There are lots of people all hustling and bustling  about, people from all over the world, it's very multi-cultural. It works as a comforting city so well that even though so many people there don't call Auckland their home, it feels like home nonetheless. 
 I'm very impressed and pleased at the high number of Asian food outlets, whether it's ready to eat sushi or a food market to buy things for home cooking. I can hardly go down a street here without seeing some type of food I'd love to sit down and enjoy. Among the wide streets and crammed shops are tiny nooks and crannies with shops you always wished were in your home town. I went to Devenport to climb their mini volcano, and soon I shall climb Rangitoto! I can safely say Auckland has found a place in my heart already.