Annette and Tim dropped me off on the Coromandel-Thames coastal road right outside my new hosts, Pat and Peter. An elderly couple who lived on a lovely plot secluded and away from anyone else, they put me to work straight away putting dug-out topsoil into bags. I was nice to watch the sun go down as I worked, and I hoped for a good week or two. As it turns out, I got an increasingly unsettled feeling as I spent time there. Pat and Peter were very friendly and accommodating, but I really felt as though I shouldn't be there. I was unable to sleep all night and by morning I had convinced myself that I should leave. And so I did. On foot. I figured I was half way between Thames and Coromandel, and since I knew Coromandel well, I'd go back there. It should be about 20km, so about 5 hours walk. No problem for someone intending to walk a country. Plus I thought I'd hitch along the way, and surely get picked up after an hour or two. What I failed to realise was that it was Saturday, and no one in the area gets up early or leaves to take the coastal on a Saturday. Except huge lorries you would never believe were expected to traverse roads this narrow, at such speeds! After walking for about an hour and a half, I came across a sign that read 'Coromandel - 35km' and my heart sank. Still, I'll get picked up, I tell myself. I had to get there today, because there's nowhere to pitch a tent on the coastal road, so I keep walking. Almost 5 hours after I started walking, I stop, shattered and aching, in a tiny verge by the side of the road. I hadn't seen a car come past me for over an hour and a half, and I felt ready to pitch tent precariously at this spot and collapse for the next 24 hours. It was then that a family people-carrier type car with a couple in their 40's pulled up gently next to me. They offered me a lift and I didn't even ask where they were going.
I explained my story to them and was silently dismayed that it still took over half an hour in the car before we reached Coromandel. They if I wanted to come back to Whangarei with them, since I had no real plans. We'd been getting along pretty well so I thought why not? Warren and Debbie had a wonderfully homely home, we drank wine and told stories and laughed by the fire. I stayed with them overnight and decided it was time to leave this toe of New Zealand. My curiosity for the Thames and Coromandel area has been sated. I book a bus back to Auckland, with the intention of either doing a few days in a hostel, or seeing Adam back in Titirangi. It turned out that Adam and Gill are in Vietnam on holiday, so I send a text to Cee Cee and see if she fancies a visitor.
Cee Cee was overjoyed to hear from me, and my timing was perfect as there were a number of people who I'd met in the Urewera there to celebrate on of their birthdays. My arrival for such an occasion was not only welcomed by all, but again, with a feeling of almost that I was expected. The next day it was also the Powhiri (pronounced Poor-Firi) for Awhitia, the girl who had sung the bones vibrating song for the New Year. Powhiri is a traditional ceremony held by Maori when they start a new job. They bring the spirit of their ancestors to the new place of work and sing and dance to welcome the person and their spirit into the building and the role. Awhitia was being given a job within Mount Eden prison, to help work with the prisons in helping to reduce the number of Maori prisoners, and to help with their reintegration into society. It is the first time that a Maori has been chosen for the role. There were loads of people there! It was really nice to see how much everyone in the Whanau (family) and friends supports everyone else. I was told that the number of people was not unusual either, that they hadn't all come because the role was a big deal, but that they always turned up to celebrate and spiritually welcome someone's first day in a new job. There was, of course, lots of Kai (food) and the ladies did a beautiful Haka. It was yet another great example of how loving and family orientated the Maori are.
I've been staying with Cee Cee for a week now. Candice is also here (my host who took me to the Urewera and Kingitanga) trying to publish a book which has taken many people here with a great flurry of interest. I believe it will be called 'Mu' and concerns itself with the ancient land of Mu and Lemuria, Atlantis and spiritual issues concerning us in the run up the 2012 mayan prediction, written by Debbie Greenwood. Hopefully it will be launch either on 21 September, or 11 November, so keep an eye out for it perhaps.
Tomorrow I'm going to stay with Adam and Gill and then on Friday I catch a bus all the way down to Wellington. I hadn't planned originally on going that far south until I walked there, but a friend I made while stuck in Sydney is there and offered to let me stay, and Paul from back in the UK has also relocated there. 12 hours bus ride, but dirt cheap, so all's good.
I explained my story to them and was silently dismayed that it still took over half an hour in the car before we reached Coromandel. They if I wanted to come back to Whangarei with them, since I had no real plans. We'd been getting along pretty well so I thought why not? Warren and Debbie had a wonderfully homely home, we drank wine and told stories and laughed by the fire. I stayed with them overnight and decided it was time to leave this toe of New Zealand. My curiosity for the Thames and Coromandel area has been sated. I book a bus back to Auckland, with the intention of either doing a few days in a hostel, or seeing Adam back in Titirangi. It turned out that Adam and Gill are in Vietnam on holiday, so I send a text to Cee Cee and see if she fancies a visitor.
Cee Cee was overjoyed to hear from me, and my timing was perfect as there were a number of people who I'd met in the Urewera there to celebrate on of their birthdays. My arrival for such an occasion was not only welcomed by all, but again, with a feeling of almost that I was expected. The next day it was also the Powhiri (pronounced Poor-Firi) for Awhitia, the girl who had sung the bones vibrating song for the New Year. Powhiri is a traditional ceremony held by Maori when they start a new job. They bring the spirit of their ancestors to the new place of work and sing and dance to welcome the person and their spirit into the building and the role. Awhitia was being given a job within Mount Eden prison, to help work with the prisons in helping to reduce the number of Maori prisoners, and to help with their reintegration into society. It is the first time that a Maori has been chosen for the role. There were loads of people there! It was really nice to see how much everyone in the Whanau (family) and friends supports everyone else. I was told that the number of people was not unusual either, that they hadn't all come because the role was a big deal, but that they always turned up to celebrate and spiritually welcome someone's first day in a new job. There was, of course, lots of Kai (food) and the ladies did a beautiful Haka. It was yet another great example of how loving and family orientated the Maori are.
I've been staying with Cee Cee for a week now. Candice is also here (my host who took me to the Urewera and Kingitanga) trying to publish a book which has taken many people here with a great flurry of interest. I believe it will be called 'Mu' and concerns itself with the ancient land of Mu and Lemuria, Atlantis and spiritual issues concerning us in the run up the 2012 mayan prediction, written by Debbie Greenwood. Hopefully it will be launch either on 21 September, or 11 November, so keep an eye out for it perhaps.
Tomorrow I'm going to stay with Adam and Gill and then on Friday I catch a bus all the way down to Wellington. I hadn't planned originally on going that far south until I walked there, but a friend I made while stuck in Sydney is there and offered to let me stay, and Paul from back in the UK has also relocated there. 12 hours bus ride, but dirt cheap, so all's good.
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