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We woke up at 5:30 a.m. and got showered and packed for our camper van journey. Linda made bacon, eggs, toast, and tea for us, which was especially kind since it was so early. We ate breakfast with Bill as he prepared for work. At 7:30, we said our goodbyes to Linda and Bill (we would be spending our last night in NZ with them as well, so it was not goodbye forever) and hit the road. The weather had cleared, and it was sunny and warmer. We drove north, and caught our first glimpse of the Southern Alps, snow-capped peaks silhouetted against a bright blue sky. The cloudy rainy weather we had experienced thus far had pretty much rendered us incapable of seeing much of the landscape. Today it really did seem as though we were on the other side of the world. Every curve in the road ushered in different plants and different landscapes than the last. It was quite an enjoyable scenic ride. As we arrived in Kaikoura, we rounded a bend and suddenly had a gorgeous view of the ocean. The morning sun was hitting it perfectly and the stormy weather system that had just gone to sea had caused an unusually high surf. One of Kaikoura's main tourist activities, whale watching, was cancelled for the day due to the high surf. We parked the van and crossed the street to the beach. The frothy, glowing white waves crashing on the beach is probably one of my most salient memories from this trip. Our first glimpse of the ocean in New Zealand (or "Aotearoa", Land of the Long White Cloud, in Maori). We were to meet up with Maori Tours Kaikoura at 10:30 for a Maori cultural tour. We were about 15 minutes early and went to check in. However, we had mistakenly gone to the whale watch office rather than the visitor's center. As is common with Kiwi hospitality, the woman working at the whale watch place was eager to help, even though we weren't her customers. She called the Maori Tours and told them that we had gone there by mistake, and a few minutes later, Maurice Manawatu and his niece Jasmine arrived to pick us up. There was only one other person on the tour: a North Island tour guide named Otto. Maurice has a great, charming, friendly, funny personality, and he made the tour fun from the start. He first took us to a pa (fortified village) site where we learned how to properly introduce ourselves (our names, our river, our mountain) and greet each other via the hongi (touching noses which comes from the Maori legend of how Tane breathed life into Hineahuone, the first woman). We touched noses twice, the formal way of greeting a stranger. Jasmine recited a greeting prayer, which she repeated three times. Three is a very important number in Maori culture. In this instance it represented the physical, mental, and spiritual realms. Maurice handed out lyrics to a song written by Jasmine's mother. We practiced saying the Maori words. Maurice blew a conch shell, and then let us try. Craig was able to do it well, but I was unable to make much noise with it. After that, Maurice drove us to the marae (traditional meeting place). In Kaikoura, the tribes have decided to keep tourism separate from ritual. Because of this, we would not be greeted at the marae with a haka dance, or be able to talk to any Maori there. We had seen such things on TV (Michael Palin in Full Circle and Ian Wright on Globe Trekker had attended ceremonial hakas). We knew that there were tourist dinner shows where you could pay to see a haka and partake in a hangi feast. But somehow they seemed to us to be too contrived and touristy, like a commercial Hawaiian luau or a Vegas show. So although we wouldn't be able to see those traditions demonstrated, we felt it was more appropriate to do the activities that we were doing with Maurice. We viewed the marae from outside the fence. It had elaborate carvings along the roofline of the building. In the yard were some large statues, one a feather representing the signing of the Waitangi Treaty (Maurice's great-great-grandfather was one of the chiefs who signed it, and his great grandmother wrote the first written history of their tribe), and the other carvings represented gods. Maurice explained why Maori warriors are often depicted sticking out their tongues: Papatuanuku (mother earth) was married to Ranginui (sky father). They had 70 children all male and all gods. After a while the children decided to create human without the powers of the gods. The gods mated with different female entities but instead of creating humans, created nature instead (the plants and trees). After a while they went to IO (supreme Being) because they didn't have any success. IO asked Papatuanuku to vomit, and from the vomit, the gods created the first human: a woman by the name of Hineahuone. The tongue that pokes out on our Maori carvings represents the birth of humans as a result of Papatuanuku vomiting. Our belief also is we come from the earth we go back to the earth. At this point we dropped Otto back in town. He kept getting cell phone calls and was eventually called away for good. Next we went to Maurice's house. We were greeted outside by Maurice's wife Heather, his sister-in-law and young niece, and his daughter and her 11-month-old baby. After performing the more formal two-nose-touch hongi, we removed our shoes and were shown in to the living room. The family served us hot chocolate, tea, egg salad sandwiches, salmon pate on crackers, danish pastries, and small pancakes topped with strawberries and whipped cream. Much of the serving and clearing was done by the young girl. The family was incredibly friendly. We all introduced ourselves and we had a great conversation. We mentioned seeing their marae on TV and Heather asked if by any chance did we mean the Michael Palin programme. We said yes, that we were fans of Palin's travel series. She said that Maurice appears in Full Circle. He said that they spent a lot of time with Michael Palin. He was fun to be with, and they filmed a lot of sequences that were never used in the series, such as crayfishing together. The Manawatus started their business a year ago. They are in the process of creating their own web site. It is wonderful, because the tour is so well thought-out and implemented. The whole tour embodies the values of the Maori people. We learned a lot from what Maurice and Jasmine told us, and then we saw it put into practice in the Manawatu family home. The Waitangi restitution was passed 5 years ago, and the Maori were awarded $170 million and a written apology from the queen of England. They deposited the money and got a business planner who is helping the community to start various tourist ventures. We had a great conversation with the family. They were so nice and were genuinely interested in us. Maurice got out his guitar and we all sang the Maori song together. We took some photos of the family outside, and then said our farewells. We were given the one-nose-touch hongi as we left, as we had now eaten at their table and were now "family". We hopped back into the van and started heading toward the Puhi Puhi Reserve. On the way, Jasmine gave us flax weaving lessons. We made bookmarks and fishies, and Jasmine gave us woven flowers. At Puhi Puhi, Jasmine took us on a trek showing us various medicinal plants and trees. Maurice followed along with his guitar, and we sang the family song to several trees. It was quite calming to hear Jasmine telling Maori legends while Maurice softly played his guitar and sang in the background. After that we drove back to where we had parked our camper van. Maurice and Jasmine gave us gifts: little woven flax bags called "kete" that contained the lyrics to the song and the family's nine tenets of living. The tour had lasted from 10:30 - 2:00. We were so touched that they welcomed us into their home and taught us so much. We sat for a while in the camper van just reflecting on the day's activities while overlooking the beautiful ocean. Then we started driving north again. We saw lots of sheep, deer, and cows. We stopped for a picture above Picton, a port town from which the ferry to Wellington embarks. We then continued along Queen Charlotte Drive, a scenic, winding route. We arrived in Havelock at around 6 p.m. We found a camper van park right near the marina and checked in. We walked up the street to the Green Lip restaurant at the Havelock Hotel (Havelock is the Green Shell or "Green Lip"Mussel Capital of the World). We ordered at the counter and then took a seat in the enclosed porch. Craig got pork and mushrooms, and I got the cottage pie (shredded pork, sauce, and mashed potato). Both meals also came with mashed potato, carrots, corn, chips, cole slaw, and macaroni salad. Craig had a Canterbury Draught and I got an orange Bacardi Breezer. The place was mostly full of locals, and as it was Tuesday night, the staff were wearing wacky get-ups (tonight was pajama night). I got a huge piece of pavlova topped with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, raspberries, and rainbow sprinkles. We chatted with the waitress, and I enquired about pavlova. She said that it's made of sugar, egg whites, and corn syrup. It was delicious. We walked back to the camper (able to see some stars for the first time). We were ready for bed by 9 p.m. |
 Craig in the camper van  High Surf at Kaikoura  Kaikoura surf  Craig and Jasmine on the Puhi Puhi forest tour  Craig blows the conch  The Manuwatu family  Steph and Maurice Manawatu on the Maori Tour  View from Queen Charlotte Drive 
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