Dec 272014
 
north  001

lunch at whangarei playground

on xmas day we left piha and set off to drive up north to sal’s aunt Robyn, who had asked us to join her for christmas dinner, we headed up the east coast and stopped off in whangarei for lunch at the basin there.

whangarei has special memories for me, apart from having been through there every time I have done the run up or down the east coast thru there, dad and i also spent a fair bit of time there, tied up on the wharf in the basin, so it was an emotional visit this time – my first time back there since dad died. i realised its just another place i should have brought some of his ashes to spread!

anyway kai enjoyed the lovely big playground and i had a nostalgic wander up and down the wharf.

later that afternoon we arrived at the quaint village of rawene on the hokianga harbour in northland, where robyn now lives. its a beautiful spot that I am very familiar with, although its a remote and wild part of the north west coast. rawene is the site of the only means to cross the hokianga harbour – a small car ferry, and i have spent a fairr bit of time on the north side of the harbour at a small place called panguru.

robyn is living in a small rental property while she renovates the magnificent home she owns looking across the bay, so whe arranged for us to stay in a little cabin in the camping ground next door to where she is living, so we got settled in and then wandered across to her place for a yummy christmas dinner with buckets of fine red wine and good company!

boxing day we caught the ferry across the harbour to drive over to panguru, one of my best friends was killed in a tragic motorbike accident in gove in 1997, and i took his body home to his village of panguru and stayed in the maori marae for the funeral over a couple of weeks, I also came back 18 months later for the unveiling of his grave.

going thru that experience when I was there for Steve’s funeral and the unveiling gave me a very strong connection with panguru and both steve’s immediate family as well as his extended maori whānau. it was, despite the tragedy and sadness, a very special time in my life.

so i took sal and kai to steve’s grave and explained my connection with panguru and the people there, i told them of the power of the tokotoko and my being able to share with steve’s whānau the stories of his yolngu family and what high regard he was held in by the yolngu in his adopted home in arnhem land.

we then went down from the cemetry into panguru to see if i could find any of steve’s family, and while i was driving down the hill i noticed there were a lot of cars up at the marae so we drove up there and i told sal & kai to wait in the car while i checked if any one knew where the dargaville brothers were.

By an absolute fluke they were just finishing a service for the unveiling of a couple of graves and walking into the hall for lunch and i spotted a face i knew – boxer, one of the elders of the marae, so i asked him about the dargaville boys, but he said they were all out of town for the holidays – he then said, “well boy, you better come in and have some kai with us!”, i explained i had sal and kai in the car and we certainly didnt mean to intrude.

Boxer just responded by telling me to hurry up and get my family and come inside for a feed! So we ended up having a wonderful feast of shell fish, smoked eel and an enormous spread of food from the hangi!!

it was a cultural experience no amount of money or desire could have achieved, it was just a fluke of the combination of my longstanding connection with the community, and the timing of our arrival, regardless it was an amazing experience for kai to have and i am sure i could hear steve having a bit of a giggle as he watched us!

we then had another lovely dinner with robyn, and a friend of hers, chad. we will be heading back up here later this month when some more of sal’s family will be here visiting robyn.

today we drove back home down the west coast and are now happily back home in our little bach in piha!

  4 Responses to “north”

  1. Very moving, Rick, really! So many memories about your father and your good friend Stephen- and so much hospitality of his family!
    Yes, head back up there later!

  2. What a great story teller.Trust you passed on our regards to Robyn.Enjoy!!!!!!

  3. I haven’t seen that big grin for many years ,thanks Rick

    • No drama, he was always wearing that grin wasn’t he?! I have always tried to learn from Dargs to only say nice things about people, sadly I havent done very well with it!!

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