Saturday

I didn't get my blog done for Saturday as I was talking on the phone to Jane till nearly midnight and I was then too tired.

We did intend to go to Taupo today but as I was not feeling the best yesterday we decided to go instead to Whakatane which is only an hour away.

We had breakfast and were about to walk Totty when the phone rang and I was expecting it to be Jane as she said she would call and it was only after the initial hello that I realised it was Kirsty!!! We had a long chat and she told me she was sorry but my Mother's Day present would be late as she always forgets to allow for the postage time!! We had a long chat and she was excited that James would be home on Sunday morning as he has been away for 12 days.

We took Totty for her walk and due to a delay because of Bertie we finally got off about 11.30.

We stopped in Papamoa for a coffee at a garden centre and they have a live group playing on Saturdays which was nice. There is also a pet shop area and they had the most adorable puppies. They were chiwaaua, Maltese cross and so cute.

We carried on down to Whakatane (Facatarne) and some of the road is right on the coast and the sea looked lovely, really blue and not a cloud in the sky.

We arrived about 1.00 and went to the Tourist Office to ask where the Mataatua Marae was. A 'marae' is a Maori meeting house. She gave us directions and told us the Lights Show was at 2.00 which just gave us enough time to have a bit of lunch.

When we arrived at the marae it was very quiet and nobody else waiting to go in. We got our tickets and yes we were the only ones. www.mataatua.com

We first watched a ten minute film in a room near the ticket area about the marea called The House That Came Home. The marae was built in Whakatane in 1875 but due to the politics of the time the government dismantled it and sent it across to Sydney where it was erected inside out - all the carvings were exposed to the sun and weather. It was then sent down to Melbourne for a year before being shipped to England in 1881 where it was erected once again in the grounds of the South Kensington Museum. In 1883 it was dismantled and stored in the basement of the V&A Museum where it stayed till 1924 when it was once again put on display at Wembley.

Finally after a lot of negotiating it was shipped back to NZ in 1925 but went to Dunedin in the South Island and it stayed there as a permanent exhibition till 1996 when  a tribunal finally got the go ahead to bring it back to Whakatane and be restored and it took till 2011 to complete it 130 years it spent away from where it was built.

It is now a truly beautiful building and I found the whole visit very emotional, probably as it was all done just for Jon and I.

We were taken out to the street entrance and I was told I had to walk up the path first as women mean peace and men mean war and it was to show we came in peace. A Maori girl came out and sang a lovely song with all the hand actions and then a warrior came out and he did the Haka. We were then invited inside the marae but then Jon had to go in ahead of me. The warrior then talked in Maori followed by translations in English about the house and what it all meant and the gods. The girl sang a song and then Jon was invited to respond which he did very well.

We then went for a 'hangi' which is the rubbing of noses and this is the first time we have done this and I was really pleased about it. We then went and watched the lights show which was really amazing. It told about the people and how they came to NZ in canoes and the myths and legends but it was all done with lights shinning on the back wall which is covered in carvings and they all lit up as the paint is reflective and the pau shell reflected the light, too, it was amazing but so hard to explain.

At the end of the show we were able to look around and take pictures. I asked our guide who did the lights and he told me they were designed by a man from the Weta Workshop in Wellington, these are the people who do all the special effects for Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit films.

Our guide then invited us to take some refreshments with him in a room next to the marae. We had a cup of herbal tea which was made from plants growing in the garden there. It was very nice and a bit minty. I told him I thought it was a shame that they didn't have many people and that they should try and get an entry into the Lonely Planet. He asked us to complete a survey and to write that in the survey so that 'the management' knew about it. He said they need someone to market it and I agree as it is lovely and such a shame not more people know about it. Nobody I have spoken to knows it so maybe I will pass the word around. I think though that most Kiwis would not be that interested as they have grown up with the politics of the country and all the issues the white and Maori have whereas I am a visitor and look at things differently. Whatever it was really lovely and we both enjoyed it.

We walked into the town and bought an ice cream and then sat by the river and it was so peaceful.

We got back and the house was like an oven, poor Totty.

We had a cup of tea and I put some chicken Kiev in the oven for our dinner.

Jon tried a G&T tonight, his first since August and he enjoyed it. We watched some TV and then Jane emailed to say she could not get through to us on the phone for her chat as promised so I called her. She chatted to us both and then said I will call you back in a minute so I hung up and waited and nothing. Then she emailed to say she couldn't get through so I called her again and it seems she is putting one 0 too many when she dials. She also laughed as she thought she had made the original call and after 59 minutes on Sky calls she has to call back or they get charged a high rate. She had looked at the clock and said she would call back and once she hung up realised I had called her - bless!! We talked till nearly midnight which is why I didn't do my blog last night!!

I got to bed and Totty had me up three times in the night to go out. Not sure what was wrong with her as she had nothing different to eat. I hope she sleeps tonight as I can't have another lie in tomorrow!!

WEATHER
Sunny 27 degrees