can you recognise a certain sophisticated gent's silhouette in the Lost World?

and you've probably guessed who this might be!

The Lost World

Happy New Year from Auckland!

Auckland's Sky Tower New Year's Eve 2010

Fireworks off the Tower at midnight- NZ, the first landmass to get the New Year

Maori Myth and Legend

The earliest ancestors of present day Maori arrived on New Zealand by canoe, in approximately the 8th century AD, from the Polynesian islands of the South Pacific. It is difficult to know from exactly which group of islands they came but they were completing a centuries old mission of conquering the Pacific Ocean and all that lay within it and New Zealand (Aotearoa as it was first called) represented their final discovery. Originally these Polynesian explorers had travelled from South East Asia across the chain of islands to Papua New Guinea and on to the Cooks, Marquesas and as high up as Hawaii and as east as Rapanui. They had colonised the otherwise uninhabited islands they'd come across, forming civilisations and individual cultures derived from the motherland of Hawaiki. When they discovered Aotearoa (land of the small, white cloud- so named because it was a small cloud hovering over the land that they saw from their canoe that indicated to them they were almost there). They had never encountered such a large continent and so much colder than the tropical islands they were used to. They would have to adapt. They'd brought with them the customary mulberry plant, bananas, coconut palms and kumara (sweet potato) but most of these crops could not survive in the colder parts of the country. They settled around the coastal regions as the land there was more fertile and easier to cultivate than the uplands and there was plenty of food to be had from the seals on the shoreline, fish in the sea and an abundance of large birds. New Zealand had been, up until that point, isolated from the evolution of land mammals which had been occuring in other parts of the globe and the lack of any large predators meant that bird species such as the flightless Moa (bigger than an ostrich) and the giant eagle, it's only predator, had been allowed to dominate. The settlers brought with them dogs that ravaged the delicate bird ecosystem and, what with extensive culling by early hunters, the Moa and the eagle were extinct within a couple of centuries. Early Maori had no direct experience of the land formations they were faced with, the mountains and volcanoes and so, to make sense of it all to themselves, they invented stories to explain their origins. Traditionally, in Polynesian culture, man is connected distinctly to nature and the earth he lives on and the sky he lives under so it was fitting to give these things human identities. The beginnings of the earth are explained thus: the sky, Rangi, was the father and the earth, Papa, was the mother whose children fought to break them apart. Eventually the son Tane Mahuta, tree god, forced his roots into the earth and his branches up to the sky breaking them up, therefore creating the separate worlds of demi gods and humans. Other myths were created to reason the existence of mountain ranges, taking the form of human gods and the fires of volcanoes were justified as the wrath of the gods. Ceremonies were performed in sacred (tapu) places within their pa (villages) to appease the ancestral gods, and much emphasis was placed on revering the past. The ancient ancestors were seen as demigods and the motherland from which they came was deemed as the heaven where all Maori souls will return after death. Aside from this association with Polynesia the Maori went on to form their very own distinct culture, much of which was demonstrated through powerful song and dance, illustrating the ancient myths and successfully passing on through the generations the stories that kept the culture alive. Extended family, or hapu, was always an important mainstay of the Maori and much emphasis was placed on hereditary claims to the obtaining of mana and rank. If you came from an important family you automatically had intense mana (pride and power). These hapus would form into tribes (iwis), bringing families together to unite against a threat from a neighbouring tribe for their land or other community issues. They took their names from the original wakas (canoes) which brought their ancestors, for example, Te Arawa iwi is of the canoe named Arawa. It was not until the 16th century when manufacture of greenstone chisels made it possible to develop the art of wood carving which subsequently was used extensively to symbolise the gods in their depiction on totem poles. Tattooing also became an art form at this time which represented fearlessness in the warrior, as the practise of tattooing on the face was both painful and drew much blood. Maori men, although 'ruled' by Rangatiri (kings) within their respective iwi were renowned for also being very strongwilled and would often stand up against the Rangatiri. Mana could be obtained this way also.

When the Pakeha (white people) arrived, in the 18th century, the Maori language, until then only verbal, was deciphered and a dictionary published, the leading Maori poets and storytellers lost no time in making sure all their great myths, legends, songs and dances were recorded for all time in written form. The Pakeha were very interested in researching the indigenous culture of their new country and the Maori were very keen to introduce them to it and proudly display it for all the world to witness. It was at this point that much more energy was plowed into the building of elaborate marae (meeting houses) and the traditions of the Maori culture were more greatly celebrated, as they are still today.

Maori Words

Kia Ora - Hello

Haere Mai - Welcome

Tangata Whenua - people of the land

Te Papa - our earth

Waka - canoe

Haka - famous war dance, as demonstrated by the New Zealand rugby team at the beginning of their matches. The widening of the eyes, the protrusion of the tongue and the slapping of the chest was meant to frighten the opposing tribe into surrendering before the battle had even begun.

Maui - life force- this is represented also in dance by the quick flickering of the hand. Maori believe that evrerything that moves has life force.

Reflections on New Zealand

The 'youngest country in the world' is nevertheless very proud of its short but fiery history. The Maori population are revered for their connections to the country's tribal past and sympathised with for their forebears' suffering under the colonisers' rule. We are saddened however by the general negative opinions towards a majority of Maori youth, responsible mainly for the rash of petty crime which regularly takes place in the more remote areas. The strength of the Maori culture comes from pride, which can it seems, sometimes manifest itself in a belief that things are owed. Of course, it is fact that much land was unlawfully taken and atrosities occured, however it is Maori that are now often blamed for unreasonable charging to see the thermal wonderlands which they have been gifted back as part of the nation's apology. It is human nature that when oppressed, people will inherantly react differently and there are a great number of worthy Maori projects going on too. It might also be said that when a culture's heritage is being suppressed, there's a tendancy to attempt to rejuvenate the stories of that culture to more great a status than if they hadn't been suppressed in the first place. The question can be posed, what role can the practise of Maori culture have in a modern world? A line can be drawn, separating cultural practices for preservation purposes and the good of today's Maori and the pursuit of old battles causing continuing unrest between the indigenous and Pakeha (white) populations. This is not to say that we witnessed any racism, we did not. New Zealand is a very accommodating nation, with large populations of Chinese and Japanese, in Auckland especially, obviously enjoying the free thinking attitudes of their second nearest Western neighbour. Sushi is one of the nation's current favourite foods. This doesn't really fit with the typical stereotype of the New Zealand male, all macho with his hunting and fishing gear, hammering around in the wilderness on his quadbike. These guys do still exist in the rural areas but increasingly, the cities are becoming more forward thinking and the arts are playing a much bigger role than they ever did.

But, aside from all these humans, it's New Zealand's great outdoors, that is it's ace card. Although having just experienced the thrills of mountainous South America, we've failed to detach ourselves from the magic that is true New Zealand. We've gained a fondness for the green hills, snow topped mountains, great lakes and impressive coastlines we've encountered on our road trip. It's a small land but encompasses a great many types of geological formations, volcanic landscapes, ancient rainforests and marine and bird life. I am troubled by the fact that I may not be able to remember the distinct call of the Tui bird. It's different to any other bird and sounds so exotic with it's combination of throat clucks and bending notes. Oh well, it'll just have to be logged with all the other sensoral experiences that we have come across so far and may or may not be lost as my brain becomes foggy with all the stuff we've been taking in and gets older!

19.12.09 Waitomo Caves- King Country

'tumu tumu toobing'

Waikato region is called King Country because a Maori king ruled here during the 1850s. He was chosen to rule from the five tribes of the area because they needed to unite against the colonists who were trying to buy up their fertile land. It's beautiful rolling countryside, not at all unlike Fife, the other Kingdom! The main attraction of the area are the Waitomo underground caves. There are over 1000 of them in the area and only 300 have been mapped, of which 30 are used for taking tour parties into. We look at all the adventure tour options including black water rafting and extreme caving (clambering up waterfalls and the like) and settle on a combo of 'Tumu Tumu Toobing' (2 1/2 hour underground tubing down river, swimming and climbing) followed by the 'Lost World' (2 hour hike underground through the Manapuru Cave with an initial abseil descent of 100m). The Tumu Tumu Toobing is going to be a wet trip so we're given full wetsuits and gumboots over the top. We're driven out through the rolling green countryside to the cave entrance, which is just a small hole in the surface of the land, with a few rocks and palms. We climb down a short ladder and switch our helmet lamps on because we're immediately in the dark. Dion explains to us these caves were formed from limestone deposits (millions of years old shells and other sea matter) through which water penetrated, because the rock's quite soft and eventually created sink holes to the caverns underneath. Our cave is very tight with a small stream flowing through which leads to a bigger one further on. We gingerly clamber through over rocks and through pools, some much deeper than others, being careful not to touch the stalactites (it takes on average 100 years to form a centimetre). They're created by the droplets of water coming through the cave's ceiling and, in this cave, they're a caramel/ brown colour because the water's passed through earth above. We're not very far underground, only 7 metres or so. Glowworms are one of the main draws for visitors to these caves. They are in fact maggots, not worms, and they produce the bioluminesence reaction in their poo! They have shiny poo- and that's what you can see. We're asked to turn off our helmet lamps to appreciate the glowworms and we traipse conga style (hands on the person in front's shoulders) through the glowworm cave. It's very pretty, just like looking at the night sky full of stars. We pick up our tubes (big rubber rings) and get towed along in the dark through Aria Cave, it's supposed to have a good resonance for singing and has many more glowworms so it's a very mystical experience, being towed along in the dark. Then we have to do a bit of swimming in the freezing cold waters to get through the deep pools and a paddle frontways on our tubes again to reach the other end. Quite an exerting experience and quite hairy at times especially having to fit through tight passages in the rock and being careful not to twist your ankle or worse on the jagged rocks! We have a short break for lunch then we join the Lost World tour in the afternoon. The abseil comes first so we have to have a harness and ropes with carabinas attached for clipping on to the safety rope when we're descending and also when we're climbing along steep edges. It's a dry trek so we just wear overalls and gumboots, no wetsuits needed. We're shown a 60 metre drop in a nearby cave as a taster for the real one and asked if everyone's still okay with it. It looks a long way down but I know we'll be attached to ropes, safety ropes and the guide so we shouldn't be going anywhere. We're given a quick lesson in how to move the rope through our hand to increase or decrease our speed, with the emergency break being our leg twisted round the rope, then asked to sit out on the bar with nothing below our feet, only the rope holding us, suspended above 100metres of nothing. This was the scariest bit for me and Greg didn't look too comfortable either, at least to start with. When we were told to start moving down, we relaxed a little although I still wasn't prepared to look down too much, as I might get freaked out. It took us about 10 minutes to get down to the bottom of the cave, speeding up as we got closer to the ground. Looking back up to the platform, it was a very long way! The shaft of light from the blue sky above made it very picturesque in the cave with mists rising from the river below. We climbed in the vast mouth of the cave, looking at 30 million year old ammonite fossils embedded in the rocks and huge curtains of stalactites. We had to climb a horrible 30 metre cold metal ladder in the dark, which I took ages at because my hands were hurting with the freezing rungs and it was tough going. And then it was a short clamber and we were out into daylight again.

17.12.09 Skydive - Lake Taupo

I'd grown ever more indecisive about doing a skydive because of the horrible stories of peoples' parachutes failing and not living to tell the tale. I realised that if I kept dwelling on this fear I would never do it and so I decided to book it that very afternoon so I wouldn't even need to sleep on it, I'd just have to get on and do it while the sun was shining and I was up for it. I had a very real nervous feeling as we drove to Taupo airport but I told myself, if I started to panic, I'd chicken out and not do it, so I tried to keep as calm as I could and not think about it. It was fortunate, in a way, that when I arrived 1/2 hour early for my 3pm booking that they managed to fit me in on the 2.30pm flight, so I didn't need to wait and get more apprehensive. I was rushed through to the hanger to get kitted out with a harness because everyone else was already seated in the plane. My co-diver luckily insisted he strap me up properly even though his colleague was calling him to hurry up. Because my co-diver and me were last on the plane, we had to sit facing the opposite way, on the floor, next to the see-through door and would be the first to jump!

I started to get a bit worried about the fact I was the last one and maybe my straps weren't done up properly, but I was sure to banish all thoughts like this to the back of my head. My co-diver attempted conversation with me, perhaps to stop me panicking, but I couldn't really hear him because of the noise of the plane. Then he ran through the jumping procedure with me so I thought we must be getting high. However it was still only 5,000 feet (he had a watch with an altitude indicator) and he explained that this is the height at which he'll deploy the parachute and we still had to get to 12,000 feet before we could jump. I was looking down out the see through door and thought this is high enough for me thanks. When we reached 12,000 feet a green light went on next to the door and the other divers were indicating that we should go, go, go. My stomach had butterflies in it and I tried to keep smiling because everyone was looking at me, as I was the first to jump. My co-diver said it's going to be really windy, cold and noisy when he opens the door so be prepared. He checked I was okay then the door was opened, I swung my legs out into the air, feeling the force of the wind immediately, leant my head back, gripped on to my straps and before I knew it we were out, plummeting face down through the air, the earth coming up to us very quickly.

can you see me? - I'm the little white dot to the left of the plane!

The force was terrifying. I thought I was going to die. My co-diver tapped my shoulder three times which meant I could stretch out my arms, which I did. After what seemed a very long freefall, our parachute was deployed and suddenly we were jolted upwards and I was in a sitting position and the noise of the air had completely stopped. It was like we were hardly moving at all, just floating along, catching the breeze. Again he asked me if I was okay and I gave him the thumbs up saying it was fantastic. We were able to enjoy the brilliant views over massive Lake Taupo and up to the Tongariro mountains in the distance. The day couldn't be better. The sky was cloudless. He told me we'd have to do some spiralling down to get down a bit quicker because there were jumpers behind us. It was fun but made me quite ill from the pressure as we spun downwards. I was loving looking round though at all the patchwork of scenery, fields, buildings and when we circled down round the airport I tried desperately to pinpoint Greg who was waiting below with his camera.

Landing was a bump to the bum and we were down. I'd survived! Woohoo!

12.12.09 - 16.12.09 3 day Whanganui River Canoe Trip

the Wanganui River Valley

From Wellington we drive up the west coast of the North Island to Wanganui, a large historically Maori town on the estuary where the longest navigable river in New Zealand, the Whanganui (at 300km) reaches the sea. We enjoy culinary delights from the cake stall at the Riverboat Market on Saturday morning and test the wild sea waters off the coast of Castle Cliff beach nearby. But the surf and high winds prove a bit too much for us and our little boogie boards- we're tossed around as the waves crash in and get pulled back into the depths with the back current- we only last 20 mins! We arrange to hire a canoe from Canoe Safaris based in Ohakune and the following day we leave Wanganui to drive up the Whanganui River Road which hugs the river's route through the valley, to the small ski resort town of Ohakune, nearby the Tongariro National Park. The stretch of the Whanganui river from Whakahoro to Pipiriki is renowned as the most scenic part of the Whanganui river journey which has been given a New Zealand Great Walk status, even though it's on water. The whole area is part of the Wanganui National Park, managed by the Department of Conservation in association with the Maori tribes who still occupy the banks of the river in traditional dwellings. We stock up on all the essentials we'll need for our 3 day trip on the river and collect our watertight barrels from the Canoe Safari lodge to fill with food, clothes, sleeping bags and torches, the huts we'll be staying in have no electricity. We need to meet at the lodge early next morning to get to the river to start our first day's paddle. We'll be covering 30km downstream to reach the first camp, John Coull Hut. We're warned by the driver of the first meeting of river currents because there's the chance we could capsize. Apart from the odd rapid it should be an easy ride. The river levels are very high so it's flowing faster but the rapids shouldn't be as tricky. The water's hidden the rocks that cause the rapids but the undercurrents will still affect the boat, pulling it in different directions. The advice is to keep paddling if you start wobbling to try to remain steady. The canoe is a double Canadian canoe which is open-topped and a lot bigger than a kayak. However, unlike a kayak, it's more easily flipped and, although our gear is in so-called watertight containers, we don't want to risk it getting wet, so we make every effort possible to avoid going over. As soon as we get paddling it becomes obvious to me why people say they can forget who they are and everything in the outside world when they paddle down the Whanganui. It's so serene and quiet on the gentle flowing water and the continuous moving gallery of jungle foliage clinging to the sandstone cliff faces and countless waterfalls makes it one of the most relaxing and stress free experiences I've ever had. I personally believe a canoe down the Whanganui should be used as a form of treatment for stress!

Although there are other parties on the river while we are, it's quite convenient that the bends in the river hide them from us, so we feel that we're the only ones there. We only get to meet up with them when we all arrive at the first hut at different times. There are a Dutch couple, a German couple, four Americans, two Singaporeans and five Israelis. Staying in a small hut in communal bunks and using a small kitchen/ diner means that we have no choice but to get to know our canoeing companions. We eat together round the dining table, staying cosy by the logburner that Mae and Olive, lodge wardens, keep stoked for us. Mae and Olive are Maori and Olive has a Maori design tattooed on her chin to represent her important lineage. As it gets dark Greg lights our gas lantern to help us keep playing Tantrix and cards on the table but it's not long before everyone makes their way to the adjacent bunk room for the night. After a not so restful sleep- one of our group is a snorer- we pack up our barrels and untie our waka (canoe) for the second day on the river. We have to cover another 30kms to get to the next hut, a traditional Maori pa (settlement) complete with it's own marae (meeting house) called Tieke Kainga. The Department of Conservation have conveniently signposted the river banks to indicate where the campgrounds and huts are- they are often invisible from the river, so we know where to moor up.

We stop halfway to visit the famous Bridge to Nowhere, a short bush walk from the bank. The Bridge to Nowhere has an interesting story behind it to explain it's name. After the First World War, the New Zealand soldiers who returned were relocated to the areas surrounding the Whanganui and given land to farm. Unfortunately the land was too rugged and many of the farmers abandoned it. However, prior to this, it was planned to build a whole community in the area and construct a road to it which is why the bridge was built to cross a deep canyon. The concrete structure now sits redundant as the Great Depression also added to the problems faced by the farmers. Britain no longer agreed to pay the prices for imported goods from New Zealand so many ordinary folk had to leave their land to seek other employment. We walk across it but we notice it is no longer the bridge to nowhere, it in fact leads to a walking track. We feel duped! In the second half of the day we suffer strong head winds which make the paddling much more difficult. And, by the way, because I'm in front, I have to do most of the paddling while Greg is using his paddle as a steering rudder. Although, he would dispute this! We make it to Tieke Kainga with time to spare though and have to tiptoe into the hut as there's a Maori youth community group having a meditation session in front of the marae. When they're finished we're introduced to the group leader and the chief lady who also has a chin tattoo. They're very welcoming and offer us a hot drink. We 'book' our bunks and enjoy the last rays of sunshine before it disappears behind the hilltops. The teenagers play guitar and sing together in harmonies which are not bad, if a little loud at times. Their group leader tells us they're on a 6 day journey of discovery. As a Maori community worker he's trying to give them a positive experience and boost their pride in themselves. They all bunk up in the marae so we have the hut to ourselves. This one has two separate rooms so we're sure to pick the one the snorer isn't in. A peaceful uninterrupted sleep ensues. We're the first to set off on the last day and the river is still like a millpond.

It's beautiful when the sun hits the scenery. We paddle up one of the many waterfall gullies to have a close up look at the sparkling water as it comes over the mossy cliff edges. It's magical. I vow to try to recreate one of these spectacular natural water features in my garden one day! There are three sets of stronger rapids on the home stretch and there are times when we're pulled by the water underneath us into the flow even though we're a bit apprehensive about going through too many waves and are paddling as hard as we can. After mooring up for the final time at Pipiriki boat ramp we all say our goodbyes because, even though we've not seen each other on the river, we've grown quite close through spending two nights in huts together. This experience has to be up there with swimming with dolphins and the Tongariro Crossing as one of the best in New Zealand.