Wine on Waiheke – 21/1/07

Christine had been super-organised and booked the 3 of us on a winery tour around Waiheke Island, 35mins away by ferry. We visited 3 vineyards in all – Kennedy Point, Obsidian and Mudbrick - only a fraction of the island’s 26 wineries. This was the first time that I’d done any proper wine tasting and I got tiddly quite quickly, as I felt bad about pouring wine away in front of the owners.

In between tastings and trying to sober up by eating as much complimentary cheese and crackers as possible, I made two baby steps forward in my knowledge of wines. I now know that I don't like any red wine that contains shiraz (or syrah as they called it), but I did like Kennedy Point's lovely sauvignon blanc made from Marlborough grapes, one of NZ's most famous wine-growing regions on the South Island. I ended up buying a bottle.

At Obsidian, virtually all of the red wines for sampling had some syrah blended in, so I whiled away the time attempting to take a picture of Manny, the resident bird dog. Christine helped out by feeding him some cheese so that he actually stood still for more than 2 seconds at a time.

When we arrived back at the ferry terminal, we walked over to the neighbouring wharf to see if the Soren Larsen had returned from her previous journey. She looked much smaller than expected, and we started wondering if there really would be enough room for us all to sleep on it, including the crew.

The evening was pretty quiet – I spent a few hours in the internet café writing up my account of the Cape Reinga day trip, and then repacked all my bags so that I could leave most of my luggage at the hotel. In the end I gave up on minimal packing and took my main bag with me, leaving behind the rucksack. This was 90% filled by just 2 items - my bulky winter fleece, wrapped carefully around my bottle of sav blanc.

A Waka at Waitangi - 20/1/07

On the way up to Paihia, bus driver Lauren had waxed lyrical about Te Waka, a trip run by 2 ex-Kiwi Experience bus drivers. Inspired by her enthusiasm (and also the relatively cheap price), I signed up for it. It included journeying across the Bay to the Waitangi Treaty House grounds by outrigger canoe. This is built with a stabilising "arm" attached to one side, and was used by Maori women to go fishing in. However, I quickly discovered that this didn't mean that women have a natural aptitude for using one.

"Go left, left I said! Are you drunk??" our guide Rob shouted as our canoe swerved to the right and bumped against the pier for what seemed like the millionth time. I could sense (but not see) his head in his hands. Amused onlookers leaned over the railings above, watching fellow canoeist Shona and I struggling to manoeuvre our way under the pier, impeded both by the tide and also hysterical giggling. "Women drivers!" Shona yelled at our audience as she finally managed to steer us through and we laboriously paddled our way towards the other side of Te Ti Bay. From his kayak, Rob coached us on technique - 15 strokes on each side, with an extra stroke to give ourselves time to change over, signalled by a noise that sounded like "Hup!" (used as it takes very little energy to keep on repeating it, as opposed to: "Please can we switch sides now?")

We finally drew up at the little beach on the edge of the Waitangi Treaty House grounds, much to the bemusement of other visitors who had arrived by car or on foot. In 1840, Maori chiefs and the British signed the Treaty, the founding document of modern New Zealand. However, the Treaty document itself is now in Wellington. What we had actually come to visit was the world's largest Maori war canoe (waka), which was just a few yards from the beach in a specially built shelter. It's an amazing sight - over 35m long, and weighing 12 tonnes - that's even before it's filled to its 135 man capacity! The waka is wide enough to seat 3 warriors (2 paddlers with one person as ballast in the middle). Well, I say seat - the many wooden beams dividing up the canoe were no more than a palm's breadth in width. Rob explained that when the Maoris went off to war, they would paddle standing up, and took no provisions with them as it was thought to be a sign of weakness. Instead they would forage for food along the way. Shona and I looked at each other, both thinking: "God, what a hard life!"

On the prow of the waka is a representation of the grandson of Kupe, the first Maori according to legend to land in New Zealand from Polynesia. Rob lined us up to perform a traditional Maori greeting (hongi) with the figurehead. In turn, Shona and I approached the face of Nukutawhiti, bent down and pressed our noses respectfully against his warm wooden one ("Pause for a moment and clear your thoughts" Rob instructed). We then greeted each other in the modern fashion, which includes simultaneous nose-pressing and a handshake. I was a bit nervous about this part - bumping noses with strangers whilst completely sober was a new experience for me. It was actually quite nice, a very warm and genuine welcome.

The waka only sees action once a year now on Waitangi Day (6th February), when it goes out onto the water flanked by waka from other parts of the country. Apparently any Maori can row in the great waka, after having had some training to learn the many different signals and calls needed to safely steer such a large vessel. Rob himself rowed in the waka a few years ago, along with his brother. I've seen some postcards of the fully-crewed waka - I'd definitely be intimidated if I saw that coming towards me, especially with its pointy ended oars, ready to attack anyone approaching the waka. The oars can be seen tucked up in the rafters of the waka shelter - in that setting, they look slight and delicate.

After a snack at the cafe, we made our way back to Paihia across Te Ti Bay, now looking (and feeling) more like pros. Normally the trip would include paddling to another one or two nearby destinations and some raw shellfish eating, but due to the pier incident and our lack of technique, we had sadly run out of time. Anyway, after the tuatua the day before, I wasn't too unhappy about missing out on more beach cuisine :) By now the sun had come out in full force, and close-up the water was a lovely warm pesto green. Rob had taken charge of our cameras earlier and now circled us to take pictures. He even made a short video clip on my camera as he had the same one himself. Viewing it afterwards, I could see that Shona and I were definitely not in sync whilst paddling, which accounted for our slow progress! Rob tried to instigate a sing-song on the way back, but the only songs that I could think of on the spot were school hymns (funny how they stay with you for years afterwards) and Shona sang about a little bird getting swallowed by (but later escaping from) a crocodile, a favourite song amongst the kids at the nursery where she works. Not very war-like!

This time we negotiated the pier with no difficulty and leapt from the canoe burbling our thanks to Rob. It had been a lovely cultural experience and I was particularly pleased (and relieved!) that we hadn't fallen into the water, even though we had lifejackets. All the wading to and fro from the canoe left me with white tie-dye-like watermarks on my dark trousers, which I sported for the rest of the day. Just after 4pm, we piled into the Kiwi Experience bus to Auckland, and waved to Lauren's mum as we went past her house ("She waves to me every day" said Lauren fondly). Had a lovely surprise later that evening as I was checking my e-mail in the stiflingly hot but cheap internet cafe - Christine texted me to say that she and Jon were in the bar at my hotel. Of course it's great to meet new people, but nothing beats seeing familiar faces when you're far from home.