Saw this boat going up the river, was quite impressed with his speed for a gondala type thing until I zoomed into the photo and saw the outboard motor in the middle of the canoe!
Maori Boat
Joining the Tribe at Tieke Kainga Marae, and a Dip!
After our day’s paddling, we were officially welcomed onto the sacred Maori Marae area. A ceremony which involved songs, and speeches, from both the welcomers and the visitors. And a careful barefoot procession in. Beautiful to hear the voice of our lady DOC warden beaming out across the river to the rock wall opposite. Amazing acoustics. When the next batch of paddlers pulled in we got to sit on the benches of the welcoming tribe and greet all the new comers with the touching of four heads and noses. The sharing of breath, and the sharing of dreams. We didn’t take any photos of the Marae and the beautiful totem pole as it seemed the respectful thing to do.
Then Cookie, Josh, Mitchell, Sarah, Sophia and i pegged it down for a dip in the Whanganui. It’s was a sizzling evening! And more entertainment in the form of a rock skimming competition :)
Yep a good deal of nose touching today, I had no idea it was a traditional Maori custom, thought it was just the Eskimos that did the nose kissing. Good job I’ve got a huge hooter, saved the hordes of canoeists behind us the unpleasantness of my sweaty brow ;) I was seriously questioning wether I liked this tradition when all the men came through first, one at a time for an intimate nose nuzzle.. But then we got a line of 20 odd ladies next, I finally started warming to it!
A quick ‘freshen up’ in the river afterwards, left us marginally cleaner than before..
Leaving Wanganui
On our way out of town we spotted a tower on the hill. Turns out there’s a tunnel heading way under the hill and a 1900’s elevator up there?? No idea why though! Amazing echos inside. Built in 1916 the tunnel goes deep under the hill. So technically we’ve done the horizontal miles on the map, just not the vertical ;) So no cheating there eh ;)
Lining the entrance were rows of brilliant Maori style pole carvings.
We said goodbye to my parents in Wanganui, then took another day off to catch up with the bloggin’. Our Top Tip for this town is the Thai restaurant on the main street by the bridge. Can’t remember it’s name, but I do remember the Hot $ Sour soup was excellent and the Sizzling Weeping Tiger Beef was out of this world :D
I loved this little elevator, at the end of the tunnel you rang the bell, then down came a lady in her old school wood paneled elevator car to whisk us to the top for $2 each.
Maori Carving:
