Just one more day please
March 19th – We decided to stay one more night at the resort. Just the 4 of us. We wanted to go see the Waitangi Treaty Grounds and since we knew we weren’t flying out before April 1st, we may as well stay an extra night and check it out. The rest of the gang needed to get back to Auckland that day. Apparently, they still had a life they needed to attend to – you know like cat, school, work, Maori classes… Fine, fine. We can do this on our own. I think?
But before the gang left for Auckland, we went into town with them to have breakfast at this super cool, little vegetarian cafe. It was so yummy. I had my first avo(cado) on toast. I was a millennial! Young and carefree. Ok, not quite, but I can see why avo on toast is so popular. It was so yummy and filling. And the coffee… Oh the coffee… NZ has the best coffee. They wouldn’t know how to make a bad cup if they tried. There is no such thing as a bad cup of coffee in NZ! Only good, strong, dark, ridiculously rich coffee. I love coffee. Oh coffee…
Sorry… where was I? Oh right. We said our goodbyes and they headed off to Auckland. We checked out the town (read: one block) and took in the sights (read: pier). We headed back to the hotel to change and make our way over to the treaty grounds which happen to be 100 meters from the hotel.
The Waitangi Treaty Grounds are considered the birthplace of NZ. Today, it is where they (the Kiwis) celebrate Waitangi Day or New Zealand Day – February 6th. Waitangi Day celebrates the signing of the treaty between the Europeans and the Maori. This treaty, like most treaties in the world, is controversial.
The museum on site has both sides of the story. On your right when you come through the doors, is the Maori version of events. The left hand side is the European version of events. You can see as you walk through, how and why things broke down. It was an honest and fair way to talk about a very difficult and complicated subject. Even I started to understand things which tells you how well it was done.
We didn’t have long before the guided part of our tour was to begin. We had to leave the museum long before any of us wanted to, even the kids didn’t feel ready. But that was fine since the Waitangi Treaty Grounds offer you a two day pass with every entry. That meant that we could come back the next day if we wanted to. Cool.
We met our guide at “the spot”. He introduced himself and then proceeded to name different countries asking you to lift your hand up if you were from there. It was a funny little exchange we experienced at most of the sites we visited. They are genuinely interested in which countries are visiting NZ. It also allowed for some corny jokes about each country. I’m pretty sure that once you become a guide, you are handed a little book with all of those corny little slags – eh? sigh….
The first part of our tour was the boats or wakas. These wakas are really, really long war ships. Both wakas were built on site (way way back in time) and by hand. They took several years to finish.
The guide started off by telling us the story of the Queen, Princess Di and Camilla. No women are allowed to ride in these wakas. Since they are war boats, they believe that having a woman in the boat will ensure your defeat at battle and that you will be cursed. Not even the carvings can be of women. I think sexist, but the guide justified the belief with the women having a big job protecting the village from the land invasion part, yada yada. Whatever. I call it sexist. Anyway, back to the royalty part of the story.
The Queen of England came to the treaty grounds in 1963. They asked her majesty if she would like to go for a ride in one of the boats. Apparently, although invited, she knew she couldn’t accept. So, she politely declined. Maori like and respect the queen.
Fast forward twenty years later, Princess Di comes to visit, 1983. The story goes that she demanded a ride in the boat and wouldn’t accept that women could not get in the boat. The Maori did not want to let the Princess ride in the boat. It would set a precedent for their women, was against their beliefs and it would curse the waka. They did not invite her to ride in the boat and and refused her request. But they had invited the queen? Apparently, Di wouldn’t stop asking for 2 days, at which point, the Maori finally gave in. The Prince and the Princess went out in the boat. But it was as the men feared. Not long after the Princess’ visit, that the Maori women demanded a turn in the boat. Well, it caused a huge uproar. The protest went on for weeks. No cooking, mending, cleaning, kid minding – the women went on strike until they got their turn in the boat. It nearly brought the tribe to ruin. The women won eventually and they got their ride. The one and only ride. The men “cleansed” the spirit of the waka and re established tradition. No women. The Maori men don’t like Princess Di. The Maori women love Princess Di.
Now 2019, Prince Charles and Camilla show up. Apparently, Camilla asked about the “no women rule” for the boats. The guide told her the story except the name the women who caused the stir. Camilla finally figured it out. Supposedly, the rest of the tour was a bit tense for poor old Charles as Camilla kept whispering (read: yelled) words into Charles’ ear. She also told the guide that she, being dignified and respectful of their culture, wouldn’t be accepting their invitation to ride in the boat. The Maori were never going to invite her. The Maori enjoy Camilla – a lot.
All dudes. 
Very, very long. 
Another dude.
After the boats we walked up to the main building to watch a Maori cultural demonstration. As always, a chief was chosen to represent our group before we could formally be invited into the building. The hubby wasn’t chosen this time. But the guy who was chosen, was someone who lived down the road from the grounds. He had brought some out of town guests with him. Of course, he had to make the traditional speech to acknowledge welcome. He was embarrassed to say that he hadn’t been to the grounds before. He apologized and said that he would now make more of an effort to be supportive and respectful of Maori. Wow…. I mean not only was that quite personal but super brave of him to do. New Zealand is in a stage of reconciliation with the Maori. Again, this doesn’t get fixed over night but their conversation has started. Was a bit of a moment for everyone in the room.
The demonstration wasn’t as good as the one we saw in Rotorua. The performers didn’t seem to take it as seriously nor was it has “complete”. They didn’t really show the Poi or the Haka. It was short and to the point but didn’t have the same feel as the one at Tamaki Village. Each tribe has their own take on these things of course. And I didn’t expect it to be the same. It was ok but just not great. A different feel to the one in Rotorua I guess.
Our guide. He said he was related to people who had been at the signing of the treaty. Important people. On both sides – Maori and European. Grandfather and Uncle. Our chief giving his speech. A cool moment to witness.
We walked around the grounds and toured a few of the buildings but it had started to rain and tummy’s were grumbling. We grabbed a quick snack at the little cafe on the grounds before heading back to the hotel. We got more covid news. Air Canada was no longer doing international flights as of March 31st. But we fly out April 1st? Ok will deal with that later.
It was a low key night of ordering in pizza and getting our journals caught up. An early night for all. Back to Auckland tomorrow.