After a long journey north to Taipa, we got settled and headed to visit Uncle Hector ʻHekenukumaingaiwiʻ Busby and his home in Aurere. He is just 10 minutes away from Taipa in a placed called Aurere. He the one who connect with Nainoa Thompson in 1983 when he came to Aotearoa to study the skies in preparation for their initial voyage to Aotearoa in 1985. Uncle Hec is one of two Maori "Pwo" or master navigators and we were honored to join him in his home for a few moments. We made our way to Aurere, we turned into the road that leads to his house and made our way across a very narrowly constructed bridge that crosses a stream that fronts their property. It was quite challenging as the area is quite dark, perfect to see the skies above because Uncle Hecʻs house is away from the lights that could prevent a clear viewing of the stars. We drove down the winding dirt road to a few structures on the bottom of the hill that were the ʻwakairoʻ area or Maori carving as well as the Kupe Waka center. As we reached the top of the hill, we saw his home and fronting his home was a large star compass. There were 5 foot poupou marking the cardinal points of the star compass and in the center there was a navigators chair that can spin to allow the navigator to orient themselves as needed. Our hui was drawn to the area and stood in amazement because as we understood the mana of that space. The knowledge that was shared by Nainoa, Uncle Hec, Uncle Bruce Blankenfield and the other navigators who used that ʻāina was evident and we soaked it in. We made our way into Uncle Hecʻs home and spent some time catching up. The walls were covered with many treasures speaking of his numerous awards from the communities that he has served as well as a large picture of Pius Mau Pialug, the guiding mentor from Satawal who helped to shape and guide our journeys throughout the Pacific. It allowed our to show the world that our Moananuiakea was not populated by chance, but by meaningful navigation by our ancestors. Seeing Nainoa, Uncle Hec and the ngāti ruawāhia whanau in the room was special. After a short time, we gave our aloha and planned to be back to pick him up to head to Waitangi for our Powhiri, then headed back to Taipa.
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After a restful sleep, I began our day with a bit of exploration. I noticed a statue of Aotearoa's most famous aviatrix, Jean Batton fronting the airport. After a proper feed, that included many of their influences from their British occupation like baked beans and an array of croissants, we set out on our 5 hour journey to Taipa. We headed out and planned on traveling to the northland through Whangarei. As we left the airport area, we were thrust into the hustle and bustle of a typical monday morning and their traffic. It took a while to get used to the driver on the right side of the vehicle, as well as driving on the left side of the road, but transportation here is always a great adventure. After heading out of Auckland and over the Waitemata Harbour Bridge, we were greeted by Aotearoa's true beauty. The many sights included wonderful greenery and different ecosystems, seeing many sheep and cattle in the expansive pastureland and searching for those tasty meat pies. (I don't know why this hasn't made its way to Hawaii yet). We stopped at Whangarei for a quick bite (A Classic BLT) and continued on for the two hours to Taipa. We passed large open areas as well as a few dairys and many, many farms along with small sleepy towns along the highway. We even had to detour because of a 'slippage' or landslide in the Paihia area. Once in Taipa, we arrived at our home for the next 4 days and prepared to visit Pwo Navigator Uncle Hector ʻHekenukumaingaiwiʻ Busby and his property with the Kupe Waka Center, Te Aurere (The Māori Sailing Waka) and a life-sized star compass. It's going to be an exciting evening. One of the more interesting things about international travel is the international date line. Aotearoa is 22 hours ahead of Honolulu. In our journey, we will be departing Honolulu at 1:30pm on Saturday, April 28th and after a 9 hour flight, we will be landing in Auckland at 10:30pm on Sunday, April 29th. We will be losing an entire day in transit. We arrived in Auckland, we were greeted by the sounds of the Tainui iwi, the tribe of the area, welcoming us on recording and went through to clear customs. Aotearoa is very protective of their boarders and visitors. We were sprayed with and aerosol to help to hinder the entrance of pests. They also have a very strict level of scrutiny of the materials that they allow into their country. You have to declare all foods, seeds, roots, and materials. They also no let in any meats. We then made our way across the street to our accomodations in the Novatel Auckland Hotel. T-minus 1 day and counting. The honor of being a part of the hui that will be representing Ngāti Ruawahia, the sixth tribe of Taitokerau is amazing and I hope to be able to represent my ʻohana, my kupuna, our papa Mālama Honua and the Moananuiakea consortium well. We are a part of Ngāti Ruawāhia, the tribe that Sir James Hinare identified the Hōkūleʻa group that visited Aotearoa in 1985 as the "sixth tribe of Tai Tokerau" and named the group Ngāti (tribe) Ruawāhia (the Maori name for Hōkūleʻa or the star Arcturus). Our Poupou is Mauipāmaomao or ʻMaui from the furthest reachesʻ and is located in the Te Ti Marae of Waitangi. Link In our preparation we are familiarizing with the waiata and mele that we will be needing to perform in our numerous powhiri. One of the kura we are visiting has began itʻs promoting of our visit. We will be visiting Taipa area schools to help to share our moʻokūauhau of Ngāti Ruawāhia to all of the visitors that evening. I am quite excited that we are heading to kokua and mālama the Kupe Waka Center in Aurere. I canʻt wait to see the "lifesized" navigational star compass on Uncle Hectorʻs ʻāina. More to come. Te na kotou katoa. Mele of Ngāti Ruawāhia |
AuthorKumu Blake is honored to be a part of the hui representing the Moananuiākea consortium and Ngāti Ruawahia, the sixth tribe of Taitokerau ArchivesCategories |