Ka aukatia te pēwheatanga o nga kararehe i te āwha nei e taku roro. E wāuna hoki te mano ngerongero o te moumou o te hipi me te kau me te aha noa atu, mai i te hiku o te ika tae atu ki te pane o te ika. Hahautia katoatia te motu inā te wehi taioreore o Kapiriao. Engari he waimarie nō mātau te kāinga o Ngapuna, he ua pūnehu anake, he hau angiangi i pā mai. Ko taku ngakau kua riro ki ngā whānaunga ōku e noho mai nā i Heretaunga.
Kua puta te rongo kōrero kai te kaha katoa rātau. He ngākau matapopore tōku ki te whenua o Heretaunga. He pou-tuhi ahau i tētehi wā mā te Hawke’s Bay Herald Tribune nō te tau e whitu tekau. I Ahuriri ahau e mahi ana, he pou rīpoata te mahi. Ko Taradale taku wāhi noho māua tokorua ko taku tapeha tata a Kath Van der Meer me tona hoa rangatira a Lou me ā rāua tamariki. He manaaki hoihō te mahi a ā rāua tamāhine ki Waiohiki.
Ka peka atu ahau ki taku kiri whānaunga hoki hai etehi taimā ki a Jim Cross me tōna makau rangatira ki a Christine me ā rāua tamariki. Ko Bo tōna ingoa poipoi. He pākihi taraka tā Lou, whaihoki he tangata ruku moana a Jim i Pan Pac e mahi ana. Nā taku noho i kōnei i whakakipakipa e ahau taku tangaengae whakapapa ki taku whānau Cross. Ko tō rātau matua wahine a Nōti hai tuahine nō taku matua tāne. I heke iho mātau ki te tangi nō te tau kotahi mano, e iwa rau, e rima tekau mā rima.I haere mā te tākihi o Mosie Morrison i te korenga o ngā waka tuturu ki te kawe i a mātau ki te tangi.
Ko Albert tō rātau matua tāne, ko Uncle Fullus kē ki a mātau, e noho tahi ana hoki i a Jim me Bo i Taradale. Hoi, ka peka atu ahau, ka kōrero noa mātau me te huhua hoki o ngā kaupapa kōrero. I Ahuriri tana mahi, ā ka oti i a ia tana mahi ka mauria mai he ika hai kai mā mātau.
Tokowaru ngā tamariki a enei tokorua. Ko tētehi he tamāhine. Ko Mona Bush tona ingoa, kai te wāhi e kī a nei ko The Bay tonu ia e noho ana. E hoki ana ngā maharatanga nō te wā mātau e itiiti ai, he raumati, kai te kaukau mātau ki te moana, kai te matira ika, e ruku kai ana, ā, e noho hōpuni ana me te ataahua hoki o te noho Māori. Nō Ki te whenua, ko ia te hoa rangatira o Mona. Ko Aropaoanui te wāhi.
Nō mua iti nei o te kirihimete whaka-Te Reinga atu mātau ko taku whānau ki Te Wairoa ki te tangi atu ki tō tātau tupapaku, e heke ana te wai o te wairere me te rearea hoki. He waewae tapu ahau nō taua wā, e tā, e mātakitaki nei ahau i te pouaka whakaata inākuanei, kātahi au ka kite i te wāhi e waipuketia ana ka ngau taku puku. E hoki mai ana ngā maharatanga ki ahau i ngā kōrero huhua a ngā hāpori iti o Te Tairawhiti me Heretaunga.
Nōku e kotahi tekau o ngā tau, he motokā tō mātau. Ka mā Whakatāne, mā Te Whānau a Apanui mātau ki Tokomaru.
Ka nui ngā whanaunga o ōku mātua i Whakatāne. Ka peka atu mātau ki a Mary Milner (nee Rickett) he whānaunga nō tōku matua wahine, i Tokomaru e noho ana. I whakapakekengia rāua tokorua ko tōku matua wāhine i Tamaki Makaurau i a rāua kaumātua. Ka tonoa tō mātau matua wāhine kaokaoroa ki Tamaki Makaurau nā tōna māuiui, nā reira i ora ai ia.
He kāinga nō te whānau Harrisons kei Waipiro, ā, ki reira mātau moe ai. Ko ngā whānaunga ēnei o tōku matua wahine kaokaoroa a Nan Sewell. Kai reira tō mātau tapeha tata e tanu ana. Ko te kimi mahi i Heretaunga, nōku e taitamariki ana e tika ana mā ngā tamariki o Te Whakarewarewa me Ngapuna. Ka ngaro atu mātau ki Heretaunga, ka pau te kotahi tau e mahi ana i a mātau. Ko te mahi, kai reira, kei tēnei takiwā. He patu mīti, he tukituki waerenga, he kutikuti hipi, a te mahi wheketari hoki ki Watties. Ka paiakangia etehi o ngā whānaunga ki Heretaunga, kīhai i hoki mai.
Ka timata te heke o ngā roimata i aku kanohi i taku kitenga atu i te kāinga o Omahu me Puketapu. Moumou tahi. Moumou tahi.
I Omahu ki tahaki o te marae, ko tō mātau ko ngā tamariki o Te Whakarewarewa, wāhi rāhui, tō mātau ahuru mōwai. Nō Richard Wahiao Te Moana me tōna makau rangatira a Jackie te whenua nā. Ki te hia moenga, ki te pirangi mahi te tangata, ka haere ki ēnei tokorua. Ka ora i a rāua.
Tahia te auetanga o te ngakau, kai te ao marama te kōrero ināianei. He koanga ngākau kua puta i a te kōmiti o Te Matatini ka tū tonu Te Matatini me te whakataetae nui. Ka ahatia ina ka whakakorengia tuatorungia? Ka tū ngā pīhi o te tangata. Ka puta tēnei pānuitanga, kua mōhiotia tātau ko wai mā o ngā rōpū kua eke ki te paepae whakamutunga.
He tū rangatira tēnei, he tū whakamīharo e whakaatungia e tātau te wairua māia o te tangata. Kāti. Kia kaha, kia maia, kia manawanui. — Na Raimona Inia i whakamaoritia.
English Translation
The death and destruction wreaked upon our land in the past few weeks is beyond belief.
Natural disasters on such a scale in modern times are what happen in far-off countries. Not to us, apart from the Christchurch earthquakes in 2010 and 2011.
My Tuhourangi iwi and Rangitihi whanaunga grew up with stories about the eruption of Tarawera in 1886. It shaped much of our lives and still lives in our purakau and moteatea.
The response to the destruction by Gabrielle and the severe weather events has been everything I expected it to be.
Immediate and heart-felt. Practical. People giving time, kai, money, household items. And at a time when the increasing cost of living is biting. Hard.
My skin crawls when I see visuals of deep blankets of silt smothering orchards and crops. I can only imagine how putrid it smells.
My mind blocks off what might have happened to the hundreds of animals on our farms and lifestyle blocks from the North down both sides of Te Ika A Maui.
Every region suffered under Gabrielle’s wrath. Here in Ngapuna life was barely disturbed. We had some wind but little rain.
My whanau in Hawke’s Bay are safe and were some of the lucky ones whose homes were not affected. Or not affected too badly.
Hawke’s Bay is one of my favourite places and I have very fond memories of my time at the Hawke’s Bay Herald Tribune in the 1970s. I was a Napier reporter for the Hastings-based Tribune.
I lived in Taradale with my cousin Kath van der Meer and her husband Lou and their children. Their girls kept their horses at Waiohiki.
I also spent time with cousin Jim Cross and his wife Christine, known as Bo, and their children.
Lou had a trucking business and Jim, a keen diver, worked at Pan Pac. It was a time when I renewed ties with my Cross whanau. Their mother, Noti, was one of Dad’s sisters and we went to Napier for her tangi in 1955. We went in Mosie Morrison’s taxi because bus or train services were infrequent.
Their father Albert, Uncle Fullus to us, was living with Jim and Bo at the Taradale Road homestead when I was there and we enjoyed many a conversation. He worked at the fisheries in Ahuriri and used to bring home the best fish.
Uncle and Auntie had eight children and a daughter, Mona Bush, still lives in the Bay.
I remember a magical summer holiday at Aropaoanui fishing and diving, camping on land belonging to the family of Mona’s husband Ki.
Just before Christmas our whanau went to Te Reinga at Wairoa for a tangi and the river and falls behind the pa were beautiful. That was the first time I had been to Wairoa and then I saw it cut off by floodwaters. Reports coming in from little settlements around Tairawhiti and Hawke’s Bay brought back memories. When we were kids and we had a car, I would probably have been around 10, Dad and Mum would take us through Whakatane and down Te Whanau A Apanui country to Tokomaru Bay.
Mum had an aunt and uncle in Whakatane and Dad a number of relatives.
We would visit Mum’s cousin Mary Milner (nee Rickett) at Tokomaru Bay. She and Mum were raised together by their grandparents in Auckland. Auntie was sent to Auckland because she had TB and needed medical care. We also stayed at Waipiro Bay with the Harrisons, the family of my Auntie Nan Sewell. Swimming in their waterhole was a great pasttime — penny divers vs. Coastie kids. Our cousin Mokai is buried there.
Working in Hastings was a rite of passage for whanau at Whaka and Ngapuna. Many youngsters spent a gap year there, because work was plentiful in the freezing works, gardens, Watties and shearing.
I cried when I saw the destruction at Omahu and Puketapu.
At Omahu, right beside the marae, was our Whaka kids’ refuge. It belonged to Richard Wahiao Te Moana and his wife Jackie.
Any one of us who needed a bed and a job could find them at Richard’s. One of our Whaka kuia, Makarena “Kara” Marsh made her home in Waipawa and the Hastings whanau visited her often.
In the aftermath of the devastation it was heartening to hear that Te Matatini, Herenga Waka, Herenga Tangata, would go ahead at Nga Ana Wai, Eden Park.
A third cancellation just would not be tolerated.
By the time you read this the finalists will be known.
This is a celebration of our spirit and resilience. Rejoice in life.
