Kerikeri musician/actor Troy Kingi features in a new TV series about successful young Maori. PHOTO / PETER DE GRAAF
Kerikeri musician/actor Troy Kingi features in a new TV series about successful young Maori. PHOTO / PETER DE GRAAF
A weekly round-up of news snippets, events and oddities from the Bay of Islands and around the Mid North
A upcoming Thai boxing tournament in Waitangi aims to raise money for Whangarei Hospital's Special Care Baby Unit.
Called Warriors in Paradise, the event will feature 28 boxers in kids and adult divisions from Paihia, Kerikeri, Kaikohe, Auckland and as far away as Tauranga.
It is being organised by Nik Jessop, who runs the Bay of Islands Lee Gar Gym and coaches Muay Thai style boxing.
He came up with the idea after he and his wife Shelly had to go to the Special Care Baby Unit with their six-week-old daughter.
While there they heard about the issues facing the unit, such as theft of equipment, and resolved to do something.
"All our kids and fighters have got behind it. It's turning out to be bigger than Ben Hur," he said.
The April 18 event starts at 1pm in the Copthorne Hotel's Waitaha hall. Entry is $25 for adults, $20 children, free for under-fives. Call Nik for more information on 027 243 4417.
Northlanders Troy Kingi, Kihi Ririnui and Mori Rapana are among the successful young Maori starring in a new documentary series.
The second season of Te Iti Kahurangi starts on April 13 and will screen every Monday at 8pm on Maori TV. Each episode in the 12-part series features three individuals or groups who have achieved in education, sports, arts or entertainment.
The idea is to showcase inspirational Maori stories and encourage others to "follow their dreams and take a risk".
The April 27 episode will showcase Kerikeri singer/actor Troy Kingi, until recently a teacher at Kerikeri High School; May 18 gives an insight into Paihia entertainer, MC and youth worker "Miss Kihi" Ririnui; on May 25 Mori Rapana gives a behind-the-scenes look into his job running the Waitangi Treaty Grounds; while June 1 features New Zealand champion waka ama paddler Tupuria King from Cable Bay.
*'Ka mau te wehi!' translates roughly as 'awesome!'.
Third time lucky?
Kawakawa's third Johnson Park bridge has been officially opened - and locals are hoping it's the last.
The original wooden bridge was washed away in the July 2007 floods; its replacement, though made of steel, met the same fate a few years later.
The latest bridge was constructed by Rintoul Civil using concrete and steel and, as an added precaution, is significantly higher than its predecessors. It measures 30m from end to end with steel supports driven 16m into the ground.
Ken Rintoul, Phyllis Shepherd, Noma Shepherd and Phyllis Rintoul check out the view from Kawakawa's new bridge. PHOTO / DEBBIE BEADLE
Some of Kawakawa's older identities came out in the morning mist to be the first to walk across it when it was opened early on March 28.
Parts of the original wooden bridge were recycled and now form one of the bridges on the Kaikohe-Okaihau leg of the Twin Coast Cycle Trail.
Arco places third
A new venture in Kaikohe aimed at giving youth new skills and helping them into employment has placed third in a national social enterprise competition.
Arco - set up by Ana Heremaia, Ruby Watson and Felicity Brenchley - set up a drop-in centre on Broadway and ran workshops over summer; eventually they plan to train youth to produce designer furniture.
The trio came third in the Contact People's Choice Award, a contest run through the Herald's Elements magazine for 11 social enterprises supported by the Akina Foundation.
The winner was a whanau-based gym in Hastings called Patu Aotearoa.
The Bay of Islands Vintage Railway is running every day during the school holidays, with the 1920s steam engine Gabriel and diesel locomotives leaving Kawakawa station four times a day until April 19.
Trains depart at 10.45am, noon, 1.15pm and 2.30pm on the 50-minute return trip to the bridge at Taumarere, said to be the longest curved wooden bridge in the Southern Hemisphere.
Hoki-Fest returns
The third annual Hoki-Fest, Hokianga's food and wine festival, will be held on April 18 at the Copthorne Hotel in Omapere.
Delicacies on offer will include kutai fritters, paua in cream, whitebait fritters, rewena and fried bread, smoked mullet, oysters in hot chillies, raw fish, Hokianga salami and wild pork, all washed down with Northland wine. Musician Dann Pinkney and a Dire Straits Tribute show will perform. The event runs from 11am-6pm; entry is $25.
The event, in which teams compete to pull the steam locomotive Gabriel down Kawakawa's main street in the shortest time, was cancelled last year due to organiser fatigue but will return on May 17.
The festivities will start with a sponsored walk, Trek the Track, and end with stalls, music and dance in Johnson Park.
Do you have news or an upcoming event you'd like to see in this column? Send it to us, including your full contact details, to baynews@northernadvocate.co.nz.
