Hana Kōkō is mobbed by children after arriving in Waitangi by waka ahead of a previous Kirihimete. Photo / file
Hana Kōkō is mobbed by children after arriving in Waitangi by waka ahead of a previous Kirihimete. Photo / file
A weekly round-up of news snippets, events and oddities from the Bay of Islands and around the Mid North
Free Christmas breakfast for all in Kaikohe
For the third year running Kaikohe's Seventh-day Adventist Church is hosting a free breakfast for anyone and everyone who turns up on Christmas morning.
Breakfast will be served in the church hall, next door to the Ngāpuhi rūnanga offices on Mangakahia Rd, from 8am until about 10.30am.
Organise Lee Mason said the menu would include cereals, porridge, fresh fruit and a cooked breakfast of baked beans, eggs, sausages and mushrooms, but the real hit every year was pancakes and icecream.
Kaikohe church members getting ready to host a free Christmas breakfast, from left, Toro Mason, Lee Mason, Te Manahaa Mason, Angela Edmonds and Larry Hedge. Photo / file
About 80 people came last year but she expected at least 100 this Christmas.
''It's growing every year,'' Mason said.
''We do it to bring people together and to shine a light on Kaikohe. Some people are lonely on Christmas Day, especially those who have lost loved ones, that's why we opened our doors.''
Business sponsors provided much of the food, local charity Bald Angels provided fresh produce and gifts, and church members did the mahi.
The church's health-promoting group first organised the free community breakfast in 2016.
Kei te haere mai a Hana Kōkō
Fed up with sweaty fur-lined boots and recalcitrant reindeer, Hana Kōkō (also known as Santa Claus) is trading them for jandals and a waka when he arrives at Waitangi tomorrow.
The big guy is expected to land at noon on Tii Beach, in the vicinity of the roundabout, as part of a family fun day from 11am-2pm. As well as presents for every child, there will be a free sausage sizzle, beach games, music, paddle boards and waka, and supervised swimming.
Hana Kōkō is mobbed by children after arriving in Waitangi by waka ahead of a previous Kirihimete. Photo / file
The event is organised by Waitangi Kaihoe Waka Ama Club and Blue Light, a police organisation for youth.
Youth Constable Rob Cameron said the aim was to celebrate Christmas in a distinctly Waitangi way.
''We're all about whanaungatanga, families, being together, enjoying each other's company and celebrating Christmas,'' he said.
Hana Kōkō has been visiting Waitangi by waka ama since 2015.
Carols in Kaeo ...
Kaeo's Union Church is hosting a Carols in the Churchyard event from 7pm this Friday, December 21. The church is on the town's main street so you can't miss it.
Pompallier Mission and New Zealand's oldest church, Christ Church, are coming together this Saturday for the annual Carols@Pompallier concert.
Local groups and soloists will perform traditional carols as well as modern Christmas songs as part of the show, which starts at 6pm.
Russell kids get into the Christmas spirit at Pompallier Mission. Photo / Stephen Western
Concert-goers are invited to bring a picnic and rug to the free event.
"Carols@Pompallier is an annual fixture for the Russell community and is a great way for the community to re-connect and kick off the festive season," Pompallier Mission manager Scott Elliffe said.
Christ Church is the wet weather venue. Pompallier Mission is a Heritage NZ property which once housed a printery and the headquarters of the French Catholic mission to the Western Pacific.
A new trail hub village at Waitangi Mountain Bike Park had a ''soft opening'' on Saturday ahead of its formal opening and blessing in the New Year.
The hub, which is constructed from re-purposed shipping containers, took a year to plan and three months to build. So far it includes a park office, bike rental shop and cafe; permanent toilets are due to be installed this week and a pump track will be built early next year.
The successful applicants for hub businesses were Jonny Martin of Paihia Mountain Bikes and Tipara and Jade Morunga of Letz Cafe. The Lotteries Grants Board and the Provincial Growth Fund helped pay for the hub.
Chinese in NZ photo exhibition
A new exhibition at Te Kōngahu Museum of Waitangi celebrates 175 years of Chinese life in New Zealand.
With just under 100 rarely seen photos, Being Chinese in Aotearoa explores the rich and varied stories of Chinese New Zealanders from the first settler Appo Hocton, who arrived in 1842 to new migrants in the 2000s, from pioneering goldminers and merchants to architects and entrepreneurs.
Appo Hocton, the first Chinese New Zealander, photographed in 1876. Photo / WE Brown Collection, Nelson Museum
The exhibition is on loan from Auckland War Memorial Museum where it was launched last February, and includes a series of comic-book artworks by renowned graphic artist Ant Sang (bro'Town, The Dharma Punks) and writer Helene Wong (Being Chinese: A New Zealander's Story). The comics follow an 11-year-old boy and his grandmother as they meet some of Auckland's most inspiring Chinese artists, entrepreneurs, musicians and athletes.
Entry to the exhibition is free for Friends of Waitangi and day pass holders. It will run until March 31.
If you don't yet have a Friends of Waitangi card, it costs just $5 for Far North residents ($20 for other New Zealanders) and gives you unlimited free entry to the Treaty Grounds. Just bring photo ID and proof of address, such as a mailed bank statement, to the entrance.
Trapline hub for Paihia
Conservation group Bay Bush Action has opened a community trapline hub at 195 Puketona Rd, at the corner with Kaipatiki Rd.
Volunteer trappers will be able to collect traps and lures from the hub, which will also be home to Honey Paihia, a shop selling Bay Bush Action Honey and other goods. A portion of all sales will go towards wildlife projects.
The group is seeking volunteers to help run the shop, which will be open Tuesday to Friday 10am-5.30pm and Saturday 9am-12pm. Full training will be provided.
Because the shop is unlikely to be very busy it could be suitable for people who currently work at home via the internet. Email us at baybushaction@gmail.com if you can help.
Bad news for pests
A $4000 donation from community trust Focus Paihia means Bay Bush Action has been able to buy and build another 200 rat traps and 50 possum trapinators.
ITM in Haruru Falls supplied the timber at cost while Paul Van de Water along with Tony and Nina Kiff built the trap boxes.
Community trapline volunteers who would like an extra trap, or people who live in the Paihia-Opua area and would like to get involved, can email baybushaction@gmail.com. The conservation group has caught more than 13,700 pests since it started in 2011.
Cohen tribute band in Kerikeri
It may be too late to see the legendary Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen but the next best thing is coming to Kerikeri this weekend.
Nick Jones plays electric violin with Imperfect Offering, a Leonard Cohen tribute band, during a previous gig at Kerikeri's Packhouse Market. Photo / Peter de Graaf
Auckland-based Leonard Cohen tribute band Imperfect Offering will perform from 9am-1pm on Saturday at the Old Packhouse Market. The band was a hit when it played at the market in 2017.
Christmas for rescue chopper
A Christmas tradition at Kerikeri's Springbank School has raised a whopping $3346.10 for the Northland Rescue Helicopter.
Every year the students hold a gift-giving ceremony where, in a reversal of the standard Christmas, they bring Santa presents of food and toys which are then distributed to families in need.
This year the students were instead encouraged to bring cash donations for the Northland Emergency Services Trust, which operates the rescue helicopter and is the school's chosen charity for 2018-19.
Santa was joined at the December 4 ceremony by Gerhard Pistorius, a rescue helicopter pilot.
From FNDC to Islamic studies
In case you remember the Far North District Council's former in-house lawyer John Verry and wonder what he's up now, he has been studying at the Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisations at Charles Sturt University in New South Wales.
Former Far North District Council lawyer John Verry has graduated from the Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisations at Charles Sturt University. Photo / supplied
He was the first person to complete the Graduate Certificate in Contemporary Islamic Studies, graduating in Sydney on December 8. After retiring from the council he moved to Malaysia, which motivated him to gain a better understanding of Islamic history, customs and beliefs and the Islamic legal system.
"I wanted to expand my knowledge as I realised living in a majority Muslim country I had very little understanding of Islamic history, customs and beliefs, especially as Islam is the second largest religion in the world and while there is a high media profile many people have a distorted view of Islam."
Verry originally studied theology, then guidance and counselling, then law.
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