Karena Neho-Popata Hart with the flash ute won through Maori Television.
Karena Neho-Popata Hart with the flash ute won through Maori Television.
From small decisions occasionally comes joy and life-changing opportunities, and so they have in the shape of a flash new ute parked in the driveway of Karena Neho-Popata Hart.
When Māori Television’s Lucky Dip gameshow came to Kaitāia last year, she rocked up along with friends and whānau to nab a spot in the audience.
Hosted by Northlander Luke Bird and Marcia Hopa, the show puts contestants through a series of occasionally undignified but always good-humoured challenges.
Outside, two lines were forming. There was one for the audience, where Neho-Popata Hart had intended to sit. And then there was the line for those wanting to be contestants.
Partner Les Wells offered the encouragement needed to jump the divide - although it sounds like Neho-Popata Hart was pretty much there anyway.
The show that followed saw Neho-Popata Hart winning a baby seat which was then traded in for the opportunity to keep competing. When it finished for the evening, she left with a new laptop and her name in the draw for the big prize - a $50,000 GMW ute.
“I was chuffed with that. I thought, ‘What amazing prizes’. It was a really neat community outing.”
And on went the show, visiting 13 towns from Kaikōura to Kaitāia, entertaining communities and gathering entries for the big prize until there were 80 people in the draw.
“We were buzzed by the idea [of being in the draw], but as the weeks flew past, we sort of forgot about it.”
There was a reminder when someone from Māori TV rang to seek permission for publicity - like this story - if she did win it.
Even then, though, life was busy. Neho-Popata Hart set an alarm for the evening of the draw and got on with helping organise the Tai Tokerau festival and kapa haka events, along with her day job teaching at Te Rangi Aniwaniwa in Awanui.
“I actually went to sleep really early [that] Sunday. I was in bed asleep at 7pm.”
Karena Neho-Popata Hart with the flash ute she won through Maori Television.
The alarm went and Wells told her she needed to get up.
“You’re about to win a truck,” he said, in what became a prophecy soon realised - because then, her phone rang.
The show hosts greeted Neho-Popata Hart, joked around and Bird asked after the weather (raining, again).
“I’m crying because I think I’m about to hear what I’m about to hear,” said Neho-Popata Hart. “My partner is looking at me trying not to scream in the background.”
And then - after stringing her along a bit - the hosts told her she had won the ute. It was such a huge surprise that she recalls sitting on the edge of her seat, anxious over the outcome, when she watched it replay on television half an hour later.
“It has all the bells and whistles.” She and Wells visited Auckland to collect it last week, and the drive back was a “tutu-fest” of discovery.
“It’s a very luxurious truck. It’s actually really pretty and beautiful.” Even her teenage son, Rangi Ehu, was impressed.
There’s the leather upholstery, seat warmer and sensors telling the motorist what the air pressure is in each tyre. For those a bit more rurally inclined, the gate at the back of the ute drops slowly and silently on hydraulics - and there’s a step ladder to get up to the tray. With regard to this, Neho-Popata Hart is delighted the designers catered for someone her height.
The ute, just arrived, is likely to soon be gone. The couple had just bought a ute on finance, and she has a long and meaningful relationship with a Rav 4. Selling the flash ute will pay off the other ute and help with other pressing expenses, like a roof replacement.
“I think it makes sense to sell the flash one. I think the bells and whistles are a bit much for up here.”
If it turns out that way, that won’t diminish the joy of winning and the opportunity it has created.
