Haere mai te Pikitu Marae.
Our Queen’s Birthday weekend celebrations were highlighted by a trip to Pikitu Marae in the heart of the Waikato; the land of pork bones and puha and the home marae of our Nanny Wairepo.
It was great to have all the cousins, aunties, uncles (and a few extras including our BFFs Mandi and Tala) make the trip out to the marae which is located halfway between Putaruru and Tokoroa near Waotu.
When we arrived it was raining which meant we couldn’t explore the adventure-filled surroundings like the haunted house or gully but we were determined to make the most of the experience especially as it was Paulys first time there.
The reason for the trip (and we only found this out when we got there) was to celebrate the 21st birthday of our cousin Peter Dehar. Don’t think I’ve ever met the guy in my life but it was choice to share in his special day.
We started off with a welcome by the kaumātua and then Aunty Ruthana proceeded to explain our whakapapa. It’s amazing we all didn’t all turn out with extra fingers and toes with all the cousins marrying cousins that went on (well, some of us got off luckier than others anyway). Big ups to Uncle Gary who, after Aunty Ruthana was done, made sure we were all aware of the importance our ancestors and Pikitu Marae played in the early days of the church in New Zealand. Chur.
It was fun going round the mattresses saying our names and who our dad was or who brought us along for the ride. Mandi was too much saying his little spiel in Maori impressing all the nannies and kaumātua.
After that we collected our shoes (big mistake wearing white sneakers on a rainy day to a marae) and made our way into the whare kai for dinner. All our crew took up a whole long table and swapped the dozen Lion Reds we were allocated for Jolly soft drinks – we did have a long drive home after all. The kai was pretty av as I’m not the biggest fan of the smoky infusion of hangi food but the custard and steamed pudding for dessert was amaze.
Uncle Rex did us proud as the impromptu MC for the evening. Even though his jokes ultimately failed he did a great job keeping things flowing and making sure the aunties didn’t go overboard with the waiatas.
We ended the evening on the dancefloor (yeyeya) getting down to a live band and even made an appearance in the conga line.
Kia ora Pikitu for a choice night out. We’ll definitely be back soon.
P.S – Thanks to the drunken man who nearly drove into us on the way out. I hope you parked in mud so you couldn’t drive home.
about time you guys did a post. Wow I didn't know you were real Maoris - ka pai! Look forward to more posts.
ReplyDeleteHaha i love this! I can tell your a journalist Kita coz your story telling skills kept me enthralled the whole way through. Teno pai
ReplyDelete