I left Waihi on Thursday 24th October for the hour drive to Tauranga. I dropped off my bags at Tamars b & b, where I was staying for 10 nights, before returning the hire car. From there I got a bus into the centre for a 1200 meeting I’d arranged with Nikki, event head of Tauranga Arts Festival, for a volunteering briefing. I’d only been given a couple of jobs and my first was tonight. As she was showing me round I bumped into Jenny, of the alpacas housesit, who’d earlier invited me to a barbecue on Monday, Labour Day and bank holiday in NZ.
Back on the bus to my new temporary ‘home’ to unpack. The owners of the b & b, Karen and Kevin, were originally from Essex, Southend in fact, and had moved to NZ with their daughter Anna (now aged 22) 15 years earlier. I liked them immediately and we chatted about Southend and I told them my paternal grandmother had lived there for over 40 years so it was close to my heart. We reminisced about the Kursaal, Peter Pan’s Playground and the pier, the world’s longest, which we used to walk along one way and ride the train back.
The b & b has 3 bedrooms and one shared bathroom with no separate toilet. Of course I’d have preferred an en-suite but that would have cost far more elsewhere. The reviews had been excellent and I felt it would feel like home. I was certainly pleased with my room, king size bed and door opening onto a sun room off the garden. After unpacking all my clothes, which I hadn’t done for a while, I had a relax on the bed as was feeling a bit weary again.
Apparently in 2017 Tauranga became NZ’s 5th biggest city, knocking Dunedin off that spot, and it has NZ’s busiest port. However, if you didn’t come here you wouldn’t be missing a great deal as a tourist but think it’s a nice place to live, indeed it’s popular with retirees and young families.
The first volunteering stint I had was tonight and I was asked to be at the Carrus Crystal Palace (CCP – a pop up Spiegeltent lookalike used by Cheltenham festivals & others back home) for 7.30pm. Getting into town was a bus ride or 50 minute walk and I noticed that the last bus back left at 8.05pm so expected to walk home. Before the gig I went to nearby ‘Our Place’ for a bite. I hadn’t noticed this on my previous visits but it’s a cool area of shipping containers from which vendors sell fast food and clothing. I selected the vegan container and had a delicious meal of fried cauliflower with avocado and slaw in tacos accompanied by a glass of wine from the bar container which sold all manner of beers and wines:
The event I was volunteering for was a female singer caller Reb (short for Rebecca?) Fountain with her band and my job was to collect the food orders from ‘Our Place’, descending two flights of stairs and then back up with the food. I only had to do this about 3 times so it wasn’t arduous, and could enjoy the gig. The singer had a lovely voice but the music was mainly slow. After helping clear away the glasses I cheekily asked if anyone was going my way and Conrad (a manager within the company that was the main sponsor of the festival) kindly offered to take me although I discovered later that it wasn’t on his way home.
The people in the other two rooms that night were a mature French couple and one of the b & b’s regulars who Karen and Kevin call ‘Chinese Kevin’. He was just leaving as I got to the breakfast table on Friday to join the French couple. I discovered my French now was virtually non existent but he spoke pretty good English. I steered clear of mentioning Brexit.
I walked into the centre and bought a bus card in the i-site centre. Bus fares around Tauranga are $3.40 per trip whether you ride one stop or the whole line. If you catch another bus within an hour of taking the first there’s no more to pay. A bus card, which can be topped up by paying the driver, reduces the fare to $2.72, so worth doing.
I spent some time in the library – another impressive space. All the customers were extremely quiet, it was the librarians who felt the need to speak loudly to each other. I remember the days when you were shushed by the librarians if you spoke which I didn’t appreciate at the time but would now. Later I had dinner of seafood chowder at the ‘ Crown and Badger’ pub and went to the CCP for ‘Shooglenifty’ which I had a ticket for. They’re a Scottish folk band based in Edinburgh and were brilliant, just my kind of music. I was sitting next to a nice couple Doug, a Kiwi, and his wife Sally, who was English having immigrated into NZ 40 years before. They insisted on taking me ‘home’, so another night when I didn’t have to walk back for 50 minutes.
Saturday was my second stint of volunteering, the morning being based at the art gallery. I’d not visited the art gallery before, saving it for this visit instead. As I got there early I wandered along the waterfront and had a look at the lovely sculpture of Hairy Maclary and 8 of his friends: Hercules Morse, Bottomley Potts, Muffin McLay, Bitzer Maloney, Schnitzell Von Krumm, Scarface Claw, Slinky Malinki and Zachary Quack:
Lynsey Dodd, the author of the Hairy Maclary books, had been a Tauranga resident for many years and is one of NZ’s best loved authors, now living in Rotorua.
The art gallery job was a doddle and in fact I was really surplus to requirements. However, I chatted to the women working in the gallery, one Canadian, another originally from Denmark and the other a Kiwi. The event I was there to assist with wasn’t my type of thing: too alternative! It was ‘A Call to Dance’ – a one-to-one participatory work lasting 40 minutes where an Australian choreographer and dancer, Amrita Hepi, guided each participant with conversation and movement. By the end of the session the individuals should have created a dance movement all about themselves. Amrita was to collect all the dances and perform a dance reflecting the people and character of Tauranga. It sounded more like therapy to me.
Anyway, all I had to do was greet the participants and ask them to read and sign a form. One of the participants was a 9 year old girl who came with her mum, Kathie. It turned out that Kathie used to live in Blyth Road, Bromley, Kent (well known to me) and then moved to Keston. Small world! We got on very well and she said I must go to her house for lunch, took my number and promised to contact me. She also said she’d be rowing in a canoe competition happening when I’m at Whitianga, so that would be fun.
Amrita and her assistant (who I’m sure could have done the job I was there to do) stopped at 1230 for a long lunch break and another volunteer had been assigned for the afternoon slot. At 1pm there was a talk in the foyer by an artist, Kelcy Taratoa, who had painted the three large abstract paintings there plus had an exhibition upstairs too. I helped put the chairs out for the audience and sat and listened. He was an excellent speaker and, although I tend not to appreciate abstract art, it was interesting to hear him explain why and how he created the paintings.
I then took a bus and walked to the Historic Village where I’d agreed to help out for the afternoon. This is a vintage-inspired shopping complex made up of original and replica buildings from early Tauranga with cobblestone streets. To tie in with the arts festival they had fringe events here for the day and the place was bustling with people of all ages and was a great atmosphere. There was a programme of events from 10am – 7pm which included buskers, street performers, art, theatre, film, fashion shows, dancing and market stalls. I was asked to help on the gate, entry being by donation to go to the artists who were performing free. After doing that for a while (with a woman who drove me nuts as she kept interfering when I was talking to people) I then asked people leaving to complete a short survey as this was the first time the fringe day had been put on. Everyone appeared to have enjoyed it. I walked around briefly with a pleasant Canadian volunteer called Brenna who was on a year’s working visa in NZ with her partner. I left at 5pm to go back ‘home’ to change for later.
I had a ticket for ‘A Synthesised Universe’ and ate at ‘Our Place’ again before it started. I had a pink gin and tonic from the bar but couldn’t taste the gin. Kevin (at the b&b) later told me that NZ spirit measures are usually less than half a single UK measure so you have to buy a double, which then ends up being expensive.
The event was due to start at 8pm but began 15 minutes late, with no apology or explanation as to why it was late – I hate that! While waiting I got into conversation with a lovely Kiwi couple, Lesley and Andrew, who were advising me about places to go to on my next car tour. The event was performed by Anthonie Tonnon and described as ‘an immersive experience combining live music with custom animation, otherworldly video manipulations and a flight through the known universe’. Apparently Anthonie, a singer-songwriter (and he did have a great voice with a big range) originally developed the work for a planetarium. I can’t say it was my kind of music and there were quite a few NZ references which Andrew explained to me. After this they were showing the England – All Blacks rugby World Cup semi final match which, because the event was late starting meant we missed the first 15 minutes. Lesley and Andrew were going home to watch it on catch up and, although I thought they’d likely drop me off home, I didn’t ask them as they lived in Katikati, a 30 minute drive away. They took my email address and said they’d email some places I might like to visit, and Lesley suggested meeting for coffee which was nice but again, let’s wait and see if I hear back.
When the match was on I noticed a girl quietly cheering when England scored (the Kiwis were pretty quiet) so I went over and discovered she and her partner had arrived in NZ two weeks previously, moved into a rental property on Monday and were due to start jobs on Tuesday.
After the match the Kiwis were obviously disappointed with losing but agreed that England had played superbly and deserved to win. I later read that in the past 16 matches between them this was the first time England had beaten the All Blacks. So guess I’d better watch the final next Saturday. I walked home, arriving at midnight.
Sunday was a lovely day, forecast up to 23 degrees. I decided to get my legs out for the first time since being in NZ and wear the long shorts I’d bought recently. I briefly chatted to a nice couple, of about my age, at the breakfast table and their son Luke Baker, an actor, who had stayed the night after attending a family 21st birthday party.
I thought I’d walk to Mount Maunganui, a distance of 11km, and left just after 11am. I stopped at a pharmacy in the centre to buy some sun screen lotion as need protection now for more than my face and neck. Yet another nice conversation with an assistant and pharmacist. I must say, the walk once away from the promenade was not the nicest, despite the fact there was a shared walk/cycle path, it was crowded with traffic all the way to the Mount, passing the port and through the industrial estate, the air not the sweetest of perfumes. Another walk not to be repeated but good exercise nonetheless.
I found a nice small cafe overlooking the main beach, with a lovely breeze, and had a refreshing lager and delicious salad using their WiFi to write some of my blog. Just along from there was an ice cream parlour which was obviously good judging by the lengthy queue so joined it and had a delicious coconut ice cream.
The whole Mount area and beaches were thronging with people as it’s a bank holiday weekend and a beautiful day. The beaches looked a lot different to the last time I saw them in August. There were quite a few people swimming today, despite the fact the sea is really cold, and sunbathers. I had a pleasant hour lying on the beach people watching then got two buses back stopping at a supermarket in between to get some wine for tomorrow’s barbecue and supplies for myself. I spent the rest of the evening writing and reading in my room having enjoyed the day.
On Monday morning I thought I’d pay the art gallery a visit as hadn’t seen much of it on Saturday. There was an interesting virtual reality exhibition called ‘Terminus’ due to finish today which was the main draw for me. The artists were Jess Johnson and Simon Ward taking the visitor on a journey across 5 realms of virtual reality using state of the art technology. I’d managed to try one of the realms on Saturday but it had been too busy to try the rest. It was very clever with quite psychedelic geometrical shapes – hard to explain here, it had to be experienced. I have absolutely no idea how it’s done despite there being an explanation. Upstairs was the rest of the exhibition by Kelcy Taratoa called ‘Who Am I’ with large colourful works referencing comic book heroes, television serials and film. There was also a small exhibition of Maori artefacts and weaving.
I went to the Baycourt Theatre for the event I’d booked starting at 1pm ‘Cellfish’. This was a piece of theatre with just 2 actors, Jason Te Kare and Carrie Green. They told the story of Miss Lucy entering a prison to teach Shakespeare to inmates, some looking to improve their parole chances, others to kill time and one who wanted to kill. It started quite slow but got better and the actors worked hard to play all the characters. It was quite powerful in the end and clever how some of Shakespeare’s verses had been incorporated into the play, but I could tell the man next to me didn’t enjoy it one bit.
At 3.30pm I was picked up by Jenny, with daughters Ivy and Cora wearing Halloween masks just bought, to take me to their house for a barbecue. I was particularly looking forward to seeing the dogs I’d looked after there, Chewy and Lady, also the alpacas who’d been shorn on Wednesday. They were expecting an English couple to arrive later for 10 days of ‘Workaway’ (working 5 hours per day in 5 days in exchange for free accommodation and food) who were driving from Wellington.
At the house I assisted Jenny and Pete moving the baby alpacas from their field to a pen in order for Pete to inject them. Just as he finished the Workaway couple, Thomas and Katherine, arrived. After Pete had explained to them what he wanted them to do (sort out the compost and do some cementing!) we sat down to eat which turned out not to be a barbecue (probably because it had started pouring with rain) but Jenny’s homemade falafels in pitta pockets, followed by strawberries and ice cream.
Jenny kindly drove me back, which was an hour round trip for her. It had been lovely to see the family again and the dogs who I think did remember me.
I had a leisurely Tuesday morning and, having been the only one staying the night before, had the bathroom to myself for once. I later walked into town spending some time in the library, then a bite to eat before ‘Mr Red Light’ at the main Baycourt Theatre, which has been touring NZ. About Mr Red Light who failed to rob a bank ending up in a pie shop where he has 3 uncooperative hostages, with the offstage voice of the world’s worst police negotiator. It was quite funny, clever and slapstick at times with good acting and set.
Afterwards there was no one to cadge a lift from so I walked ‘home’. When I got back there were two new people, an Indian man called Varron and a Japanese girl called Irene. They both spoke good English and we sat talking with Karen and Kevin until nearly 11pm. Varron had arrived from India that day and had two days’ work at the Mount, Irene had come from Wellington, where she studied English for 3 months, to look for a flat share and job in a cafe, ultimately wanting to go to live in Canada and study law there. Karen had kindly given us all a box of chocolates as Irene became the 1000th guest they had hosted.
I had no events booked for Wednesday and decided to go and visit the Historic Village, where I’d been on Saturday afternoon, without all the entertainment. The main complex was built in 1977 and designed as a replica of the early shop fronts that formed The Strand (the main street opposite the bay) in Tauranga. Some of the buildings were built in the 1800s or 1900s and were either moved to this site or rebuilt in their original style. The buildings house shops, art galleries, social enterprises and businesses. It was a completely different atmosphere to Saturday – very quiet.
I was interested to see a ‘Men’s Shed’, charity that helps men get together by making things out of donated wood and other materials. I’d come across this a lot back home and had a nice chat with some of the men, telling them about the Cheltenham ‘Men in Sheds’ Sopwith Camel replica they made for its 100th anniversary and the work they did for the RDA at Cheltenham Racecourse. These men had a lovely display of wooden toys and useful articles made of wood which they were selling, and I was given a tour of the big shed where the tools (all donated) were very well organised. I took a few photos and told them I’d send them to my contact at Cheltenham’s shed:
I had a chat with a lady originally from Aberdeenshire who runs a gallery with a nice variety of art, a Kiwi woman who taught herself to make stained glass and some lovely moulded coloured glass items and watched her working and a woman originally from Skipton manning the local art group’s exhibition which I thought was of an unusually high standard. I had perhaps the best scone ever outside the cafe with an earl grey cuppa, then walked to town and saw the film ‘Jojo Rabbit’.
Unusually I got a bus back and while waiting for it sat on a bench where there was a beautiful young part Maori woman/girl. She struck up a conversation with me, telling me her dad was Maori but she had nothing to do with him and her mum was originally from Belfast. We had a very easy conversation and I thought how nice for a young person to enjoy talking to me. She asked if I had children, I said no but hopefully would in my next life and laughed saying she probably didn’t believe in that. She said she did as her brother had been killed in a car accident aged 18 and her mum had believed they would meet again. I said how sorry I was but she wasn’t seeking sympathy and said she was ok now. My bus came and I went to get on it and she appeared genuinely sad that I was leaving and called out asking my name. Her name was Eva. She hoped we’d meet again.
As the weather had started to warm up and I hadn’t got much by way of summer clothes, except tee shirts, I took a walk to Greerton where Karen said there were a lot of op shops. Another walk not to be repeated but good exercise. The first two shops I went in provided what I needed and all told cost $15. There was another lovely library which I visited for a while then walked into town, all the way along one road (about 3 miles) which wasn’t even the entire length of the road. On this subject, roads in the main towns here are on grid systems like in the US, so it can be pretty dull and a bus ride would really be far more sensible. However, I’m trying to do as much walking as possible.
In town I spent some time in the library then decided to sample the recommended ‘Bobby’s Fish and chips’ by the waterfront, sitting outside enjoying the best fish (in a light lemony batter) and chips I’ve had for some time and at only $7.20! The seagulls (or red billed gulls) started taking an interest but when a man sitting nearby threw a chip to them they surrounded him instead.
At 7pm in the small theatre I went to see ‘Still life with chickens’, which turned out to be my favourite piece of theatre at this festival. It was quite delightful, funny, poignant and heart-warming. Just 45 minutes long and set in the back yard of a Samoan home it was a snapshot of the life of a Samoan family and neighbours told from the point of view of Mama, a large Samoan lady. It began with her burying her cat in the garden which she cherished. While she had clearly loved the cat it had had its issues. Every now and then the voice of her husband called her (in Samoan) from offstage, and she criticised him for doing nothing. Then one day a chicken turned up (a puppet beautifully controlled by a young man who mimicked chicken sounds superbly) which started to eat her silver beet. After getting nowhere trying to find its owner she kept it but one day it disappeared and she was upset. Then two days later the chicken returned with 3 chicks in tow which brought the play to a close. The play was written by D.F. Mamea, an award-winning playwright, and Mama was played by Goretti Chadwick.
On Friday I walked into town and bought a box from the Post Office in order to post some winter clothes back home (well to Helen’s home to add to my collection there!). I had seen some lovely bamboo plates with birds painted on in the art gallery shop and couldn’t stop thinking about them so ended up buying three, as they just had three designs, which I could post in the box with the clothes. I had lunch of a toasted cheese scone and tea at my favourite cafe, sitting outside, then walked back via a supermarket picking up a microwave meal for dinner. I enjoyed eating with Karen and Kevin, having a chat and watching Australia’s ‘Masterchef’ with them. Karen had already, inadvertently, seen online who won.
Saturday, my last day in Tauranga, and a little strange as I’ve really felt quite at home here and I believe Karen and Kevin have enjoyed my company too. Late morning I walked into town to post my box of clothes and bamboo plates. It was a lovely day and I enjoyed another lunch at the cafe, then sat on a bench overlooking the waterfront reading until the only speakers’ event I’d booked started at 3pm. This turned out to be excellent and was entitled ‘Standing Up’ with 3 panel members who had all had the courage to be themselves in public life, sometimes at personal cost. They were Chloe Swarbrick, aged 25 and the second-youngest New Zealand MP ever to be elected (a very articulate and intelligent young woman); Richard O’Brien, creator of the ‘Rocky Horror Show’ who was quite glamorously dressed and sporting a pearl neckless (unbelievably aged 77); and Rachel Stewart, an award-winning NZ Herald columnist, environmental activist and former farmer whose forthright views bring her daily abuse. They had a terrific interviewer, Tracey Slaughter, a NZ writer and poet.
I had a small pizza and beer for early dinner at ‘The Barrel Room’ sitting outside listening to live music from a band of two, keyboard and double bass, playing easy listening pieces. I’d spotted the bassist in town earlier and we’d exchanged smiles.
At 7pm I went to my last event ‘Wild Dogs Under My Skirt’. The programme describes this: ‘Alive with the energy and rhythm of raw and lyrical performance poetry and oral traditions..it will challenge your perceptions of culture, life and love. Based on Tusiata Avia’s provocative and unapologetic poetry, this is a play that explores power, politics, racism, love, sex, abuse and life between cultures. It’s a celebration of island life, the femininity of a Samoan Oman and all its wonderful complexities. Vivid, passionate and compelling..it’s also flush with humour and pure entertainment’. Well, I’m afraid I didn’t enjoy it one bit and couldn’t understand why the 6 actresses were on the floor at the end snarling like wild dogs. There were a few people brought to tears, again not me as it went over my head. Perhaps it was the lack of Polynesian cultural knowledge on my part that NZ people grow up with. Don’t know but it’s being raved about on Twitter and, having toured NZ, is going to New York. I wonder what they’ll make of it there!
I managed to exit before the bows and get the last bus home to watch the Rugby World Cup Final match with Karen and Kevin which I found quite boring but a well deserved win for South Africa who played as formidably as England had in their semi final match against the All Blacks.
At time of writing I haven’t heard back from Kathie, Lesley and Andrew.
As there have been no pictures of animals for a while I’ll be this post with pics of Karen and Kevin’s cats:
NeverSayNeverNomad 