Calypso's Journal: On the Cultural Trail

The Signing of the Treaty of Waitangi

Since arriving back in New Zealand, most of our time (or rather Paul's) has been spent, yes you guessed it, working on the boat, what else? We desperately needed to replace our rather tatty and torn spray dodger (the cover in front of the cockpit which offers shade from the sun and protection from foul weather) as well as sort out the on-going hassle we’ve had with the port lights. These have been a problem since we purchased Calypso, rusting badly on the corners (despite the fact that they are supposedly stainless steel) and, as time went by, leaking more and more to the point of causing internal damage, not to mention the discomfort. Due to the Christmas/New Year holidays, it seemed to take forever before we could actually start on these projects, however bit by bit, we’re getting there.

We’ve been dying to get out sailing in the Bay of Islands surrounding Opua but with only plastic sheeting covering the holes where we’ve removed the port lights, it wouldn’t be too smart to get caught out in unprotected waters, so here we’ve sat muttering while our friends are out there cruising.

In all honesty, apart from the last couple of weeks, the weather has been shocking. It’s been really cold, rainy or overcast. If I were to be really cruel, I could say that New Zealand’s best-kept secret has got to be their weather – a secret kept ‘cause if it were known how bad it is, they wouldn’t get many tourists. But, in all fairness, even the locals are apologising and complaining how this summer still hasn’t got off the ground but we live in hopes that things will improve before winter comes around again.

To get away from the constant boat work for a day, we decided to soak up a bit of New Zealand’s culture and join in the Waitangi Day celebrations. This is an annual holiday to celebrate the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi between the British Crown and the Māori Iwi (tribes) back in 1840. It’s the founding document of New Zealand, an agreement entered into by representatives from both sides. It wasn’t drafted as a constitution or as a statute but is a broad statement of principles upon which the British officials and Māori chiefs made a political pact or covenant to found a nation state and build a government to deal with pressing circumstances: an exchange of promises.

In the English version, the Māori ceded the sovereignty of New Zealand to Britain; and gave the Crown exclusive rights to buy lands they wished to sell. In return, they were guaranteed full rights of ownership of their lands, forests, fisheries and other possessions; and given the rights and privileges of British subjects.

In the Māori translation, there were differences in the meaning of certain words that have led to many grievances over the years. Recent governments have recognised such unjust transactions so a tribunal was established to consider claims against the Crown thereby providing the Māori with the means to have these complaints investigated. New Zealand isn’t without it’s issues in this regard so this holiday is also a popular occasion to vent.

The celebrations take the form of traditionally dressed men and women paddling the Māori canoe (waka) as well as traditional songs, dances and the haka that has become famous due to the NZ rugby team’s performances prior to all games. The navy and band were there in full regalia along with typical NZ food tents serving sausage sizzles and all things mussel and paua (abalone) i.e. chowder and fritters. Yum. Speaking of mussels, NZ is famous for it’s green-lipped mussels which are incredibly reasonable to purchase but even easier to take off the rocks oneself if only we could get out there into the bay. We’ve indulged in mussels done in white wine and garlic on quite a few occasions and will definitely miss them when we leave here.

All in all, it proved to be a great day, both entertaining and educational and I will never cease to be amazed at the incredible array of tattoos on both the men and the women, something we’ve found to be very prevalent amongst the South Pacific islanders.

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