Six60 - Don’t Forget Your Roots [Official Video]
I love this video, it so captures what it means to me to be a kiwi, a New Zealander. We are unique and long may we stay that way, with all the colour that has made us us. Tangata Whenua, Pacifika, Asian, Chinese……….its all good

100% Pure NZ Full………..This reminds me, and not that I have even forgotten, why I love my country, and why to me she is the soil I was birthed in and continue to grow in. There is nothing like ‘Home’.

Pig Hunt New Zealand. Good shot of boar attacking the dog (part1)

Pig Hunting is a pastime and hobby of many Kiwis.
Hokianga is in Northland, Te Tai Tokerau the land of some of the author of this blogs ancestors, who participated in this sport.

Pig Hunting NZ 100% Grunt Hokianga Hog hunters

Hokitika River Whitebaiting Nov 2009

Tarawera River Mouth : Bay of Plenty : New Zealand

On the day in late October 2011 that I took this photo, it was whitebait season, ( info on NZ whitebaiting here) and there was a rain storm coming in.

I was heading home north after time with my family and as usual, it’s a slow process because there is so much beauty to capture.

The Tarawera River meets the sea on the skyline and here fisherman gather for normal fishing and in the season, white baiting.
The low light of this image makes it nearly monochrome. I like that, the moodiness of it all.

Out of interest here is a video of whitebaiting at the cut ( Tarawera River Mouth) in the 1950’s (no sound)

Whitebaiting on the West Coast of NZ

Hoha (pronounced hor ha) means something or someone is stink. Stink being boring, or you are annoyed with them or they you.
It is a feeling or state of being or mind. hoha, bored, wearied.

eg. I feel hoha with Sally because she is going to the party and I am not invited.
or
I woke up feeling hoha today
or
It’s a hoha feeling
or It’s a hoha day.

It could mean pissed off with someone.

The marae, a marae is the place where the tangata whenua, people of the land have there family roots and whare nui (meeting house). Tangata whenua is a loose term meaning ‘aboriginal’ or original inhabitants. This has been called ‘native’ in colonial or anthropological terms. In New Zealand it means ‘Maori’.

The Marae is usually located in the area where you were born, that you call home, and your ancestors are from that area, from grandparents to as far back as you can go. The marae is home of all homes. In the meeting house, the story of the people , and the memories of the people who have belonged and passed on are told, in carving or as in the north, photographs. The marae is a special place, a spiritual place with its own protocols and ceremonies.

You can find out a more detailed explanation here

Waikare Inlet : Bay of Islands New Zealand

I have many weekends told myself that I will just get in the car and drive and go somewhere new, up some side road I have always passed by going from  A - B. Often it never happens for one very compelling reason after another. The picture above was one time that it did. And it was an awesome trip, with my camera, myself and the mighty Toyota Corolla. I will go back there for sure, as I did not get to the end of the road.The above image is cool because to my mind it captures  some of the iconic and essential elements of life in New Zealand. We have the sea element that surrounds us and from which we gather food (kai moana), represented here by the mangrove trees, the dinghies and the estuary. We have the stockyards which speak of farming and breaking in the land for agricultural use by the settlers and their descendants. And we have the flax bushes which represent the heritage and presence of the tangata whenua ( the people of the land ) who settled this land before the Europeans colonised it. And that is a whole other story.

Other images of my home land can be seen here