Living amongst angels on GBI A week ago Ro and I celebrated our 47th anniversary, and our beautiful adventure continues. It seems the sea is celebrating with us – it hasn’t been this big since February! As the tide goes out, oystercatchers enjoy the shrinking sea-pool . The waves are so powerful that even when the tide is going out they’re entering Kaitoke Stream and sending seawater inland. We’ve been swimming in the river on the afternoon outgoing tide and getting all the benefits of swimming in the sea – deep, clear, salty water, just a tad warmer. Instead of being pulled more or less gently downstream by the current, we’ve been pushed strongly upstream by the sea. It’s a bit disconcerting, though great fun! Noise One Sunday late afternoon, Elise Bishop of Claris was my guest on Can’t Live Without Music, talking about and sharing some unusual music. Those who know and play it don’t call it indie music or alternative music, which have commercial associations, but simply “noise”, which implies complete freedom from genre, politics or the economy. Kind of the music of anarchy in its best sense – that of governing ourselves. It’s played on the Barrier and in localities around New Zealand and the globe. It’s sound that raises the question, What is music, anyway? I’d read once that part of the greatness of science fiction writer Ursula Le Guin lay in her ability to crack open the shells we didn’t even realise had confined us. When I first listened to Elise’s music and read the paper she’d written on the type of music it was, I discovered I had a shell I didn’t realise had confined me. It was a shell encasing what I thought of as music. Thanks to Elise, my concept of what music is has expanded, possibly beyond bounds! On the show I asked Elise some questions with fascinating answers: What is music? What’s the difference between noise and commercial music? What’s the difference in the social context of each and the environments in which each occurs? How is noise empowering? She also described changes over the centuries in the connection between music and the economy and in the relationship between producer and listener. Of course we played some noise tracks, and I reckon you haven’t heard the likes of this sort of music before! * Auk Assembly – Air https://sbbtcl.bandcamp.com/track/air * Burning of claris – Cecilia Sudden https://ceciliasudden.bandcamp.com/track/the-burning-of-claris-pt-1-fire-down-the-road * What time is dawn? – Backsmith https://backsmith.bandcamp.com/track/what-time-is-dawn If all this sounds juicy and breakaway to you, you can find out more by reading two books by an influential writer about noise, Jacques Attali: Noise: The Political Economy of Music and A Brief History of the Future. I sent an Aotea FM T-shirt to my faithful listener Naomi, in Japan. Livestream Aotea FM at aoteafm.org. My show is Can’t Live Without Music, Sunday afternoons approx 3:40 til 6. Bringing more angels to GBI Kindness and generosity are a way of life on the island. I’m constantly moved by the love shown to me and Ro in all sorts of beautiful ways. I’ve been “paying it forward” by facilitating visits of health professionals whom islanders don’t have easy access to, starting with an acupuncturist and an osteopath in previous years. Most recently, drawing on years of experience in Golden Bay J I’ve been working on organising weekend events for each of two angels who’ve been helping me by skype and email, and who I wanted to introduce to others here so they could get help as well. Just like the old days, it was posters all over, handouts, facebook posts, phone interview on Aotea FM, an announcement for other presenters to read, notices in the Barrier Bulletin and word of mouth, plus sponsorship for flights from the Aotea Family Support Group. What was it all about? The poster tells all. After lunch at our place. The cupola is from awesome grower Darren, who sells his bulk crops at markets – potatoes, kumara and pumpkins. The second angel is Mary Allen of solsticeherbs.co.nz – healing in harmony with nature. We’re cooking up a weekend visit for her in spring, same format as for Sara – a workshop, hers on herbal medicine, plus time for appointments. Screenshot of Mary during one of our skype consults. Mary is one of the most qualified and experienced medical herbalists in New Zealand! I found her in Herbnews, the quarterly journal of the Herb Federation of New Zealand. She’s also a qualified yoga therapist and naturopath, she’s taught degree-level naturopathy students, she’s course coordinator for the Southern Institute of Medical Herbalism’s three-year diploma programme, she makes herbal artisan products for Thyme Heal www.thymeheal.co.nz and she’s as awesome a person as she is a professional! “The healing gifts from the Earth that can sustain, balance and nourish us come packaged by Nature as leaves, flowers, berries, roots and bark,” says Mary. “This is our medicine; this is the people’s medicine. “Herbal medicine has been used since the dawn of humankind. Three-quarters of the world’s population still rely on herbal medicines for primary health care. There‘s a wealth of reliable traditional knowledge relating to the use of plants to aid healing as well as a growing body of clinical and scientific evidence.” In her dispensary More on Mary’s visit after it happens! Waka Tapu While I was seeing Sara off at the airport, Ro went to a talk by Jacob Raumati de Beurs, the son of the Kaitoke School headmaster. Jacob (on the left) was one of 20 crew members on the two waka that sailed for four months from Auckland to Rapanui (Easter Island). About 3000 years ago, explorers, probably from Southeast Asia, moved eastwards across the Pacific. Many settled in what is now known as Polynesia. These now diverse societies form the Polynesian triangle – whose limits are Hawaii in the north, Rapanui (Easter Island) in the east and Aotearoa in the southwest. It is believed that waka left Rarotonga over 800 years ago in search of Aotearoa. Most Māori iwi trace their origin back to these waka. Until seven years ago, the only side of the triangle that hadn’t been sailed in modern times was between New Zealand and Rapa Nui. In August 2012, the two waka hourua – traditional double-hulled sailing canoes, built from kauri by master waka builder Hekenukumai Busby, sailed 10,000 nautical miles (18,500 km) to Rapa Nui and back to Doubtless Bay in Northland. They reached Rapa Nui in December 2012 and returned to New Zealand in May 2013. As the first to attempt the journey, the principal waka, Te Aurere, was consecrated or made ‘tapu’, and the project named Waka Tapu. The journey’s origin was in 1985, when Busby saw a Hawaiian voyaging waka sail into Waitangi Harbour. The visit inspired him to build Te Aurere. After sailing it to Rarotonga and Tahiti, he focused on reaching the final corner of the Polynesian triangle. His dream was retrace a historic voyage, reestablish ancient genealogical connections and bring geographically distant relations together to celebrate their shared heritage of language, art, culture and kai. Te Aurere and Ngahiraka Mai Tawhiti Led by master navigator Jack Thatcher, the crew used only traditional celestial navigation and wayfinding techniques, to recreate the experience of the Maori ancestors who first travelled across the Pacific to New Zealand. The natural environment – sun, stars, moon, ocean swells and currents, birds and marine life – guided their way. Jacob explaining the star compass Jack Thatcher That’s the romanticised version of what happened, but the devil was in the detail! At times the journey was mainly about survival and cooperation for survival. Jacob explained all the obstacles on their way to ultimate success, beginning with a wicked storm on Day 1. He said the ancestors never left in August, and the timing meant more problems with storms and sea. In his words, everything went wrong! Some storms were fierce with extreme swells and freak waves that damaged the waka – the worst was a snapped mast – and broke equipment or washed it overboard. They lost their radio and with it all communication. They had no hardware for repairs, and only handmade string for lashing. When visibility was poor or nil during storms, they navigated blind using sounds, birds, the direction of swells and waves hitting the hull. At other times they had little or no wind to push them east, and they endured very cold days and nights. Thatcher was sick for 40 days, and because they didn’t know the cause, they had to throw overboard paua and mussels they’d preserved even though they didn’t have enough to eat. Despite the sense of accomplishment, having overcome all the hardships and achieved a navigational first, the crew found that most important part of the journey was reconnecting with the people of Polynesia along the way and in Rapa Nui. They spent hours sharing stories about common ancestors. One of the islands on their route hadn’t had any visitors in 35 years. They found that the various Polynesian cultures had a lot in common that went beyond similarities in language. Jack said the voyage was “a very right thing to do”. Arrival at Rapa Nui Though sceptics remain about ancient Polynesian navigation, the Waka Tapu journey confirmed that it is possible to travel great distances in any direction by canoe without navigational instruments. It’s agreed that Māori ancestors brought kūmara back from the Americas, but whether they navigated there and back intentionally is still debated. Befor the Waka Tapu voyage, most theorists believed the windward, eastern voyage towards the Americas was impossible. Jack Thatcher says the voyage helped change people’s minds. “We found a way, and this suggests that our ancestors knew this way also.” Biosecurity chooks Rainbow skinks are native to Australia, where they’re a harmonious, and beautiful, part of the ecosystem. But in New Zealand, they’re deservedly known as plague skinks and officially designated “Unwanted Organisms”. They’ve been wreaking havoc on native lizards since they arrived in Auckland in the 1960s and began to steadily expand their range. They haven’t yet made it to South Island, but they found their way to the Barrier in 2016. Plague skinks reproduce rapidly, more than five times faster than native lizards, and they mature in less than half the time. Each lays up to 24 eggs a year. They can reach high population densities, competing with native lizards and other native animals for food and habitat, and preying on native invertebrates. Though smaller than native skinks, they look nearly identical. The only easily seen difference is the shape of a scale in the middle of the head! The plague skink is the diagram on the right. For the past 18 months, a novel control method was trialled on a 3000 sq m colony in Tryphena. Three pens were fenced and cleared of native lizards, and then 200 chickens were brought in to eradicate the plague! Eighteen months later, plague skink numbers in all three pens had plunged. The trial was declared a success, but I wonder, how can the method can be used in the bush? The helpful and generous chooks also donated over 5000 dozen eggs to the Auckland City Mission. When the trial was over, they were homed across the island. Off the Grid with Pio This weekly show on Maori TV explores off-grid living. What better place than Great Barrier Island – or an island off the Barrier’s coast, another step up in remoteness! Host Pio spent a few days with Matt and Margaret-Rose Ngawaka, who’ve lived on Rangiāhua for 33 years. Pink = Rangiāhua Island Green = Port Fitzroy, their nearest sizeable wharf Red = Tryphena, the other sizeable wharf Yellow = us They’ve lived largely self-sufficiently all this time, as their seven children grew up and all but one left the island. A fascinating look into a very different way of life: https://www.maoritelevision.com/shows/grid-pio/S01E004/grid-episode-4 Chak-Rocks These symbolic mini-masterpieces are by Jeff, who lives on the Barrier part of the year. Find more of Jeff’s rocks and larger artwork, plus his writings, films, radio show archives and incredible music at https://dolphinmatrix.com/Jeff/ and thebrink-jeffphillips.blogspot.com Flying truck box on its way to becoming a sleepout Santiago and Lucia. Santi made the bench for an outdoor sink. Giant choko vine at the Community Gardens A community pantry and book exchange sprung up there as well. Kahu picnicking on the dunetop along Sandhills Road
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