From Seals to the Rainbow God - Exploring the East Coast, July 24th

After days of nice weather, we were greeted by a cold and wet morning. We ate a quick breakfast at the sleeper cars and then we set of for the town of Kaikora on the East coast. We didn’t make it very far before our obligatory tea break at the Two Rivers café and art gallery. Besides the usual café fare, there was lots of beautiful artwork of many different styles by many different local artists. A few of us picked up some souvenirs. We drove for another hour, past Kaikora to Ohau point, where we observed the resident fur seal population. The beach was covered in seals.

 We then went on a short hike up the Ohau River to a waterfall. To everyone’s surprise, there were about 30 seal pups in the pool at the base of the waterfall, one was exceptionally friendly. During this time of the year, the mother seals take their young up the river while they feed at sea to protect them from the much larger male seals hanging out on the beach. It’s kind of like seal daycare. After staying at the falls for a few days they reunite with their mothers. After everyone got their fill of seal watching, we headed into Kaikora for lunch and some more shopping. 

We reconvened at 4 and headed to Takahanga Marae where we spent the night. A marae is a traditional Maori meeting house that is used for religious meetings, funerals, marriages, and all other manner of serious meetings. After going through the traditional acceptance and welcoming process with our Maori friends Bret and Karen. We were given a brief history lesson before we sat down to dinner and were officially accepted into the marae. After dinner we learned more about the Maori culture from Brad and were taught a non-threatening haka. The inside of the marae was adorned from floor to ceiling with beautiful and colorful wood carvings, paintings, and weavings of traditional Maori designs and figures. The pictures and carvings told stories about the local Maori tribes, the creation of New Zealand, and paid tribute to many of their gods.  Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures inside of the marae but I can assure you that it was a beautiful place and a great time was had by all.

- Kevin