I went to the airport (and I use this term lightly) with my
friends Alex and Caitlin to depart for Motiti Island!
We got on our plane that fits 4 (3 passengers and 1 pilot)
and headed over the ocean towards adventure!
I have to admit I was a little scared in this tiny plane but
we lucked out with barely any wind and a smooth ride!
We landed in a huge field and were greeted by the Maori
people who grabbed our bags and drove us towards their home.
Before entering the Marae we had to partake
in a Pōwhir, a welcome ceremony involving speeches, dancing, singing and hongi
(a traditional Māori greeting in New Zealand, done by pressing one's nose and
forehead to another person).
As an elder Maori woman began to sing we all walked slowly
towards the benches in front of the Marae, women in front, men in the
back. As we sat on the benches an elder
Maori man with a carved wooden cane walked forward and began talking in
Maori. The language is so interesting
and is spoken almost like a song. One of
the Maori men in our volunteer group then got up and spoke back to the elder
man in Maori. He then put a piece of
paper on the ground which represented a peace offering. The elder Maori man
then picked up the peace offering and welcomed us towards them. The men then received Hongi (a traditional
Māori greeting done by pressing one's nose and forehead to another person) and
the women kisses on the cheek. We were
then directed towards the dining hall where we had a huge lunch with tea and
cakes.
(Our Volunteer Group)
I have never felt more welcomed than when I was on
Motiti. Everyone was so warm and excited
to share stories about their culture and the history of the Island. After lunch Graeme, the elder man who led our
welcoming ceremony, invited my friend Caitlin and I to come see his home.
Without a second thought we quickly followed
him, forgetting our shoes, walking through fields and painful prickly grass. His house had huge murals on the walls inside
and out, painted by his son. His son, Graeme
Hoete or ‘Mr G,’ is a well known New
Zealand artist living on the mainland in Tauranga. He recently acquired some fame after painting
a mural on a container in Papamoa Beach.
Graeme continued to show us his house, including pictures of
the island dating back to the 1940s when there was a school and horses plowing
the fields. Now mostly retired people
live on the island.
Motiti Island is completely run by the Maori that live there. There is no law but their own. Graeme explained to us that because of this he could build his house however he wanted, wherever he wanted without any restrictions. This made me feel as though I was in a real life mini utopia where life was just lived completely naturally.
After our little tour we headed back to the Marae to head
out for our first day of cleaning beaches.
Our group went down to a rocky beach where we were instructed to throw
the oil covered rocks into the ocean.
Apparently that is all we can do.
After hours of volunteering we went back to the Marae to shower and have
another huge home cooked meal! There’s
nothing more incredible for a poor backpacker than a FREE, endless buffet of
delicious food 3 times a day! With not
much else to do we headed to the Marae to set up our beds. About 30 of us slept mattress to
mattress. Every night we would put the
mattresses down with our blankets and pillows and every morning we would put
the mattresses back and put our blankets back in a little storage room. We were usually in bed by 9pm and up at
6:30am. This schedule continued everyday
and meal time was definitely what all of us continuously looked forward to
while spending hours in the heat throwing oil covered rocks into the
ocean!
One of the nights some of us got to go out with the Wildlife people and search for oiled penguins. We didn't see any wandering around but we got to look inside a penguin nest! On the last night we were there the people on Motiti threw us a little going away party in their "bar," which was really like a VFW hall run by the few people on the island. There was one local who took a creepy interest in me but after he was banned from our gathering, I safely had a great time playing pool and even having some sing alongs with everyone! It was great hearing the Motiti family sing some old Maori songs!
It was hard and very sad to see how their beaches have been destroyed by the oil. The Maori are a very sea oriented people and used to rely heavily on the seafood they caught on Motiti. Now they will probably have to wait years before things are somewhat back to normal. It's also difficult to accept that all we could do was throw the oil covered rocks back into the sea where "mother nature was supposed to do her job." This is what one oil expert flown all the way from England told me on his short day trip to Motiti. But if that's all we could do it felt good to help in any small way possible.
We weren’t allowed to take many
pictures in the village but on the last day I managed to take a few. One of my favorite parts on the island was
playing with a couple of the incredibly cute babies!
When it was finally time to go we said goodbye to everyone and got back on our tiny plane.
This time I got to sit in the front. As we started to take off I realized the door on my side was opening...I tried to tell the pilot who didn't seem concerned and casually reached over me to close the door while saying "you can fly with the door open it's ok!" Shortly after my friends and I were scared for our lives the pilot told me I could fly the plane with the controls in front of me. Thinking there was no way he would actually have my controls turned on I laughed and started to turn them back and forth which proceeded to make the plane go back and forth putting my friends back into a state of fear.
Once I realized I was really allowed to fly this thing I held the plane very straight for a while before giving the responsibility back to the pilot!
(View of Motiti Island from the plane)
We were all very sad to get back to a world where we have to buy and cook our own food but within a day we all seemed to find jobs! That is the good karma helping Motiti Island gives to everyone! I believe it's a true privilege to have the chance to be completely immersed in any culture and the best way to really understand what the culture is really about. This was truly an incredible experience I feel honored to have had and will definitely never forget.
Next blog post I will hopefully be able to finally and completely catch up! TTFN (ta ta for now!):)
