Ryan & U'i's Pacific Odyssey: NZ Day 15

May 20

Day – Met Nick, Cape Reinga, Spirits Bay (surf Kapowairua)

Night – Spirits Bay DOC campsite

Dawn brought blue skies and a DOC worker named Nick. He was a kind and gentle Maori man who belonged to the local Iwi or “tribe.” We all struck up a conversation right away. It was quite fascinating to hear him trace his lineage back dozens of generations to when his people first migrated to Aotearoa from Hawaiki, the ancestral land for Maori. U’I recounted her dream to Nick and asked for his interpretation. He was quite stunned. “Were they night marchers?” he asked in wonderment. “I don’t know, but I know that they were warriors.” I described the tattoos and the intense digging that took place in the dream. “Well you know, in the next valley over, there was a great battle between the Europeans and the Maori ‘iwi that were living there. To defeat the Maori the Europeans surrounded the base of the mountain for months on end hoping that the Maori ‘iwi would lose their strength from lack of food and resources. Unknowing to the Europeans, the Maori warriors had dug deep underground tunnels where the Maori families would travel through to other valleys to gather resources like food and material to make weapons. The warriors, as did many other Maori ‘iwi from other parts of the country, utilized trench warfare throughout the valley during battle. Eventually the Europeans gathered the courage to make their way up the mountain to defeat the Maori, unknowing that the Maori ‘iwi were strong, healthy, robust and ready for battle. The Europeans failed that day and the Maori were successful in defeating the Europeans because of their trenches.” I remember pausing at that very moment… “So you see, maybe that is why they were digging, but it was probably not to harm you all, they really just wanted to say hello, or make their presence known to you.” “What about the sand? Was it a blessing? It is sacred because it comes from the land?” Nick answered, “Actually sand and fresh water may be forms of blessings or cleansing in protocol (ho’okupu I assumed). In fact, I would go over there to the river and splash some water on yourself for cleansing purposes.” “This is the place of the spirits though right? Since this area is called the “Spirits Path,” I continued. “Oh yes! Of course! There are burials all around this area, we’ve even found bones in the sand that wash up on the beaches!” Ryan, Jason, Hilary and I now looked at each other…very nervously. “The Pathway of the Spirits is very specific. Those who pass on need to pass through several areas, there is special protocol…we encourage them to go back to the place of their ancestors Hawaiki nui, Hawaiki loa, we send them away, go back to your parents, go to the place of your forefathers. They (the spirits) must cleanse and wash themselves along the pathway, and pass the tree which never flowers…that place that you will go to visit next, Te Rerenga Wairua, is where the spirits jump. There are holes in the cliffs there, that face the islands the Three Kings, I’ve seen the holes from the ocean, when the wind goes through it, it mumbles, wails, we believe those are the spirits, those are our ancestors.” Ryan asked: “Are there, or can there be spirits who don’t make it to Hawaiki, and are left behind?” Nick paused for a moment and answered, “Yes, these spirits are lost…maybe they did not do proper protocol of the path, or maybe they don’t want to leave Aotearoa…that is why we encourage those who pass on to leave, to go back home to Hawaiki.”

Nick shared valuable information with all of us that morning. We all had a special connection with him. I will never forget the dream that I had…”They came to you,” Nick replied to me…I’ll never forget that response…I guess I consider it an honor to have been able to somehow communicate with them…and they understood…common languages, common cultures…I did eventually hobble my way to the stream and sprinkled water on my head several times to cleanse from that night. Nick after all did say that “Not all things are good in this world, if you felt that it was an evil thing, you face it and tell it to &*%$-off!” True, true, yes, but I don’t think it was an evil thing, I think it was spirits who were curious and wanted to make sure that we as strangers were not being disrespectful to the very special and sacred place of Taputupotu.

After some further lessons in Maori customs and history, we played around the campsite for an hour, exploring some of the hiking trails that departed from the area. Finally we pushed out of Tapotupotu and went a few kilometers further north to Cape Reinga, a powerful place in many regards. The cape is where the mighty Pacific Ocean and Tasman Sea meet and perform a violent dance of currents. More importantly, Cape Reinga is where the Spirits of the Maori people migrate to as described above. It was an incredibly sacred place, and we were blessed to be able to witness the sights and feelings that emanated from this northern most tip of the islands.

After the cape, we decided to venture down the coast about 40mins to Spirits Bay. A second DOC site was located there, and we were curious to see if it could top our previous location. We weren’t disappointed. The bay and surrounding hillsides were raw but vibrant and very alive. Wild horses roamed the pastures and grass covered mountains. A formidable cliff framed the southern end of the bay, with an endless white sandy beach stretching nearly to the horizon on the north. The only foot prints were the ones we left behind. A small island (currently attached to the mainland at low tide) jutted out near the South end of the bay, about a kilometer from where we had driven in. The main Bay wasn’t breaking, but it appeared as though some small waves were rolling in behind the island. J and I decided to do some recon and set off on foot. After watching some perfect beach break barrels roll across the mini bay, called Kapowairua, we jogged back to grab our boards and the girls.

We surfed the shorepound till the sun went down. There were plenty of barrels to be had, most ended in a closeout, but a handful of in-and-outs were shared between us. Good times all around. That night was the coldest night we experienced to date. Sleep was hard with the inside of our van bottoming out in the 40’s. We welcomed the sun the following day.