The New Zealand Silver Fern

Cyathea Dealbata, the Silver Fern - ponga in Māori – is a species of tree fern only found in New Zealand. The silver fern has been the symbol of New Zealand's national identity since the late 1800s. The undersides reflect moonlight, which makes them useful in navigating bush pathways at night. 

While exploring the back yard, we came upon these wooden gate cutouts of the New Zealand silver fern. I would love to take them home with me to Idaho, but there is no room in my suitcase.

On Sunday Elder Rooks and I were asked to join a Primary class. I played the piano in Primary and also for Sacrament Meeting.

The teacher drew this globe on the board, with New Zealand where we usually see the United States. I was interested to note the comparative sizes of the islands of New Zealand (the size of Colorado) and the continent of Australia, neighbor to the west and north.

Elder Rooks raking several years' worth of leaves. He hauled away a dozen or so wheelbarrow loads to dump further back in the yard. You can see one of the New Zealand silver ferns behind him across the fence.

It was cool and wet after a rain. Thankfully I have my lined rubber boots. We found a number of children's toys and a garden spade (yay) in the piles of leaves.

A silver fern grown near our geothermal stream. The silver ferns here look much better than some around town that don't have the same warmth as the stream does.

The silver ferns across the stream. As you see, they can grow as big as trees.

Logo of the New Zealand national netball team

I made a lemon meringue pie (my favorite) out of the lemons growing in our yard for a dinner for the elders and sister missionaries. The Americans loved it, but the islanders, to whom lemons are a remedy for a sore throat, were disappointed to find it wasn't a banana cream pie. I think they are missing out, but that's just me. As my sister says, More pie for the Americans!

These three sweethearts were introduced to us following a baptism, as The Three Nannies of the local ward. Although the lady in the middle, Chris K., objects strenuously to being called a nanny. Or being called Christine, either. She invited us over for a visit. She is delightful, as are they all, including Veronica, on the left, who objects strenuously to being called anything but Ronnie.

Chris K.'s house, which was full of visiting grandchildren. We promised to be back so we could help her do some of her Scottish family history.

Wednesday, we visited the tiny St. Paul's Catholic Church and its cemetery in Ngapuna. It is located in the middle of an industrial park, and the church has not held services since approx. 2016. The church itself is in disrepair. But the cemetery surrounding it is lively and in current use.

Fortunately, we came across members of the Ngati Hinemihi visiting the cemetery. It is mostly members of this tribe that are buried here. We asked if it was ok if we took photos of headstones, most of which have not been recorded before. They assured us that it was, as long as we did the ritual sprinkling of water following our visit.

Monuments and vaults of the St. Paul's churchyard. We took over 100 photos here.

This is where our hosts did their own ritual sprinkling, so we did, too.

Elder Rooks noticed that the headstones are not as easy to transcribe as those in the soldier's cemetery. They contain all sorts of memorials, epitaphs, (mostly in Maori,) and names of relatives, which is great when you are doing the whakapapa, family history. 

Next to the church and cemetery was the Marae of the Ngati Hinemihi, with its central hall (whakanui) and gateway with the words "Te MaruMaru O TuHoto,"  (The Shadow of an Enemy) painted across it.

 

On Friday we walked the 1.6 kilmeters (1 mile) to Nihoriki Rd to visit Mary. The hill in front of us, under the setting sun, is Mount Ngongotaha Scenic Reserve.

Mary is a wise grandmother who lives life on her own terms. She is a counselor to young people but would like to retire and work on genealogy. Her rain gutter was coming apart over her front porch, so Elder Rooks took a look at it and we will be back Monday night with some help from the Elders' Quorum of the Fairy Springs Ward.

On the walk home, the Utuhina Stream from the opposite side of Lake Road. You can see a puff of steam, with the Red Rock Thermal Motel on one side and the Utuhina Hot Springs Fishing Lodge on the other.

Elder Rooks wanted to stop at the Mitre 10 Mega building materials store, where he has developed a friendship with one of the cheeky grizzled associates who likes to tease him about his spiffy suit. We were looking at guttering materials for Mary's house. While waiting for help, we of course had to visit the gardening section, which is gearing up for the coming spring months. This 6-pack of cherry tomatoes looked cold and shivery so I brought it home and set it in the warm and sunny south-facing window. Just as good as a greenhouse, since I am not convinced that Rotorua will be warm enough to actually grow tomatoes. Also, some tomato potting soil (we found a few pots in our back yard cleaning) and a netting to keep out the pukekos. I leave the details of that to Elder Rooks.

Mr. Pukeko, or, Mr. Obnoxious, as I like to call him, showing his white tail feathers.

Tauranga

Thursday we drove up to Tauranga on the Bay of Plenty for a Zone Conference. It was a memorable drive on Hwy 36 through the Mangapouri Scenic Reserve and the Mangorewa Kaharoa Gorge.

On Sunday we made a visit to Robbie and Wiki, short for Wikitoria. They live in the Western Heights area in a lane with three homes belonging to Robbie's family, including his mother Betty, who told us to go ahead and wake Robbie up. We had a delightful visit. They are smart and spiritual and have been through many trying experiences.

Wiki wears the Moko Kauae, the women's chin tattoo, which traditionally signifies a woman's standing in the community, her leadership and her family. Wiki speaks Maori although Robbie does not, because when he was attending school, it was forbidden by the government and students were punished for doing so. The government eventually relented and not only allows Maori to be spoken again but encourages and promotes it. Maori is the only language spoken in the living Maori villages, so some residents of Rotorua do not speak English.

Although retired, Robbie and Wiki earn money by making the Purini Mamaoa, steamed puddings served at the Hangi, the traditional Maori meal. Robbie says they sell every pudding to a man who cooks the hangi in underground pits. We know this because Elder Rooks was asking about the giant mixer on the counter behind Robbie. He told me his recipe was a secret.

Elder Rooks thought we should finally try one of the Award Winning Quality Meat Pies, so we went inside the shop next to Wendy's Fish and Chips.

There was quite a lineup of people buying pies, tarts and other desserts, so it must be good, right?

We bought steak and cheese meat pies. I snagged a coconut cream tart which I carried home in one palm.

These are very filling, and definitely Better Quality than the ones you buy in the supermarket. But I wouldn't want to make a steady diet of them.

In the afternoon I made chocolate chip oatmeal cookies and we took them to a family in Lynmore to invite them to the two-ward emergency preparedness workshop on Saturday. Lynmore is a nicer suburb than others near our home, and the homes are single-family per address, not three to seven residences along a narrow lane you sometimes have to back out of at your peril.

The Thursday morning drive to Tauranga had unexpected hazards. This photo (actually taken on our way back to Rotorua)  shows a one lane bridge ahead and if you have to Give Way (Yield) or not. (We didn't even see it coming in the other direction.) Coming from Rotorua we were supposed to give way, but since we had been driving the posted speed limit of 80 km (50 mph) downhill and around that sharp right corner, and had no idea what the signs meant, we were glad there was not more traffic. 

 I spent some of our meeting time locating it on Google Maps and marked the coordinates so we could be prepared coming back. 

Driving along the Pyes Pa road overlooking Tauranga, which is on the coast of the Bay of Plenty and noted for its beauty. Bro. Connelly tells me that many residents of Auckland (pronounced "Oakland,") have recently moved to Tauranga, making it more crowded and expensive, like Auckland. Next time we will take the toll road, which is longer but a better road--not the winding and very narrow Hwy 36--and we will be able to see the coast.

As we approached civilization and Tauranga, I caught a picture of an Araucaria tree, a relative of Chile's national tree.

Elder Rooks noticed that the trees and shrubs and flowers here are less stressed and better cared for. The temperatures are more balmy than in Rotorua, and the residents better off.

At our Zone Conference, we had several hours of wonderful instruction, including a breakout session with Sis. Fee Niokia, wife of Jeffrey Nikoia, our mission president, (she was taking the picture,) several senior sister missionaries, (we serve in Rotorua, Gisborne, Whakatane, and the mission home,) and the young sisters, who are amazing.

Rotorua District sister missionaries, Sis. Lui, Sis. Cleverley, Sis. Pancheri, and Sis. Nonu taking the picture.

The mission elders finishing lunch. I notice there isn't any leftover fry bread, Paraoa Parai. 

All of us gathered for a photo in the cold cultural hall. Elder Rooks is sitting next to Pres. Nikoia.

Pretty scenery on the way back to Rotorua

Beautiful clouds. Since it rains so much in New Zealand, the clouds can be spectacular.

On Saturday Sis. Lui and Sis. Pancheri invited us to come with them to visit a contact, a single man, but he was not at home.

We had enough time to walk to the Saturday Market, but the man selling oranges wasn't there. He must have sold them all, sigh. Instead we met this American couple from Washington, and the Maori lady the husband had baptized when he was a young missionary here. We told them about the two-ward activity that night, and they came, to meet old friends.

This lovely Tongan lady was selling greenstone pendants she had made herself, in order to raise money to send her son on a mission. She is known as "Grandma Lolo" in the Hamilton New Zealand Mission, Lolo Olive Fehoko. Greenstone, Pounamu, is the treasured stone that is part of the name of the South Island, Te Wapounamu, Water and Greenstone. There are varying legends attached to how the greenstone came to be. Each piece of Pounamu becomes a family heirloom and is passed to the next generation as a memory of those who came before. The different shapes have significance.

Of course I bought one. This Pounama stone is probably nephrite jade. The other type is translucent bowenite, a type of serpentine. I liked the shape, color, and this was the smallest. I found out later that it is the Adze, the Toki, a tool. It gives the wearer "strength and courage to do, face, and get through and achieve anything in their life." I have been wearing it ever since.

And now the wildlife corner. Here is a bunny that wanders our lane. Really pretty tame, and we don't know who it belongs to, but it doesn't seem underfed.

Eurasian Blackbird, Manu Pango, with the flashing orange beak. These are fast little birds that dart in and out and are almost impossible to take a good picture of, even though they are everywhere.

Not really wildlife either, but for my gardener's cravings I bought a peppermint plant, and Elder Rooks bought a piece of interesting wood with sedum growing on it at the Saturday Market.

Mr. Pukeko has found a puddle of rainwater to drink from.

Ōhinemutu

This week we finished setting up our house and made a visit to the living Māori Te Papaioru Marae (village center) of Ōhinemutu, which was settled by the Ngāti Whakaue iwi (tribe), a sub-tribe of the Te Arawa.

Māori totem at Ōhinemutu. The meaning of the place name is as follows: Ō: place of; hine: girl; mutu: cut off. The chief Ihenga, who discovered Lake Rotorua, had a daughter called Hinetekakara. She was captured and murdered, and her entrails were cast into the lake. Ihenga searched frantically for her, and when he found her intestines caught on a snag at the edge of the lake, he set up a memorial stone that he named Ōhinemutu (The place of the only girl, or The girl cut off.)

I forgot to include this photo of Elder Rooks & Sister Rooks when we first arrived at the mission home in Hamilton. We were greeted by Jeffrey Nikoia, the Mission Leader, a wonderful and inspired disciple of Christ.

Two of the three cats who roam our yard: this ginger & white, rather mangy half wild cat warming himself over the geothermal stream, and

...this beautiful fluffy black cat with golden eyes who has obviously been owned by a family before. He seems well fed but likes hanging around our house. I am tempted to feed him but really shouldn't. 

After more than a week setting up our house--the new dryer came! And the modem! We have communications now! and washing all the windows, the car, and the garbage cans (after a trip to The Warehouse for towels and cleaning supplies and a hose,) --we made forays into the neighborhood and found this little shopping area on Lake Road, including the Monster Fruit store, owned by a family from India.

Lots of fresh fruit, herbs and spices, Indian, Thai, Mexican and other international seasonings and plastic-wrapped meats of unknown origins, Bundaberg ginger beer and creaming soda (yum!) and Hai Chews, among other things. I brought home a bag of mismatched Granny Smith apples and made apple turnovers for the Elders and Sisters of the Rotorua District. They appreciated every last one. Elder Rooks was sorry they were all eaten.

On the way home from the Monster Fruit Market is Wendy's Fish Shop, typical of all local fish and chips shops with its offerings of Indian, Chinese, and English dishes, with the poster of New Zealand Commercial Fish Species on the wall. We ordered the $39 special, which includes a ton of thick cut potato fries, Potato Fritters--the length of a thin-sliced potato, battered and deep fried--several mild fat sausages, and probably 9 generous pieces of batter-fried fish, which was excellent, if greasy. A person could founder on this kind of food. It fed us for several days. We haven't felt the need to visit Better Quality Pies next door. Fish & Chips reheat a lot better than meat pies. 

The next time we visited Wendy's Fish Shop we ordered the $15 special, which was still enough for two meals. Here Elder Rooks waits to unwrap the fish and chips, which comes with a free bottle of your choice of soda. We chose L&P, Lemon & Paeroa (a mineral spring water), "World Famous in New Zealand." It was nice and lemony and sparkly.

Today's catch

On Friday we made the 1-1/2 mile trek to Ōhinemutu, on the shores of Lake Rotorua. We passed the entrance to Kuirau Park, a fairly large park which includes the bubbling springs, a rugby field, a geothermal aquatic center, and some belching gas that earns Rotorua the affectionate name of Sulphur City. The entrance here is deceptively pleasant looking. If you follow the pathways you will run into stifling, billowing clouds that you can't see past and will send you home coughing with eyes stinging.

, 

It looks quite pretty against the blue sky but I would hate to live across the street from the worst of the sulfur smells so far.

On the way up the hill to  Ōhinemutu, we passed the large and beautiful Rotorua Hospital and the Te Whatu Ora Lakes Mental Health and Addiction Services, with a commanding view of the lake and town of Rotorua.

One of the notable features of the Te Papaioru Marae is the Tama-te-kapua wharenui (meeting house or focal point of a marae), dedicated in 1878 to ratify the peace between the Te Arawa and Waikato tribes. The legend of Tama-te-kapua, the ancestor of the Te Arawa people surrounding Lake Rotorua, is as follows: 

“The story of Te Arawa begins in Hawaiki, the distant land of our ancestors.  Our iwi (tribe) is named after the Te Arawa waka (canoe) that brought them to the shores of Aotearoa (New Zealand). Theirs was an epic journey; one that took courage, skill, and powerful magic to survive.”  

Houmaitawhi was a chief of a tribe in Hawaiki (Raiatea, Society Islands, French Polynesia). The trouble began when the neighboring chief Uenuku ate the pet dog of Houmaitawhi, whose two sons Tama-te-kapua and Whakaturia discovered it missing and went looking for it. When they entered Uenuku’s village they were delighted to hear an answering howl – only to discover that the sound was coming from inside the belly of Uenuku.

The two brothers schemed how to take revenge for this insult. They stole the kuru (breadfruit), night after night, from Uenuku’s precious tree, on stilts. After they were found out, in the ensuing battle,  Tama-te-kapua’s forces won, but Houmaitawhi told his son to seek out a peaceful life in a new land.

A great tree was felled and the waka (canoe) was built, ready to take on the fearsome ocean waves. At least 30 people readied themselves and packed their kete ready to join Tama-te-kapua on the long and dangerous voyage. Sailing south, the people made their way to the Bay of Plenty in Aotearoa, New Zealand.  Those who made their way to the shores of Lake Rotorua valued the geothermal waters for bathing, cooking, and heating.

On the other side of the marae is the Tudor-style St. Faith's Anglican Church, built in 1910. We were not able to see inside the whanui or the church, which are both said to be beautifully carved. Perhaps some other time.

St. Faith's is surrounded by vaults and grave memorials, one the reasons we came to Ōhinemutu--to take photos for the BillionGraves website. 

The Muruika Urupa (Soldier's Cemetery) on Muruika Point on Lake Rotorua. Most are the soldiers of the 28th Māori Battalion who returned from the Second World War, but some are World War 1 veterans as well.

We took over 100 photos of the memorial markers here and around the church, using the Billion Graves app, which pinpoints each marker with GPS data. The Find A Grave site marks this as 100% complete but has only photographed ten markers, although these are accompanied by additional personal information. Elder Rooks has been spending his spare time transcribing headstones so the information will be available to Family Search and other genealogical sites. At least one of the soldier's names was Hagoth.

Pink flowers on the shores of the lake

Black swan near the shore

Across the fenced-in geothermal area we could hear the sound of children's voices at the school whanui of the Māori village.

The bust of Queen Victoria, presented by the Queen in 1870 as a mark of her gratitude to the tribes which maintained their allegiance to her during the wars of the 1860s

You could hear boiling water under these rocks. Occasionally there are spurts of hot water, geyser-fashion. A series of round vents are stuck in the grass nearby. Elder Rooks kept putting his hands near steaming pipes and corroded sidewalks to see how hot they were. Too hot to touch, he said.

On Saturday morning we set off for the Saturday Market that takes place each week on the south side of Kuirau Park. It is a fifteen-minute walk for us. We passed where the steaming geothermal stream comes under Tarewa Road onto our side of the street.

We went through the aquatic center buildings and across the rugby field to Pukuatua Street

...to the tents of hardy vendors, offering everything from prayers to manuka honey to grilled meat skewers in the food court, which smelled wonderful.

The Saturday Market raises money for the Rotorua Rotary club. 

On the way back, we found this little Urupa not far from our house. It is not on any known map. It is mostly a well-cared for lawn with a central memorial vault and one memorial on the side fence.

Because there were no headstones, the record of all the other people buried here are lost.

This gentleman came from the house across the street to tell us about the cemetery, which his family has been maintaining.  Here Elder Rooks is carrying the bag of oranges we bought at the Saturday Market, along with two mugs and some Kawakawa salves, soap, and herbal tea. Kawakawa means bitter in Māori, and is considered a very useful medicinal herb.

Here Manahi stands alongside the headstone of his grandfather Manahi, whose gravesite is the only one marked in the cemetery. He told us that his grandfather knew the names of everyone in the cemetery, and he berates himself not writing them down. He said that many of the people buried here died in the 1918 flu epidemic. We would love to talk to Manahi again. He is a fount of knowledge of families and histories in this part of New Zealand.

Mr. and Mrs. Pukeko, foraging under the citrus trees. We have picked lemons, a sweet tangerine, and a sour orange.