Pounamu - A Few Facts

Contemporary jade, Christchurch Arts Centre Market. Jan. 2009. Ajr

To most New Zealanders it’s greenstone. To the Maori it is pounamu. To the geologists it is nephrite, or jade. To tourists it is one of the most sought-after iconic souvenirs of New Zealand. But ‘greenstone’ is much more than a souvenir. From China to Japan, Korea, Mexico, the Middle East and New Zealand, jade has been revered for thousands of years. It has been endowed with symbolic status and mystical power, and treasured for its beauty, its sensual hues, diversity of color, its smooth touch and its extreme toughness. The New Zealand jade story is shorter than most – less than 1000 years – but early Maori valued it above all other possessions. Like the Chinese and the Mayans long before them, they treasured it more than gold. It provided them with a totally stone-based culture, which they developed to a high technical and aesthetic level in a relatively short time. Pounamu served them as tool, weapon, adornment, an item of trade and a symbol of authority and ceremony.

Traditional Maori Hei tiki at Okains Bay Museum, BanksPeninuslar. Ajr For Maori it was a gift from the gods of great spiritual and material value and archaelogical digs suggest they used nephrite as far back as the 13th century. Its use was well established by 1500 and between then and 1800 it was a key element of everyday life, the pivot of power between tribes and a major item of trade.The Maori continue to revere pounamu for its symbolic, mythological and aesthetic properties, and despite mass souvenir production, it retains a treasured place in Maori culture. If you are interested in Maori culture please click on my other blog http://maorilifestyles.blogspot.com for much more.

A Slice of History

Okains Bay Store. March 2008. Ajr

I see in The Press this week that the very cute and historic Okains Bay Store on Banks Peninsula has been gifted to the Okains Bay Museum. Built in 1873, it also served as a post office from 1892 to1988; and more recently, in 2006, it shot to fame when a police raid busted a P-lab that tenants of the upstairs flat had begun operating. It’s the only store operating in the tiny village of Okains Bay and locals will be thrilled to know that it will continue to operate as one of those quintessential old time country town general stores – the sorts of places where you can buy anything from gumboots and milk to icecreams and hose fittings.

Knock Knock Who's There?

Okains Bay. 2008. Ajr

Loved this brass hei tiki door knocker at the Okains Bay Maori & Colonial Museum on Banks Peninsular. It was on a side door at the rear of the museum - the perffect adornment for a door leading in to one of the most impressive collections of Maori artifacts I've ever seen.

Ta Moko

I’ve been going through my Okains Bay Maori and Colonial Museum photos again and found this one (right) referencing the art of Maori moko or tattoo. Traditionally, men were tattooed much more heavily than women, who mainly tattooed their lips (kauae) and their chins. There’s been a strong resurgence of interest in moko among both men and women keen to acknowledge their Maori heritage – and many are also choosing to be tattooed the traditional way using uhi or chisels, rather than with modern tools.

Speaking of bags.....

Traditional Kete, Okains Bay, March 2008, Ajr

.........I am reminded of the wonderful displays of traditional Maori kete I saw at Okains Bay Maori & Colonial Museum last month. Kete is the Maori word for a basket made from the dried leaves of New Zealand flax (Mahi harakeke). They were used for carrying food, belongings and treasures (taonga) and were made in a wide variety of intricate designs, patterns and colours. This is one of the best small rural museums in New Zealand

The Art of Maori Tattoo

There’s been a resurgence of the art of Ta Moko (tattoo) as Maori seek to reclaim their heritage and cultural traditions. Every tattoo is customised to reflect an individual’s own beliefs, ancestry and spirituality. Sharon Henderson of Okains Bay thought long and hard about the sort of tattoo she wanted and she sought out one of our best Ta Moko artists to do it. Te Rangitu Netana, now living in Kerikeri is famous for having custom designed tattoos for British rock star, Robbie Williams. Sharon's decision paid off. She not only ended up with this beautiful, delicate, highly personalised work on her arm – which includes reference to her family’s whaling ancestry – she also won Best Female Ta Moko at the 2008 South Island Tattoo Show recently. If you are interested in Maori culture and Maori Tattoo, please click on my other blog http://maorilifestyles.blogspot.com/ and put Tattoo into the blog search box top left of home page.

Pioneer History

Photos: Okains Bay Homestead. 2008 Ajr

When I was in Okains Bay the other day I was lucky enough to visit an old relic of a house where time has stood still. Built for one of the bays early pioneering families, it is currently for sale for the first time since it was built in the 1850s. The outbuildings are all original and the home’s interior is just as its last fulltime owner left it in the late 1970s when she passed away. Since then it has been used as a holiday home by the extended family.
You’d think that alone would have ushered in change but no, to step in here is to step into a time warp. It felt like being marooned back in the 1950s and as I sat there, in total silence, I half expected the owner to come bouncing into the parlour offering me tea and scones. Her vases filled with plastic flowers are still there (miraculously dust-free); her black handbag still stands on the bedroom dressing table. There is a cream glove casually lying on a parlour cabinet, as if she had just rushed home from an outing and torn off her glove in her hurry to get to work in the kitchen. Cabinets are still filled with her china; coats hang in bedroom cupboards and, most bewildering of all, all the chair cushions appeared to have fresh ‘hollows’, as if someone had heard me coming and had jumped up and hidden, leaving their telltale ‘bottom dents’ in the cushions.
For all that, it seemed a happy, restful place – not at all ‘spooky’ in any haunted sense. It felt like a safe house, a house with soul and generations of stories to tell. Sometimes you can just feel that in a place; sometimes that overriding sense of family history is almost palpable.

A Bird in the Hand

New Zealand Birds, Okains Bay Maori & Colonial Museum, Banks Peninsula. Ajr.

One of the splendid native bird displays that took my fancy on Wednesday when I visited the Okains Bay Maori & Colonial Museum

Stepping Back in Time

Okains Bay, Banks Peninsula, Canterbury. April 2008. Ajr

This is the beach at Okains Bay, one of the outer eastern bays of Banks Peninsula, 90 minutes from Christchurch. I’ve been exploring there the past two days – lost in a time warp. It’s the closest thing I can imagine to life in 1940s New Zealand. Originally settled in the early 1850s – chiefly by saw millers after the rich timber reserves – it grew into a thriving little farming settlement complete with school, library, church, store and a cheese factory. The cheese factory closed down in 1968 and there are now only about 30 families left in the bay. The historic buildings are being restored though - that's nice to see; there’s a fabulous museum (see below) and every summer, hundreds of holidaymakers flock to the popular camping ground in the cluster of pine trees between the beach and the river.

For Book Worms

Okains Bay Library. Aoril 2008. Ajr

The cute as a button Okains Bay Library was built in the 1870s and has recently been restored.

Riddled With History

And this is where I slept – at the ever-so-dreamy Rowandale Homestead. It’s now home to Luis and Angela - the fifth generation of the Thacker family to reside here – and they’re perfect hosts. Several of their grand rooms are given over to homestead stays and if you’re looking for the ultimate escape, complete with fine food and wine, huge bedrooms, a delicious balcony bathtub, alfresco balcony beds, total silence, magnificent scenery and the chance to explore the nearby historic village, then pack your bags and get yourself there immediately. I fell in love with it. I didn’t want to leave. Built in 1908-1916 to what is purported to be architect Cecil Wood’s largest ever design, it has a Historic Places Trust Category II listing and was constructed from bricks made from onsite clay. Today it oozes character and spirit and, cleverly decorated in an elegant, shabby-chic style, it’s relaxed and sumptuous at the same time – and isn’t that how holidays are supposed to be? http://www.rowandalehomestead.co.nz/

The Best Little Small Museum Ever!

Okains Bay Maori & Colonial Museum April 2008 Ajr If you go down to the bay today, you’re in for a big surprise…..Okains Bay Maori & Colonial Museum is a thing of beauty and wonder – one man’s passion for collecting taken to extremes. Murray Thacker is the man behind it all. When his collection bulged out of his home garage, he bought the old cheese factory building (in 1968) and relocated the astonishing array of exhibits he had collected over many decades. In 1977 it was made a public museum and today it gets around 6,000 visitors a year – which is quite remarkable in itself when you consider how ‘off the beaten track’ Okains Bay is. I spent ages here, totally captivated by the gathered histories of Maori and Pakeha alike. The Maori meeting house shown above (top; interior and exterior) was built observing all Maori traditions, using original materials from other meeting houses. Most of the carving was done by well known master carver, John Rua. The main Maori artefact museum houses many treasures, including a sacred god stick dating back to 1400, a war canoe from 1867 and a valuable Akaroa hei tiki recovered in England and brought back to Okains Bay by the museum’s founder. An amazing treasure trove – expect more photos in the coming days.