Auckland, New Zealand

AN EXAMPLE FOR THE REST OF THE WORLD?

          Ok folks…..

                             I’m going to warn you in advance that this is going to be one of those lessons learned that you never even knew that you needed to know.

                             But, for those that really only want to know about the city of Auckland, I shall start there.

                             Come visit.

                             There…. That’s done.

                             No, really, it’s that simple!

                    The Auckland that we briefly visited today was entirely engaging. We took the Hop On / Hop Off double-decker bus around. Initially, we stayed on for the entire circuit, and then went back around and stopped where we wanted to. First, I should point out that Auckland is indeed, a city. But it is a small city, so our circuitous route only lasted about 45 minutes and that included the stops to let numerous people on and off. There was no Red, Blue, or Yellow Routes (like NYC) to worry about…. just one route. The entire city seemed to be neat and tidy, the streets a lot cleaner than most other cities we (or you) have been to. If the quality (?) of stores that are available to the general public shows anything about the economics of the area, you will be pleased to know that I saw both  Van Cleef & Arpels, and  Tiffanys retail stores. So, I guess they’re doing ok!

                   One thing to note about Auckland is that they have done a wonderful job of folding their more modern skyscrapers in with their historic buildings. These modern structures seem to have a certain “effort of design” about them, they are not just concrete and glass monolithic structures, there is a style and grace about them, some with artistic arcs and curves incorporated.

                             So now that you know all that, there should be nothing stopping you to hop on down here for a visit! You know that you’ve always wanted to visit New Zealand!

The one real stop that we went to was the Auckland War Memorial War Museum. This is not primarily a war museum, although they did have a wonderful floor dedicated to New Zealand’s efforts in both WWI and WWII. The building was constructed and named as a war memorial, hence the name. It houses an incredible collection of Māori artifacts complete with historical narrations that explain everything from the diaspora of the Māori, to the practical uses of said artifacts.

Their story starts back in Southeast Asia along with the rest of their Polynesian “relatives”. It is a fairly recent story, starting about 5000 years ago, these peoples ventured out and traveled from island to island growing their cultures and language. As they advanced and became separated, the language that they used started to morph slightly, but it retained the “gist” of the original. Remember back in Hawaii I told you that our tour guide (who was Hawaiian) told us that even though all the islanders could not speak the other’s languages, they could understand the basics of what they were saying?

Everything has a story to tell. Everything has a past and this past is one of the things that make this culture so vivid and enriching at the same time. I will attempt to explain, and give you just a short example.

This is the story of mussels, cockles, sharks, whales, and seaweed and how, and why, they ended up where they are located on the shore.

Long ago the shellfish children of Hinemoana (the Ocean Maid, note the name Moana in that word….. How about that animated movie we all watch with our grandchildren, Moana?😊

Anyway, these shellfish children were taken to the rocks who sheltered them beneath their relatives, the seaweeds. One day a fierce quarrel started between the mussels and the cockle’s tribes. The cockles fled to the beach where they dug themselves into the sand. When the mussels tried to attack and thrust out their tongues, they were filled with sand, and they were forced to go back to the rocks. This fighting was being watched by the whales and sharks who said to each other, “Let’s attack the cockle tribe and scoop them up when they poke out their heads”. But when the cockles saw them coming, they burrowed deep down into the sand and so the whales were stranded on the beach.

And that is why the mussels still cling to the rocks, and the cockles are found buried in the sand, and the greatest creatures of the sea still strand themselves chasing the children of Hinemoana.

How’s that for explaining why and how things have come to pass!

                             Now it’s time to learn something.

                             Something that should not be as revolutionary as it is, but none the less, it is something that I’ve not witnessed before.

                             New Zealand has completely accepted the fact that they did not get here first. That honor belongs to the Māori people. They arrived here around 900 years ago and were firmly in control by the time that the Europeans got here.

                             The remarkable thing is that there seems to be an attitude directly opposite of what has occurred the world over when non-indigenous folks move in. In the American West and in Australia (to name probably the top two) the native inhabitants were not treated as they should have been. By now this is a well-known fact, but now still, at times, there seems to be just lip service given to these people who were here way before any of the rest of us showed up. The move was to be to have them be assimilated into our society, abandoning their own religions, beliefs, and ways of life.

                             Here in New Zealand, the direct opposite comes shining through and as far as we could see, is well accepted. The push here is to bring the Māori way to the forefront.

The street signs are labeled in both English and Māori.

The writings around town are printed in both languages, (with Māori first!)

The customs are celebrated by both races and the westerners embrace the Māori’s culture and celebrate right along with their neighbors.

          Everyone knows what the original Māori names of the places here and uses them interchangeably with the newer English names.

          What a refreshing attitude!

Thanks for reading!