LIVING THE COAST LIFE - PART ONE
Beginning at Ngāpōtiki, more commonly known as White Rock on the South Wairarapa coast. My childhood, I realised later in life, wasn’t the norm.
This is where my parents met. Dad, a young 17-year-old fisherman living in a little shack with a bunch of fishers, surfers, and hunters that would come and go as our seasons do. Dad fell in love with the place and could see a future in the isolation that most people couldn’t.
Mum arrived at Ngāpōtiki a couple of years later, heading to the East Coast looking for solitude after the passing of her father. She set herself up in a hut in front of two of Aotearoa hidden surf gems; Seconds and The Spit.
Imagine Dad’s face when he came blasting around the coast on his two-wheeler to find a beautiful young woman camped up in the middle of no-where. From my knowledge, it took a few elbows from the old man’s fishing peers to have the courage to ask Mum out. The first date was a curise over the desert, past Kupe Sail to the small fishing village of Ngawi.
It somehow worked. Their love for each other, Ngāpōtiki, Mother Nature and the ocean created a formidable relationship. As people came and went, Mum and Dad decided to create a life in one of the most isolated spots in Aotearoa. Living in a little bach with no power, or phone and extreme weather. The next move was to create a whānau, first was me and then my sister Jorja.
Growing up with the Aorangi Forest Park to our backs and the coastline out the front, it was a playground that was both beautiful and intimidating. It was a place to have fun, but also to learn. The ocean where Mum taught us about beachcombing seaweed, art and the dangers of the coast. Well maybe that was our dog Jessie that would sit between us and the water, and if one of us kids got too close, she would insist we move back up the beach.
The Aorangi was the huge presence that loomed over us. Its softness on one day and harshness on another were steps in creating a love for it. It’s rivers, native bush and Pā sites were an education that I hold close to my heart.
Dad was working hard to make our life at Ngāpōtiki viable. Fishing the stretch of coastline in a small 6m wooden vessel all by himself was an absolute inspiration to me. With his hard-working nature and a love for the ocean and it’s natural resources, they were determined to create a life and look after this slice of paradise in a very rough industry.
By the time I was 6 years old, decisions needed to be made for our young whānau. Homeschooling was great but Jorja and I’s love for the outside world was difficult to control when it came to sitting inside doing book work. This is when they decided to move to Tora, with a bus route to the rural Tuturumuri school…. To Be Continued.
