Happy Waitangi Day to our New Zealand Ohana

Today, February 6 is WaiTangi Day in New Zealand. So for Tama and Paipo - I raise a mai-tai glass to you! Here's a description of what this holiday is:

Waitangi Day

Cheers mates!

GAP

What TGap said goes for me too. Cheerz!

Thanks for the info. Very interesting, cheers.

Benjamin.

Awww, thanks guys! (TGap; I used to live in a place called Maitai River Valley - Cheers!)

I have to giggle though; its now Feb 7th here. *Waitangi was yesterday! :lol:

*In a break in tradition, no politicians or royalty had eggs/dirt/abuse hurled at them this year :lol:
(Waitangi is a bit of a controversial/debateable event to 'celebrate' to many people; the annual picking of an old scab it seems. To this day legal battles are being fought to try to win back much Maori land taken by force & in legal 'fineprint' by the Crown in its early Colonising phase)

A good time to stay away from the area perhaps? heehee

Cheers!

Tama :)

Apparently a group of Kiwis built a huge silver fern sand sculpture on Santa Monica State Beach (California) to honor the day. Here's the You-Tube footage of the effort. I'd love to see the finished product from an aerial view, but I don't think they're quite finished with it yet.

Here is a pic of a similar sculpture that was built at Auckland's Bethels Beach.

On 2007-02-06 12:06, Tamapoutini wrote:
Awww, thanks guys! (TGap; I used to live in a place called Maitai River Valley - Cheers!)

GET OUTTA HERE! MAITAI Valley? How cool is that! What's MAITAI translate to there (besides the cocktail!)?

I have to giggle though; its now Feb 7th here. *Waitangi was yesterday! :lol:

Damn! That's always the case with me - usually a dollar short, too (The phase "A day late and a dollar short" is popular in the states...)

That's pretty funny...

Cheers mate!

On 2007-02-06 12:45, Aaron's Akua wrote:
Apparently a group of Kiwis built a huge silver fern sand sculpture on Santa Monica State Beach (California) to honor the day. Here's the You-Tube footage of the effort. I'd love to see the finished product from an aerial view, but I don't think they're quite finished with it yet.

Hi AA! That you tube viseo is great! I would like to see part 2.

Also, the blonde kiwi lady is worth the visit to this video!

Yes, it's all over now, but thanks anyway! I kinda wish I'd gone out for the day - they put a on massive free BBQ for lunch and Hangi (Maori earth oven) for dinner at the local park here, along with all sorts of freebies for the kids. Mrs Paipo took our girl and some nieces and nephews down while I got caught up on some work.

It is nice to see that it is slowly moving away from being a vehicle for political hijackers, instead becoming a day where we can all celebrate how lucky we are to live in one of the most beautiful countries in the world.

Oh, and I've got some nice stone from the Maitai River - it would be pretty cool to make a tiki from "Maitai Rock"!

The maitai river is on google earth - what a cool lookin place!

On 2007-02-06 13:04, tikigap wrote:
GET OUTTA HERE! MAITAI Valley? How cool is that! What's MAITAI translate to there (besides the cocktail!)?

Mai = 'towards the speaker' Tai = 'sea/tide'

Im guessing that the fellow who named the Maitai River/Valley was standing at the river mouth, looking back..??

As mentioned by Paipo, the Maitai River was a favoured collecting ground for workable stone. There is a large source of argillite; a fine-grained & metamorphically/tectonically 'cooked' siltstone. This stone is very hard & responds well to '(k?)napping'/chipping; ie breaks with a conchoidal fracture (like glass). Perfect for adzeheads & used extensively in 'pre-contact' times. Adzes made from this source have been found 1000s of miles from the quarry site.

There is also some very hard grossular garnet (almost like agate) which has some interesting patterns/colours, the best stuff good for jewellery work.

Good swimming & fishing too (but not as tasty as the rum-infused version :wink: )

Cheers! Tama :)

Thanks for the definitons/clarification on that one Tama. Great stuff!

On 2007-02-12 11:35, Tamapoutini wrote:

Mai = 'towards the speaker' Tai = 'sea/tide'

Im guessing that the fellow who named the Maitai River/Valley was standing at the river mouth, looking back..??

I found this last week but neglected to post it...maybe a better bet? It is also a word used often to describe objects made from iron, not that I saw any of those in the river!

maitai - metallic
I maitai te tatangi o te pānga o tētahi mea ki runga i te pakitara.
Something struck the wall with a metallic sound

Happy Waitangi Day again!

(also Happy Birthday, Ronald Reagan)

[ Edited by: pappythesailor 2008-02-06 09:19 ]

I visited the Waitangi Treaty Grounds about three years ago.

The Treaty House

The Whare Runanga

The Waitangi Waka

Dudes, you're a day late...again! You gotta post this the day before! :lol:

Anyway, I had a very pleasant Waitangi Day - it was very hot and sunny and after a lie-in I enjoyed a few hours of few tasty little peaks at my favourite beachbreak. We are having one of the nicest summers I can remember in a very long time - certainly the best since I moved here almost 10 years ago...

I've also been to Waitangi once many years back - part of a hitch-hiking trip from Christchurch to the Bay of Islands and back for New Year's. It was pretty interesting to see patched members of the Mongrel Mob and Black Power greeting each other with hongis in the Waitangi Pub! More likely to be sawn-off shotguns these days!