I am currently in Aotearoa (New Zealand) and travelling around. That's when I realised - this is the interesting sort of thing I should actually blog about. I'm not going to start at the beginning. Because I'll forget things. What I'll do is give you a sort of highlights so far and then I can get into the nit and gritty as I go from there. Sound plausible? No. I'll forget. "Let's a go!"1
HIGHLIGHTS
- Listening to John Farnham's 'The Voice' on repeat in Dirk and Ali's van as I crashed the end of their honeymoon. We went surfing, Dirk pepper bombed a restaurant, we climbed rocks, caught up with family and fed wild chickens.
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| Photo Courtesy of @GrundonRobertson (Instagram) |
- Performing at the Wellington Fringe in Meow. Fun crowds and good evenings! Beautiful team behind the Fringe, welcoming, so supportive and good for a spree! We even had a beach day amongst it all! Lots of good shows at Wellington Fringe.
Also got a review of my show here:
- Auckland Fringe! Most amazing venue at Garnet Station (won best venue at the awards!) Also Lydia, Fringe Director, has done the best job in putting on the Fringe, and what an amazing Fringe it was! Thank you Lydia!
I have to stop gushing about Fringes. I could type for hours about the highlights, shows, nights out, memories and new friends. Although I should probably point out - the Fringes are the reasons I came to New Zealand. I wanted to come back to Aotearoa after last year, I never thought I'd make it back so soon. Then after performing stand up at the Edinburgh Fringe in August 2016 I thought coming here would be an excellent opportunity to get more time working on my upcoming show Marjolein Robertson: Relations. Coming to Edinburgh Fringe this summer!
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| Photo courtesy of http://www.johncarolan.co.uk Poster design: Jamie Hatchbar (Big Time Quell) |
BACK TO HIGHLIGHTS
- Te Matatini in Hastings. The Kapa Haka Competition. Wow! I got to the finals day and it was amazing. So cool to see friends performing on the big stage, so cool to see everyone who was performing on the stage - if you live in this country and you haven't been yet - go! Most amazing display of Maori culture - so powerful and beautiful and MEAN.
- All the swimming, all over Aotearoa, everywhere! Course you need to be safe - rip tides, river currents, pollution. Some parts I only paddled into because the rips but I've been paddling and swimming in: 90 mile beach, Rainbow Falls, Oriental Bay, secret swimming holes, rivers, even jumping into Maraetotara Falls.
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| Dirk and I at Oriental Bay - Wellington Photo Courtesy of @GrundonRobertson (Instagram) |
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| Swimming at Rainbow Falls - KerikeriPhoto courtesy of itsdonnasworld (Instagram) |
- Pasifika Festival, a two day Festival in Auckland celebrating all the Pacific Islands and their cultures. At the Aotearoa Stage they were giving out water and I went up to get one and got chatting with the host. I got to share some info about Shetland and our dialect with the crowd. Represented Shetland at Pasifika, an island another couple of oceans away, but the chance to share about my island amongst the most beautiful Polynesian cultures was pretty cool and then I got a free bottle of water.
There's heaps more highlights, from sprees to hikes, museums to festivals, but I'm going to write to you now about one place I've always wanted to go to. Which is Te Rerenga Wairua (Cape Reinga) - the very North of North Island.
I remember seeing Billy Connolly there on his tour of New Zealand on the telly. He pointed out the ancient pohutukawa tree that sits on a rock right at the very North. This is the spot where, after death, Maori's spirits travel to Cape Reinga, down the roots of the tree and continue on to Hawaiiki-A-Nui, the land of their ancestors. It's a sacred spot and incredibly beautiful. I was so happy to have had the chance to see it and play a slow air for those passing through.
Te Rerenga Wairua (Cape Reinga)
Photo courtesy of @Jonahlemke (Instagram)
So far my travels have been amazing. I will try and write more frequently and more specifically about future anecdotes that by the time I have written about them are past ones. It makes sense.
Appendix
1. (Mario, Super Mario 64., 1994)
