Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu

That time Donna and I had to drive somewhere quickly and then took an hour and a half detour to look at a sign.

So Donna and I were in Hastings the last couple of weeks to make some money picking fruit. With all the rain there wasn't much work. But there was the Dixie Chicks. So instead of saving money we spent all our money going to see them. Priorities.

The Chicks were flawless. One of the best gigs I've ever been to.


But back to the story. The reason there hadn't been much fruit picking was because we had the tail of Cyclone Debbie from Australia lashing over Aotearoa. We weren't much affected in Hastings, certainly not compared to other parts of the country, but we did get rain. Rain is enough to call off fruit picking. So after Debbie subsided we got a few days work, picking grapes and kiwi fruits, but then we heard Cyclone Cook was going to arrive. Definitely no fruit picking then. 

Therefore Donna and I decided to head South before the Cyclone hit so we could get to Wellington. From here I'm planning to get to the South Island. So I was worried there may be roads cut off. Even if there was no cyclone I was keen to get down to Wellington before Easter Weekend traffic picks up.

Here is Donna gathering last minute supplies (feijoas).

Oh man feijoas are amazing - I've never had them before. Anyone who doesn't know - they're like if a banana and a kiwi had a baby and it was the best edible baby ever. They are like one of Aotearoa's greatest secrets. So secret that my spell checker does not accept them as a word.

Back to the story again - so we left Hastings in plenty of time.

I feel I should point out here that as two Shetland lasses we have no experience of cyclones, but are well accustomed to strong winds, gales and hurricanes. The weather warnings were severe, and, in the aftermath, some places were hardly affected, however other parts of the country have been hit bad. There's been a lot of noise that the cyclone wasn't as bad as folk built it up to be. I've got to say - better to be prepared for the worst and then have extra water/cans of food, then be left short. Also a lot of folk saying the cyclone wasn't bad were those in less affected areas. In other parts, such as Whakatane, 130 people  had to stay in an evacuation centre, whilst other areas have had power and water cut off as well as road closures and flooding.

So with no experience of cyclones we decided to head down to Wellington (a three and a half hour drive) with lot's of extra time, leaving at 3.30pm on Thursday afternoon. Giving us plenty of time to make it to the capital before the storm was due to hit in the Friday AM.

Just as well we gave ourselves plenty of time.

Because we had heard of this really cool sign with the longest place name in the world, and we thought, looking at the maps it was surely only a five minute detour. (Donna was reading the maps and being from Whalsay has limited map reading experience).

So we headed off on our detour to see the sign.

Five minute detour was actually an hour and a half detour.

But you know what?

Totally worth it. Check this out:

It's the longest place name in the world!

Here is some info about it from www.newzealand.com: 

Near Porangahau in Hawke’s Bay is an unassuming hill known as "Taumata whakatangi hangakoauau o tamatea turi pukakapiki maunga horo nuku pokai whenua kitanatahu", which translates into English as "the place where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, who slid, climbed and swallowed mountains, known as 'landeater’, played his flute to his loved one." Locals simply call it Taumata Hill.

Tamatea was a famous chief and warrior. One day, while travelling through the back of Porangahau, he encountered another tribe and had to fight them to get past. During the fight his brother was killed. Tamatea was so grieved over the loss of his brother that he stayed at the battle site for some days. Each morning he would sit on the hill and play a lament on what is called the koauau or Maori flute.

Thank you www.newzealand.com for saying it in such an efficient and knowledgeable manner.

Even Oaky got a good look:

Oaky is the car's nickname - proper name 'Oklahoma' - full name '1989 Mitsubishi Lancer'

We then carried on on our drive. Making it to Masterton just after darkness fell. Fed Oaky, fed ourselves,   had the most gerkhins you have ever seen on a cheese burger and then after a friend texted to say the Cyclone had hit Hastings we decided to keep making tracks. We got into Wellington at 10.00pm and were tucked up in beds before the cyclone hit. And, as good Shetland lasses, slept through the entire thing.

So all in all, what I have learned is, allowing extra time when reaching your destination before a cyclone is paramount, especially when you have a Whalsay lass as navigator.