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.

It's our Anniversary!

I love you Oklahoma. 


To give you some context to our love I have to go back a month and explain when we first met.


And I should also tell you Oklahoma is a car. A 1989 Mitsubishi Lancer and I love her. 

B44s 4 evur

I realised four weeks ago that I would really need to get my own vehicle to get exploring New Zealand. I was in the Coromandel, in the North of the North Island, and at the time fortune had it that my cousin's friend's were selling their beauty (the Lancer). She is the same age as me. You do the maths. Also my birthday is May 19th. However she'd only ever driven 200k before and her longest journey to date was from the Coromandel to Whangarei. Now I'm taking her all the way from the top of the North Island to the bottom of the South Island. 

Highlights of my Aotearoa Experience so far!

Hiyi

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.

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: 

Marjolein Robertson: Relations Review

- 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! 

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.

Dirk and I at Oriental Bay - Wellington
Photo Courtesy of @GrundonRobertson (Instagram)

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)

You know you've been away from your blog too long when it asks you if you accept it's cookies.

And are unable to form short snappy blog titles.

Oh you.

Blog.

You should hate me.*

I get this idea, this notion in my head not to blog until I have a specific thing to really blog about and then write about it with subpar spelling till it just can't take any more. Then what happens is lots of things happen, are happening, go by, I forget. Then I never write about anything. I fear writing a blog post that's about nothing and leaving you with no bettering of your day, and that fear leads me to write nothing. So it's better I write something, even if this makes you angry at me. Hey. I'll  just disable the comments.

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