Home......

A good day of travel for mum and I, flying from Christchurch to Rotorua where my cousin warmly greeted us and then on to our home town in the sunny Bay of Plenty - Whakatane.

I love returning home where emotions run high. This is the town where both my mother and father were born, where I was born and lived until I left school, a town of many family gatherings and a town where loved ones are buried. So many memories which are held close to my heart.

One of the first things I like to do is go down to the Whakatane Heads, where the Whakatane River meets with the Pacific Ocean. You can see how beautiful it is today with a warm 22C.

The Lady on the Rock is Wairaka -  the daughter of Toroa, captain-navigator of the Mataatua waka. When the Mataatua waka first arrived at Whakatāne after making a perilous voyage from Ngāti Awa’s ancestral homeland of Hawaiki 600 years ago, the men left the women alone in the canoe while they went ashore. When the canoe started to drift back to sea, Wairaka (defying the tapu that forbade women to handle a canoe) seized the paddle and brought the waka back to shore crying, ‘Kia Whakatane au i ahau’ – I will act the part of a man.'  This cry is the origin of the town's name.

Mum and my Aunt remember spending long summer days swimming in the rock pools in the foreground and having many family picnics. Today families are kicking a ball around, swimming and having picnics - it's such a beautiful day. Pohutukawa are beginning to burst into flower and will continue to bloom through the summer months, I can hear bell birds, fantails and tuis in the bush behind us - special to be home again.

Happy Monday everyone :)