General Chat

Hi Gwyn, how exciting to find more links with your NZ roots. I am sure you will be going back again very soon.

Norma, I am glad you will meet up with our Huia sometime, altho doesn't she sound a busy lady? When I win the lottery and come out there I will have to meet with you too lol! One of these days......

Huia, hope the spot is nothing much and also that you get your WOF (Anyone know what a WOF is, is it like our MOT?)
You are making the most of your time, that's for sure. Good for you, getting out and about.


If people want to see the window just c and p the link I put in and you can look at it and learn the history of it.

Lizx

Thank you for this thread.
I would have loved to have been one of the tourists enjoying the singing in such a great setting. We were there Easter time last year, but didn't see all the places...... I'll have to go back, ..Lol.

Recently I have been in contact with distant NZ relatives, who are helping me discover more about our Maori links..... Fascinating.

Gwyn

Pm'd you back Huia.

I will give you a bell first, and maybe I will come with you to see Phil if it will help.

Take care out there,

From the Big Smoke.

Norma, you had better phone first before coming as I am out all sorts of days. I normally go out on a Tuesday, sometimes all day and evening but other times dont go until late afternoon, and I went out this morning to the doc to get her to look at a spot on my face. I am thinking of going to visit Phil tomorrow (but might phone first) and I will need to get the vehicle serviced some time and get a WOF. I must phone to make an appointment. I have the social worker coming to see me next Wednesday morning. On the Friday we have a dress rehearsal for our concert so I will probably go in in the afternoon. I am quite a gadabout.

As for running out of petrol, back in 1965 we had a Fiat 500 and we set out on a running-in trip. On the journey down through the King Country (winding country roads) the fuel light started to blink and we were looking for a petrol station. It was blinking faster and faster and then became a steady glow (no needle guage on it, just the light). We arrived at Taumaranui and pulled into some pumps. Phil took the cap off the petrol tank and it was empty. I dont know how far we had travelled on the fumes! We were certainly lucky that we didnt come to a stop in the middle of nowhere, with 2 young (5 and not quite 4 yrs old) children aboard.

I will PM you Norma with my phone number and address, or have I already given them to you? I will do it anyway.

Huia.

Huia, what a great thread, you are such a good writer, you sound as though you had a hectic time, but very interesting, I like, Liz googled the window it is beautiful, and I saw other pics of Rotorua, a lovely area, I just love your descriptions,so I would look forward to more of your diary, brings you a lot closer to us.... I would like a few of your pics for the G.R. album, Huia, if you have time, but dont worry if you havent....Thank you for sharing with us your weekend away, hope your eyes improve rest may help a bit... take care ...

love Jean xx

Hi Huia and Liz,

I liked you chatting about all that having been to most of where you went. I have a postcard of the stained glass window. It said no photos but the day we were there no one would have known but we stuck to the rules.
NZ can be a sod when it comes to getting Petrol - we had to coast down hill once to Tokaanu because we just might have run out. It is so easy to get stuck out on these long winding roads which go forever without a gas station.

I have no family in Rotorua so I would've gone to the Hangi as I just love Hangi food and Maori Bread.

When my OH's foot has fully recovered I will take off out to Hunua one day and have a coffee with you Huia.

Liz - Huia lives near where my grandfather's family lived - he was born in Hunua and there is a Dam there named after the family.

Keep on smiling both of you.

Norma

I found this when I googled the Maori Christ stained glass window and think this is where you were Huia.

http://www.jeffpylenz.com/Jeffs-blog/WEB/OHINEMUTU%20and%20the%20GALILEE%20CHAPEL%20WINDOW.htm

You had a very busy time but I am glad you enjoyed so many of the workshops, did you learn anything about conserving your voice etc that will prove useful to you?

It's great that you could get so many pictures and you can look back at them and remember the time you spent there. Let's hope your eyes are soon fine and you can get out to more concerts etc in the future. Make sure you fill up with petrol in time tho, don't want you stranded in the middle of nowhere!


Love and hugs,
Lizxxx

I forgot to say that on the way back out of town I stopped at Kuirau Park to photograph some mud pools and steaming fumeroles. They are all fenced off for safety. I took about 110 photos over the weekend, not all of the Festival, some were of flowers, and there were some lovely views of sunrise over Mt Tarawera on the other side of the lake, taken from my bedroom window. I wish we could post decent photos on GR. I can post them on another website and I will do so.

Tues morning my son and his girlfriend had to go to work so I was up early and packed and left at 8.30 for the drive back home. It had rained in the night but was not too bad when I left. The clouds did come down as I went up the Mamaku Hills but it was fine on the other side.

Each time I drive home from Rotorua I seem to take a slightly different route from the one I take going down. I think this time it was actually slightly shorter, but I missed the garage where I had intended to fill the tank, however I knew of a garage closer to home where I could fill up - or so I thought. The big fuel companies are pulling out of a lot of garages and that one was one of them. I had to go to our local at Hunua to fill up before coming back home.

I arrived home at 11.30 and spent a few hours trying to get into my emails. I eventually realised there was a 'new' icon down the bottom which said Windows Defender so I clicked on it and it told me that as I had not scanned things for 4 days I should do so now. That took a while but then I was able to get into the emails, although most of them were just jokes from a couple of people and I havent bothered to open them if there are too many attachments, or WMV(?) or powerpoint. Some of those things take an hour or more to download and I cant be bothered.

I downloaded my photos onto the computer and tried to print of some of the better ones (onto ordinary paper) to take to choir to show some friends. The Cyan ink ran out after 4 pages so I replaced it but the printer then refused to recognise any of the cartridges in it so I gave up. I must look at it to see if it has now recognised them, if not I will have to yell for help.

I went to choir practice and one woman looked at the photos and said 'I know that man, it is R***** A******.' He is a relative of a relative of mine, the one who visited NZ last February. The mutual relative had visited us both and she had included their photo in her 'diary' that she sent me so I had been able to meet RA and his wife at the Festival.

Well, it was a lovely break and now I must settle down to normal life again.

Huia.

On Sunday there was an Ecumenical service at St Faiths Church but it was a bit early for me.

The 4th combined Sing was at 9.30, followed by morning tea and then the 3rd workshop. I chose Ko te Aro Hurihuri. It was about Maori musical instruments. The tutor played on most of them. There were gourds of different sizes which could be tapped or blown into or swung on a string. Sea shells and Kauri snail shells were used. Leg bones of various animals/birds. He said that the human leg bone makes a beatiful sound, but it must come from somebody who has lost a leg in an accident or amputation! Until he said that I was thinking of having my husbands leg bones turned into flutes for the grandchildren to play! Or mine.

The Dept of Conservation had given the tutor a whale tooth and when they told him that they estimated that the age was about 400 yrs his hands were shaking. He got a master carver to carve it. Without care it could have shattered.

After the lunch break there was another workshop but I didnt go to any as my eyes were feeling sore. At 3.15 we then drove to Te Puia and walked in to the Pohutu geyser area. The geyser was playing all the time we were there. We gave a concert beside the geyser - a real bonus for the tourists.

I dropped one person off at the Marae for a hangi and a Maori cultural show. I went back to my sons place for dinner. Others went back to the events centre from the Marae for the evening concert.

I ran out of the ointment for my conjunctivitis that night, having used it for a fortnight. In the morning I decided my eyes were too sore to stop using the ointment so I went to the weekend doctor, who prescribed a different ointment. I arrived at the Events centre in time for the last singing session, brushing up on the songs. After morning tea we then had Simon talking about his 25 yrs with The Kings Singers. It was very amusing.

We then walked down to the lake edge (a short walk) for the Final Concert (more tourists to enjoy) and farewell. Back to my vehicle, I ate my lunch and then started back to my sons place, but stopped at an information centre/shop to buy some postcards and some boiled sweets and daily paper.

I had a great time in Rotorua over the long weekend. I drove down on Friday afternoon, dropped my stuff off at son's place then went into town to the events centre where the Choral festival was being held, checked in then had some dinner, after which we were welcomed and then started learning songs from the official song book.

There were 2 guest conductors. One was Simon Carrington who was a co-founder of the Kings Singers. He is now an Emeritus Professor of Choral Conducting at Yale University. The other was Sanna Valvanne of Finland who is a childrens and youth choir conductor, based in the USA. Boy, was she ever energetic. She had us swinging and jumping and thumping our chests while singing in Finnish or some such language (but due to my slight hearing problem I had trouble learning the words).

I didnt stay for any of the evening concerts performed by selected choirs from around NZ.

Saturday morning we assembled at the centre and then walked to the Marae at Ohinemutu. The walk took 20 or 30 mins (at a guess, longer for tortoised, less for hares). The walk was around the edge of Rotorua Lake. We were welcomed onto the Marae then went into the meeting house. The part I didnt like was being seated behind the men. It is something a lot of tribes insist upon, men being in the front. We sang some of our songs in response to the welcome and then adjourned to the dining room for a beautiful morning tea. I then had a quick look in the church which has a glass window with a Maori Christ etched on it and it looks as if he is walking on the lake. Unfortunately photography is banned in the church. We then walked back to the centre where we had another combined sing, learning more songs.

After a long lunch break during which some choirs gave short concerts at 4 places around town we went to some workshops of our own choice. They were about conducting, or performance, singing, Maori music, style, or programming. The first I chose was Does Choral Singing Wreck Your Voice? After afternoon tea we had a secon workshop, my choice being Careful - Your Vowels are Showing. This was followed by our 3rd Combined Sing, brushing up on some of the songs we had learnt and learning more.

I didnt stay for dinner or the evening concert.