My grandmother and grandfather have passed. My father passed in 2003 and just last year my mother passed away. I wish they had not, I wish they could see how our land and marae are developing, I wish they were here to tell me stories of how it was in our land when they were my age - I long to feel more of a connectedness with them now they are no longer here. Although I have been returning to the land all my life and more so since I began my adult life I feel an even stronger pull in the past 6 months.
I rely now on my uncle's aunties to tell me the stories and what wonderful stories they are. I have some of my own:
I remember when I was 6 or 7 years old when mum and dad drove us down to the lake from Tauranga all bundled up in the back of the ute under the covers - the trip seemed to take forever through the windy gravel road of the Kaimai's. We arrived at the lake with only a few hours to spare before nightfall and the walk ahead of me seemed endless. I remember yelling to my brother to wait for me becasue sometimes the old track and canyon can seem like such a scary place especially when your shouts echo up and down the cliffs of the canyon.
The old homestead seemed like an adventure in itself with the smell of smoke and charcoal and possums scratching here and there. I remember we used to make a hot brews using the tinned coffee syrup and I still love the smell of that stuff. At night with no power mum would light the candle and we would all huddle around to eat before going to bed, you could see the reflections of each others faces as the candle flickered.
The next day was hot and beautiful so it was into the lake for a swim while dad went off hunting. The swim was great until a swarm of bees seemed to chase up us the lake front.
We found a big piece of pumice and decided to carve our names into it. Mum helped us carve our names and we left it as a gift for our koro - on his grave. You can still find it there today, later when my youngest sister was born we added her name at the bottom. There were very few homes on the lake front then, probably only 2 or 3. The old track was still in use and the pine tress were still on the waterfront.
