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Keri
Christmas and New Year were over, and Mereana, Jess and I were packing to go and stay up north with Mereana’s family. Mereana’s family on her dad’s side had not accepted her for a long time, especially after her dad had died, as they felt her mum had taken him away from them. But over the last few years, after Mereana had stayed with them in the holidays a few times, she felt much more comfortable with them. Mereana’s nanny had invited her to bring her friends.
We were taking the bus to the nearest town and being picked up from there to go to Mereana’s nana’s house. It was a long trip, five hours by bus, as it stopped at every town and settlement on the way. People got off and people got on. The area we were traveling through was called the winterless north. It wasn’t really winterless, but it was usually a couple of degrees warmer than where we lived in the main city.
We finally arrived in the small town and we unloaded the bags from under the bus. Then we stood there, as the other passengers moved off, or were greeted by family picking them up. Aside from us, there were only a pair of Scandinavian tourists, backpackers, who were also waiting for a ride.
It was hot. The air was still and the temperature seemed to rise a degree each minute. It was a dusty, untidy looking area, not the sandy beachy resorty place I been dreaming of.
After thirty minutes of waiting and getting scratchy with each other, Jess said in exasperation, “Can’t you call your nana?”
“No. She doesn’t have a phone. She uses my uncle’s phone if she needs to.”
“Well, can’t you call him?”
“I don’t know the number. Don’t worry, she’ll come. It’s not like the city. Things happen at a different pace around here.”
A short while later, an old van pulled up. A big smiley Māori man climbed down from the driver’s seat.
“Hey, yous guys. Hop in. I’ll take you back. Chuck your bags in the back. I’m Sonny.”
“Do you know him?” I muttered to Mereana.
She looked a little worried. “Maybe,” she said. “It’s hard to tell, there are so many in the family.”
“Well, what if he’s not a good guy? What if he takes us off into the sand dunes and kills us, or keeps us as his harem?”
Mereana giggled. “Wait up, I’ll check.”
She walked over to the van driver, who was by now trying to communicate with the backpackers. They spoke English, but with an accent, and Sonny spoke in the local lingo, and the conversation was going nowhere.
“Excuse me,” Mereana said. “What’s happened to Nanny?”
“Oh, hey – you Mereana?”
She nodded.
“Nanny is back at home cooking up a storm and had some visitors turn up, so I said I’d get you. Sonny,” he said and stuck out his hand.
“Nanny Anahera? From Awanui?”
“Yep, that’s the one. I’m supposed to take these two as well, but they thought I was going to be a taxi. No taxis around here, mate.”
“Are they going to Awanui too?”
“Not far away. They’re some of them wooffy people.”
“Oh, wwoofers. Nanny told me about them.”
“To help out on the farm. Simpson’s farm.”
“Okay, wait on, I’ll ask them,” Mereana said.
But they had already heard the name Simpson and were nodding and holding out a piece of paper with the address on it.
Mereana came back to us as we sat expiring in the heat on our bags.
“Okay, we’re sorted. I don’t think we can go wrong with five of us.”
The two Scandinavians looked pretty fit and strong, so Jess and I followed and deposited our bags into the back of a very grimy and somewhat smelly van.
Twenty minutes later we were pulling up outside a large farmhouse with many outbuildings. The backpackers got out and said ‘thank you’ many times to Sonny. Then we drove a short way down the road to an old but tidy looking house, with wonderful flowers growing in the garden, and sheep grazing in a paddock to the right.
Mereana shot out of the passenger seat and ran to the front door, which stood open.
“Nanny, Nanny,” we heard her yell.
Jess and I pulled the bags out the back with help from Sonny and carried them to the house. We hesitated at the front door.
“Come in, come in,” Sonny said. He went through the house, so we left the bags at the front door and followed him. He was giving an old lady a kiss on her cheek and she was swatting at him good-naturedly.
“Thanks for picking up the girls,” she said.
“Sweet as,” he said.
“Here’s my friends, Nanny,” Mereana said. “This is Keri and this is Jessica.”
Nanny looked surprised to see us. I wondered why.
“Kia ora, girls,” she said. She seemed a little reserved.
“Kia ora,” I said.
Jess just said, “Hi.”
“Come,” she said, “have some kai. You must be hungry and thirsty after your trip. Do you want a cup of tea? Sonny? Have a cup of tea and some kai? Help yourself,” she said. “Eat up.”
“How’ve you been, Nanny?”
“I’m fine, Sonny. Busy getting ready for tomorrow. Will you be there?”
“I will,” he said stuffing a sausage roll into his mouth and drinking down his tea at the same time. “Thanks, Nanny. See you tomorrow. Gotta go.”
He headed out the front door while we washed up in the bathroom sink, and then sat down to the best food I’ve had in a long time. The table was laden with cakes and pies and all manner of treats.
“How come you have so much food prepared, Nanny?” Mereana asked.
“There’s a big hui tomorrow,” she said. “At the marae. You can all help out and meet the whānau.”
“What’s the hui for?” Mereana asked.
“We got a settlement from the government. It’s part of the Waitangi Tribunal recommendation for our iwi. It’s a celebration, and some of the elders will be asking for our advice about what to do with the money. They want to start a corporation. I don’t know about that. Leave that to the young ones. It will go on all weekend, but we will just go for some of the time.”
Jess was looking sceptical. “Will we have to do anything when we go?” she asked.
“Oh you mean the pōwhiri? Yes, we will have some other new people coming to visit us and a news crew. You will be part of the manuhiri, the visitors. But don’t worry, there will be someone to help you. Then after that, we can go and help get the kai ready.”
By the look on Jess’s face, she clearly hadn’t considered this aspect of staying with Mereana’s nanny. I’d thought about it a bit, because of what Mereana told me after her previous visits, but I hadn’t thought what going to a hui would entail.
Nanny showed us to our room. We would be sharing the room. It had a double bed and a mattress on the floor. Again, that look on Jess’s face.
“You have the mattress, and Mereana and I can share. What do you think?”
Jess sighed with relief and dumped her bag on the mattress. She was going to find this tough, I could tell. This was such a little house, only two bedrooms and a shared bathroom, and Jess had an ensuite in her own room at home.
“Girls, can you do something for me?” Nanny asked. “Can you take this pie down to my neighbours? The mum has been sick and the dad is away, so she might like the pie for their tea tonight.”
“Sure, and we’ll have a look around after that. I’ll show the girls around the town and down to the river and maybe the beach. Is that okay?”
“Okay, darlin’. Haere rā.”
We took the pie wrapped in a clean tea towel and headed next door.