Onetangi Waka
There once was a tree…
There once was a majestic pōhutukawa tree standing as a sentinel over looking the harbour at Waiheke for 700 years, watching and welcoming the coming and going of the sea-faring visitors to and occupants of the Hauraki Gulf. A grandmother watching her precious charges, providing shelter from the elements and a beacon to show the way home.
And this is how we found her when we bought our home on Waiheke Island, a protected ancient tree surrounded by young planting to cover the years of farming, recreating the environment she had grown up in.
Then one day in September 2020 life changed for our tree, just as life had changed for us all around the world, she fell.
Read the press release here.
The Carver - Anton Forde
Around seven hundred years ago, on the north shores of Matiatia, a manu/bird- perhaps a Kōmako or a Tūī - swallowed a sweet Pōhutukawa fruit. This fruit had a seed that was dropped by the manu, and as sun, water, Papatūānuku/earth combined, a sacred story began - E tipu e rea / a new growth begins. Around this same time on the other side of the island, skilled navigators found a place to rest, forage and renew. This place was called Rangihoua. The interaction of aroha/love and manawa ora/hope between people and nature continues today.
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