We set off from Hamilton on the 7th of February for Te Pahu, which was a long day's walk and the first time we ended up walking into the darkness, because of the lateness of our departure from Garden Place at around 1pm. By the time we arrived in Te Pahu at about 10pm, the walkers were starting to become rather cynical about my knowledge of the land and my reassurances about the closeness of our destination. I said, we're going to come to a winding bit, followed by a bendy bit, followed by a long straight. Then there will be shorter wiggly bit and a slight incline, and it's just around the corner! By the time we finally got there, it was becoming a bit of a joke, so even when I could see the driveway of my mothers house only 50 metres ahead, my companions would no longer believe me when I said "we're nearly there!"
"Just around the Corner" has become a catch phrase of the walk, because we realised that no matter how many corners, winding bits, straight bits, wiggly bits and hills come before the final corner on the road to Happy Valley, or anywhere for that matter, it really is still "just around the corner".
Happy Valley is one example of a beautiful area in Aotearoa that is falling victim to greed and disrespect by the ones who hold the power, big business and government. Happy Valley is just around the corner to everybody in New Zealand, and by walking there, we are proving that fact. It is important to remember that there are many "Happy Valleys". Wherever you are in New Zealand, there is another place, just around the corner, that could be at risk of falling victim to the same destruction.
By standing up to save Happy Valley, in the Upper Waimangaroa, near Westport, we are standing up in support of all the beautiful places on these islands, and all the innocent and unique creatures and plants that call them home. We are standing up for the rights of our children to be surrounded by the beauty we see on our long path, every day.
After a nice recharge, rest and cleansing at Tui's house in Te Pahu, a swim in the cold, clear waters of the Kaniwhaniwha stream and a visit to some friends in what we believe is one of the spiritual centres of the Waikato, Te Pahu, beneath Mount Pirongia, we headed off towards Te Awamutu.
Te Awamutu is my homeland in a way. My Great Grandfather was Mayor of the town for 15 years, and Teasdale park, where we set up our climate camp, was one of his legacies. It was originally going to be the site of a lemonade factory, but he gave it back to the people in the form of a war memorial park in the centre town, filled with green grass, tall, strong trees and rose beds. (Photos below) We spent a lively evening there and the interesting thing was that most of the people who approached us that evening were young people around my age. Apparently the park is not the usual place to go on a Saturday night for a good time and a few beers, but we drew quite a crowd.
In the morning we met with my Grandmother and my Mother, and three generations from our family joined the walk in between Te Awamutu and Kihikihi.
The next leg of the journey took us along the Arapuni road, which we had planned to spend two days on...
We had such a great time on this road that we ended up spending four days there and stopped at each small village we came to. We met so many wonderful, supportive and down to Earth people, we just didn't want to leave. In the town of Pukeatua, we stopped at the local primary school. Pukeatua is in the foothills of Mt Maungatautari, which has recently been turned into a vast bird sanctuary, with a predator proof fence circumnavigating the entire reserve. Pukeatua school is an enviroschool, and had a certificate on the wall thanking them for all their volunteer hours at the sanctuary. They also had a picture of Helen Clark, visiting the school and handing over a big cheque to support the initiative, smiling and showing her love for endangered bird life and the environment. The people of Pukeatua were shocked at the hypocracy of, with one hand showing such strong support for Maungatautari and with the other, destroying pristine native habitat in the South Island, and avoiding responsibility for 12 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emitted from Happy Valley coal because it will be exported. WE ALL SHARE THE ATMOSPHERE
Arapuni was another wonderful experience. We spoke to residents there about local issues, like government plans to build a massive line of pylons from the hydro dam they live near to pump electricity out to Auckland. My thoughts were that we should not be wasting so much energy in transportation. Every metre that you transport energy along a wire, is energy lost. As with all resources, we need to scale down, diversify and provide for our local needs, locally. Local communities should discuss the best way to produce their own requirements within their own local area. Aucklanders (like me) have no right to decide to put a line of ugly pylons through someone else's back yard to cater for our ever increasing addiction to power, while the people of Arapuni live next to the single largest hydro station in the Waikato, and deal with two to three power cuts a week! THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY
Putaruru was our next stop, and there we were given fresh water from the Waihou river, which means "new water" and is the cleanest, clearest water I have seen since I visited Pupu springs in Takaka last year. From there we took a tiki tour over to Rotorua to meet with our friends from the local CLIMACTION group, and made a short visit to Ruatoki, where we met with local Tuhoe people and learned about how climate change has been affecting the Uruwera ranges. They told us that there have been subtle changes to the colour of the forest in certain areas, which they believe to be due to a change in the atmosphere. They also have noted that where they always could predict when rain was coming if there was mist in a particular part of the river, now they often see mist, but there is no rain. They said that their calendars, which they always used to know when to plant crops at the right time of year, are now no longer accurate. They are having trouble growing their vegetables.
We recieved a very warm welcome at the marae and we each had our turn to speak and listen. We were told that as long as the campaign to Save Happy Valley is representative of the fight for all of New Zealand and for a greater respect for Papatuanuku, Mother Earth and Ranginui, Sky father, the Tuhoe people will walk shoulder to shoulder with us on our Hikoi, even if not physically, but in spirit.
We are now on our way back to Putaruru to begin the journey where we left off, and will head off towards Tokoroa and Taupo, before the real test of all our physical, spiritual and emotional fortitude... THE DESERT ROAD
Update soon,
One LoveHeather Simpson
Walk the Walker
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