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'Baby' World Tour - Part 2
The 'Baby' World Tour (Part
2)
Rosemere Backpackers, Wellington,
Wed Jan 10th - Tues Jan 16th
I have settled into
Rosemere Backpackers hostel, Wellington. It is a curious higlety- piglety 3
storey old, slightly dilapidated wooden building perched on a corner of short
steep hill just yards out of Central Wellington. The lounge is small but cosy
with an old piano and a great cool fat torte shell cat called Bella. Bella seems
content to watch the world go by as people from lots of different nations come
and go. She waltzes in and out at leisure, sometimes asking for a stroke, other
times completely aloof, a real character.
Bella the cat. A legend at Rosemere
Backpackers!
Bella
again out on the deck of Rosemere backpackers in Wellington. the 'baby' is in
the background.
In the evening the kitchen, which has 4
hobs packed close together, gets pretty mad and congested, as people eager to
get some food inside them impress with their culinary skills. After eating out
for a good week, and feeling worse for it, I decide to cook for myself. I go to
the 'New World Supermarket' not far from Wellington 's huge Te Papa Museum.
It will come as no surprise to those who know me well that the first thing I
cook is good ole' tuna pasta. It's basically the only thing I know how to cook
but it's bloody good when it comes off. I add fresh Coriander, red pepper,
onion, lemon, ginger, broccoli into the mix in a bid to stay healthy.
I
sleep in an 8 bed mixed dorm room. This can be hilarious. For example, there is
a German girl with curly ginger hair who sleeps on a bottom bunk. She complains
a lot about noise. The other night a Dutch lad was slightly moving about on the
top bunk above her and she told him to stop moving. I sympathised with this
Dutch lad, particularly because he was about 6 ft 2. To be expected to lie still
all night is a big ask. Fortunately, he saw the funny side of it. I hope my
talking in my sleep doesn't occur too much otherwise I'll be next on the list
for the complaints.
The hostel is actually jam-packed full of Germans. I
think Germany must be empty at the moment. They're all over here!
Rosemere Backpackers is however extremely well run by an English lad
called Mark and his lovely Japanese girlfriend Itoe. In fact all the staff are
great and help create, along with the guests, a sound if not slightly eccentric
vibe. There's a regular called Ken who sits in the drinking/smoking yard well
into the night tooting on a pipe. I don't know what he's got in it but he seems
to like it. Ken has been at Rosemere Hostel since 2002.
We get talking. Ken
is from Worcestershire (Vale Of Evesham). He has lived in Wellington for 20
years. Ken feels that Wellington is very much his home now. Then there's Terry,
who sometimes wears a long dress when he feels in the mood and dashes around
wafting a fan to his face. Other times he just wears normal jeans and t-shirt.
Terry has Maori and Japanese blood. He is a very funny guy with a wicked sense
of humour. Knowledgeable too. One night a few of us get talking about Maori
culture.
Terry explains that the last pure 100% blooded Maori died somewhere
on the South Island in the 1960s. Interbreeding between Maori and Pakeha (White)
has gathered apace for many years now.
This is what the 'Rough Guide Book'
says about Maori culture and race relations in NZ.
'There is considerable
intermarriage between Maori and Pakeha, a fact which has led a professor of
Maori studies at Auckland University to suggest that "race relations will be
worked out in the bedrooms of New Zealand ". Pakeha often contend that there are
no full-blooded Maori left, though many Maori find this an irrelevance, arguing
that being Maori is more about your sense of identity than bloodlines or colour.
It is not uncommon for mixed-race children to grow up with, say, a pakeha parent
and only later reconnect with the Maori heritage of the other parent. Knowledge
of your whakapapa (tribal linage) is central to your sense of place. At any
formal event the elders will recite their whakapapa, then honour the mountains,
rivers, forests and seas that give meaning to their people. Oratory and
the
ability to produce a song at a moment's notice are highly valued.
One Maori
concept that has crossed over to general Kiwi culture is that of Mana, an idea
of doing something brave or compassionate which increases prestige, as opposed
to being lazy or foolish which will decrease prestige. Government policy calls
for a bicultural approach whereby everyone works and plays together, but white
and brown peoples can maintain a distict identity. Among the more radical
factions of Maoridom, there are calls for Maori sovereignty under the banner of
Tino rangatiratanga, which essentially means Maori control of all things Maori.
New Zealand's Maori have never been marginalized like the Native Americans
and Australian Aborigines. There are no reservations and Maori take part in all
walks of life - as lawyers, MP's, university lecturers, even as the
Governor-General (the Queen's representative in New Zealnd. But all is not rosy.
Maori incomes are, on average, 20% lower than those of Pakeha (white New
Zealanders), half all prison inmates are Maori, and Maori health statistics make
appalling reading.'
On Thurs 11th I am out busking in Cuba Street
when I get chatting to a chap called Geoff from the West Midlands. He says he
has been here with his wife and family for 5 months. Geoff has been teaching in
a secondary school up in New Plymouth. He has had enough. He says the kids at
his school don't give a shit. As a consequence Geoff and his family are ready to
head back.
There is a hint of resignation in his voice. "I hope we don't
become like yo yos", he says.
By that i guess he means not settling in the UK
but unable to settle in NZ also.
The relationship between folks moving from
the UK and New Zealand is an interesting one. Some find it easy to settle here,
others not. I admire anyone who gives it a go. It's no disgrace if it doesn't
work out. There are 1001 variables why it could or couldn't work. NZ is after
all a land of contrasts just like anywhere else. Some bits good others not so
good.
In Wellington I will say that things feel new and fresh. There are
beaches, clean seas,
a huge natural harbour, public climbing walls,
skateboard parks, native tree clad hills, lovely walks and friendly people. Also
the Kiwi 'no worries' attitude to work and play is a refreshing change from
parts of The UK.
Tue Jan 16th
The busking
continues to go well. My Dad sends me more CDs over from the UK. They are
selling well. So far buyers have included good folk from Indonesia, Germany,
Australia, Estonia, New Zealand and The UK. Going international. It's a good
feeling.
I continue to bang out the covers, like Split Enz 'I Got You', The
Beatles 'Let It Be', etc, but mix it with some of my own stuff. At moments I go
off at mad tangents and start ad-libbing which has proved a fruitful diversion.
For example, the other day a lovely German couple from Stuttgart bought 2 CDs
after seeing me strum the hell out of the guitar. I didn't really know where I
was going with it at the time. It's a funny old biz!
'Everlasting', Shot on
Mt Victoria overlooking Wellington.
'Hey Jude', Busking Outside
Summerfields
Windy
Wellington
