Kaitiaki Kathy

Clark and I found our next home (and a venue to share with many) on June 21, 2016, the longest night and our thirteenth wedding anniversary. The photo above is one of the views from the back of the section of our new home. A friend who saw the picture called me Kaitiaki Kathy Kise, Kaitiaki meaning a guardian or trustee of the earth. I am very pleased to be the guardian of this property which is a heritage site for indigenous Maori. The entire history I do not know yet, but feel deeply. I will learn about the history as I go through my life at Kaitiakitanga, the name of this old but new place for us to share with others who feel the need to come and be with nature. Those needs will be met here we are fairly certain of it.

The above picture taken from the back of the section is Lake Forsyth, or traditional for the Maori, Wairewa.

Wairewa means water lifted up. Te Roto o Wairewa was the last lake to be dug out by the legendary Rākaihautū. On completion, he thrust his famous kō (digging stick) into Horomaka (Banks Peninsula) forming Tuhiraki (Mt Bossu), this act constituted the lifting up. Traditionally, Māori have sole eel fishing rights on this lake. Up until whaling times the lake had a permanent outlet to the sea and waka could travel right into the forested inlet, which was then known as Māori Harbour.

Christchurch City Libraries http://my.christchurchcitylibraries.com/ti-kouka-whenua/wairewa/ There are no trees now, but the remnants of past hunting and gathering procedures of the Maori still mark the landscape. It is a very sacred place where food has been gathered for centuries, battles fought and Maori dead laid to rest. There are bones (though which tribe I am not apprised of yet) buried on our property we intend to turn into a Whānau Trust. It is a peaceful resting place and one that called to me a few weeks ago as I walked by and suddenly noticed a sign advertising it For Sale. I had never noticed the property before. It was as if, it suddenly just appeared.It is a very private place and perhaps it is invisible unless one needs to see it. I had walked past it many times over the past year, not a glimpse of it in my memory. There is so much to see in this place of Birdlings Flat, it is no wonder that I might miss a large part of it for some time. I am grateful that nature often puts on a display that feels designed just for me and lifting my spirit. One day I went down to the beach, fell on my knees and then suddenly this rainbow appeared.

Nature is playful that way if we engage with making meaning for ourselves in relationship to it. I can tell you I felt held on that beach as if I was not only allowed to play upon the rocks (many of which are agates) but entertained by the most amazing colours. Who amongst us can look at the colours in this ocean and sky and not be transformed by the awe of it? I sat in awe that day. Little did I know that less than two weeks later I would be coming out of a real estate office in Lincoln after signing a contract to purchase the property and without yet knowing whether we would be the winning purchaser (as it was a multiple offer), I noticed this vague full rainbow in the sky and snapped its picture right before it disappeared.

I felt like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz repeating silently, 'there's no place like home' as this land claimed Clark and me with all its mythical presence and quirky habits laid down by its past lovers. I feel I have found a good enough place to die and THAT is the beginning of wanting to live again after five and a half years too long stuck in a city I had become allergic to. I love the people of Christchurch but I no longer have any love for a landscape haunted by traffic noise, rebuilding pounding, thumping, ringed by limitless road cones that spring up each morning in new places like a virus. I have vowed to leave this tortured city to the younger at heart and help them heal from the outskirts. There is no one who feels the way this city has made me feel that I would turn away from the gate (or portal) of Kaitiakitanga. This is a place to heal through nature.

Perhaps this Granddaddy San Pedro holds the keys to heaven on earth for the Kaitiaki Kathy and Kaitiaki Clark currently entrusted to help them (and us) remain standing. Peace to you if you are reading this and if you feel the need to come to a place for increased wellbeing, Kaitiakitanga will be available for the public to come and overnight by December of 2016. Come one, come all, just not at the same time. Bookings necessary, deeply appreciated and may be reciprocated by work in lieu on the property or a modest donation.