After BASEjump tragedy, new doco follows Kiwi widow's journey
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RNZ News
3 days ago
- RNZ News
Regional Wrap: Rawene
culture arts 24 minutes ago Each week, Culture 101 spotlights a different region of Aotearoa for our regional wrap. It's a chance to find out about the arts scene in a place beyond our urban centres. This week we are heading to the south side of the Hokianga harbour, in Northland to the town of Rawene Lynn Lawton is co-owner of a social conscious art space in Rawene, for artists and creative events - No 1 Parnell.
NZ Herald
3 days ago
- NZ Herald
Ngāwhā Springs: Once a few muddy hot pools, now a $4.3m Northland tourist attraction
Cross now manages what has become a major tourist attraction in Northland after a $4.3 million revamp, the result of a decade of planning by Parahirahi Ngāwhā Waiariki Trust amid a divisive and still-unresolved Waitangi Tribunal claim by Ngāpuhi. Ngāwhā Springs manager Moana Cross remembers when the springs were a series of muddy pools run by volunteers. Photo / Michael Botur Several government agencies helped fund the redevelopment of the 16 main pools, completed in April 2021, which included stain-resistant buildings and changing rooms set back from the fumes, new carvings, a teahouse and a manuka palisade fence - an improvement on the sulphur-stained planks held together with wire and crates. 'We didn't even have fencing in some parts when I was a child,' Cross recalls. 'The pools were really basic … the floors were muddy. When I volunteered as a teenager we had wooden paths. The complex itself, the wood, the nails, deteriorated really quickly because of the minerals in the air and there were lots of sulphur deposits.' Eleven pou (carved post-statues) have been installed, representing the tūpuna (ancestors) of the Parahirahi hapū. The carver also created likenesses of the pools' guardian taniwha, Takuere, who is said to sometimes appear through early morning rainbows in the mist. The carved pou at Ngāwhā Springs. Staff who used to come as kids or volunteers are now employed at the springs, learning customer service, computer skills, or mirimiri (traditional Māori massage). The 'World Famous in Northland' hot springs, 5km east of Kaikohe, expanded after the trust bought eight private pools on land once owned by the Ginn family. And it has leased the use of seven other pools, traditionally known as The Domain, from the Far North District Council. Despite the upgrade, Northland-born Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro was impressed that the pools themselves mostly remained the same as she remembered when she visited earlier this year. 'Ngāwhā Springs has always been a go-to place for my whānau over many generations,' she told the Herald. 'My grandmother lived at Ngāwhā during her life. Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro says Ngāwhā Springs have been a go-to place for her whānau for many generations. Photo / Dean Purcell 'We have visited the springs over the past 60-plus years to soothe our aches and pains, to soak together in the warmth and chat together, especially on cold nights, and to benefit from the mineral healing properties of the springs. My husband and I ... thoroughly enjoyed the chance to revisit our old favourite springs - though the Doctor Pool remains a bit too hot for us!' No matter who the VIPs or visitors are, discretion remains part of the pools' code. Anybody can hop in any pool and kōrero confidentially with anyone even though temperatures may rise. The hottest pools - the Bulldog and Universal - can hit almost 50°C before being closed off to the public. Chatting to strangers is exactly what regulars come for, trustee Nathan Bryers says, explaining the springs are a place for 'good wānanga' [education /knowledge] from various people chatting across various pools. 'If you come to the early morning sessions, you hear from the old ones how to save the world,' Cross laughs. During the Herald's visit on a crisp Friday evening in June, South Auckland couple Margaret and Ken Drury - both covered in colourful tattoos – shared the Kotahitanga Pool with a cleanskin stranger, chatting about Ukraine's future. Ken and Margaret Drury, from Drury, South Auckland, soaking in the Kotahitanga Pool at Ngāwhā Springs. Photo / Michael Botur In the Tāne Mahuta pool, a one-legged man soaked with members of the Ngāwhā Trust who were preparing for a board meeting. At the same time, a bone-tired cyclist stopped in for his weekly dip, and a group of Aucklanders, supporting their ex-con mate covered in gang tattoos, talked about Kaikohe's wonderful new drug rehab centre. To ensure locals aren't priced out of a soak, the trust has a tiered pricing structure: a two-hour session is $6 for locals; $15 for Northlanders; and $34 for other visitors. The private pools, called Ngāpuna (which means the springs/drinkable spring) have sandy bottoms and are bubblier than the muddier Ngāwhā Springs. The private pools are available on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday at a cost $300 for a two-hour session (two to 10 bathers). Extra bathers $30 each, maximum of 30 people. The Ngāpuna pools are open to the public on Monday and Tuesday; general entry, $20 per person; Northland concession, $10. Cross says the trust wanted to look out for locals who had used the pools all their lives. The old entrance to Ngāwhā Springs before the development. 'They needed to have a price that reflected the economy in this town.' By 'reflecting the economy', Cross means keeping prices affordable in New Zealand's poorest region, where the median income is just $545 per week. Feedback on trip review sites is mixed. On Yelp, a Californian gives the pools five stars and writes 'This place is a hidden gem. It's dirt cheap to get in and well, there's lot of dirt all around'. Others, on Ranker and TripAdvisor, have described the pools as 'Small holes in the ground filled with dubiously looking, stinky, muddy water' and warned it's 'A great place to meet locals and enjoy a warm bath, but you stink of rotten eggs for a long time afterward'. Mangamuka resident Mate O'Sullivan has been bringing her two mokopuna up from Porirua to get to know the pools just like she did when she was their age. 'There's a lot of whakapapa kōrero (conversations about people's ancestry) in the pools,' she says. Mate O'Sullivan, from Mangamuka in Northland, favours a full immersion at Ngāwhā Springs. Photo/ Michael Botur She feels 'compelled to get the full tinana (body) stretch', she says, including dunking her head against the lifeguards' repeated advice about the risk of amoebic meningitis. She believes the ritual helps with healing pain from old birth-related complications as well as the spiritual pain of partner Ivan passing away in 2024. The mineral-rich Ngāwhā Springs (Ngāwhā means geothermal or boiling spring) have long been revered for their healing properties. The Solomon pool is said to be best for skin complaints; the Favourite is known for easing chest congestion. The spring water is untreated but the pools are drained on Mondays and Tuesdays before they gradually refill with hot groundwater. Some of the healing is spiritual and Ngāwhā Springs has traditionally been a place at which rival warriors could make peace. To this day, Bryers says, every visitor is expected to leave their beef at the door. Cross says the pools are steadily becoming busier with 350 people a day coming at busy times like school holidays. 'It's a massive increase. Before [with the old pools] they didn't have sessions. People just came and stayed all day if they wanted to.' Sign up to The Daily H, a free newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
4 days ago
- RNZ News
Queenstown Shotover Jet turns 60: From river ferry to iwi-led tourism icon
A Shotover Jet glides through the Arthurs Point Gorge Photo: Supplied / Shotover Jet One of New Zealand's best-known adventure rides is celebrating 60 years in business after evolving from a simple five-person riverboat into an iconic thrill-seekers' attraction. Ngāi Tahu Tourism said the milestone was about much more than commercial success; it was a moment of pride for mana whenua who have taken the wheel. Shotover Jet business manager Donald Boyer said Shotover Jet rose from humble origins. Herm Palmer (right), who was an early owner and operator of Shotover Jet, 1966. Photo: Supplied / Shotover Jet "It pretty much did start with a couple of blokes and a really small wooden boat that seated about four to five passengers. "It was a transport service that came from Queenstown across the lake and up the Shotover to Arthurs Point purely for transport. The boat did about 30 km per hour, so quite sedate. "Through the 70s and 80s, it morphed into the thrill-based experience that it is." More than 4.6 million people have since taken a ride on the Shotover Jet, which has garnered national attention, won tourism awards and hosted prime ministers and royals. Ngāi Tahu Tourism general manager Jolanda Cave said a handshake deal with Ngāi Tahu in 1999 laid the foundations for the iwi's entire tourism arm, which now includes eight other ventures around Te Waipounamu. Ngāi Tahu Tourism General Manager Jolanda Cave, Shotover Jet Business Manager Donald Boyer and Kāi Tahu ki Tuawhenua Kāhui representative Paulette Tamati-Elliffe. Photo: Katie Todd / RNZ "The Shotover Jet is ultimately the jewel in the crown for Ngāi Tahu Tourism. It was the first tourism venture that we purchased, and it is ultimately what started the growth of what Ngāi Tahu Tourism is today," she said. Cave was among those who gathered on the riverbank on Friday morning to mark six decades of the Shotover Jet. The company planned to give free rides on Saturday and was releasing a documentary about its history. The money iwi used to buy into Shotover Jet came from a Treaty settlement involving $170m in Crown redress in the 1990s. Cave said Ngāi Tahu Tourism secured full ownership by 2004 and became one of the country's biggest tourism operators. Ross Melhop, one of the two brothers who founded Shotover Jet Services in 1965. Photo: Supplied / Shotover Jet "It's really enabled us to use the international manuhiri, the domestic manuhiri and use our voice so we're able to tell our stories. We're able to look after the whenua that we operate in and we're able to lead how we feel tourism should be in the future," she said. The Shotover River or Kimiākau Awa has been part of Ngāi Tahu's whakapapa for generations. Paulette Tamati-Elliffe, a member of Kāi Tahu ki Tuawhenua Kāhui, which represented the seven Papatipu Rūnanga of the area, said the waters were used to transport supplies and gather food, plants and pounamu. "This place was very important to us. It was a huge part of our tribal, our traditional tribal economy," she said. To maintain that connection and to be able to provide those benefits, tangible and intangible, for not only this generation but future generations to come, is just so important." Shotover Jet plans to give away free rides on Saturday, and it will be releasing a documentary about its story. Photo: Katie Todd / RNZ Kimiākau meant to search for the shoreline or sea, Tamati-Elliffe said. "The sandy, golden beaches that we enjoy on the coast of Dunedin come from these rocks and from this river, so that connection that our people have maintained for generations, from the mountains to the sea. "It just makes sense, that name, Kimiakau." Tamati-Elliffe said iwi hoped to see more whanau engaged in the business in future. "We want to strengthen and enhance what's already a great experience for manuhiri, and we believe we're on that trajectory." Boyer said sustainability was a big focus for the Shotover Jet as the company embarked on the next decade. "Over the last few years, we've started transitioning to engines that burn about 30 percent less fuel than the previous ones," he said. That's all part of our journey towards being at a point where we burn no fossil fuels, whether that's electric or hydrogen. "It's just an incredible achievement for a business in New Zealand to get to 60 years, and I'm just super proud to be leading the business and into this next decade." Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
