Maoris In Japan....: August 2006

Fuji san!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kia ora whanau.. well its been 2 weeks or so now that we have been back in good old Nihon and have started settling back into life here.. But last friday we embarked on a trip that we have wanted to do for awhile and was on our list of things to do in Japan and that was CLIMB MT FUJI!!!!!.... So on friday after school we headed to Shizuoka to stay the night with our mate Hinekura who is also a JET who lives in shizuoka which is close to fuji.. So we meet her at the station and went out to dinner with her teacher and work mate... we ended up getting on the juice and her teacher got hammered.. i mean really cabbage.. ater dinner we headed to sing some karaoke at which this point her teacher got so cabbage that she ended up just saying random things all night.. lets just say this is the most cabbage i have seen a Japanese teacher ever... damn talk about a crack up.. pure Cabbage!!!!!!!!!!!!

The next day we chilled and got ourselves ready for the mean hike up the Maunga Tapu that is Fuji..we were both abit nervous and anxious about making the climb not knowing what to expect... Our plan was to get to the mountain at about 6pm then walk up the mountain all night and see the sunrise then come back down...

We caught the bus from shizuoka station to Fujinomiya 5th station which is half way up Mt fuji.. we arrived here at 6pm..It was abit cold when we arrived and we started trooping up the mountian.. At first the climb was not so bad as we reached the 6th station, but as we carried on it began to get harder and we needed to take more breaks to help counter getting altitude sickness.. As we got to the second 7th station it began getting pitch black dark so we had to use our headlamps which were life savings as we were climbing up in the dark...During some of our breaks in the dark we would turn our lights off and look up into the stars and around us and appreciate the serene quietness that we felt while having a break.. it was like we were the only people on the mountain.. this was one of highlights of the climb for both of us...

we struggled up the mountain for another couple of hours finally reaching the last station before the summit at about 11pm.. we were very early before the sunrise was to come up.. so we went inside the hut to see if they had any beds for us to rest at before making our last push for the summit.. luckily they had a few beds because it had began to rain and it wouldnt have been fun waiting for 3 hours in the rain..so after getting out of our wet clothes, we managed to get warm and get a couple hours sleep.. at 2:30am we woke to make the last push to the summit..we left the hut at 3am towards the summit.. it seemed really hard the last push to the summit as well as there were a few people now on the final path to the top... BUT we finally reached the top at about 4:30am... we had conquered the mountain!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We were on the top of MT FUJI!!!!!!!!!... as we walked around the weather was starting to get really cold, it was still dark and the sunrise had not come up yet...we decided to wait for another half hour... luckily the sunrise came up.. although there was abit of cloud hanging around the mountain, it finally cleared for a while for us to see the beautiful Sunrise on top of MT FJUI... what a beautiful moment... after this we decided time to get off the mountain as we were freezing our balls off!!!!
the walk down from the top was beautiful as we took our time and enjoyed the beautiful sunrise over Mt fuji...

coming down was abit of a mish as fatigue was starting to affect us as we were slipping all over the place on the loose terrain and gravel... after 3 or so hours we finally reached the bottom.. the sense of accomplishment and relief of making it safe off the mountain was huge.. we were absolutely buggered..just shattered after the huge task of climbing up and down Mt fuji... this was an awesome experience that we both wont forget...

After this we headed back to shizuoka to catch our train.. we had a few hours with Hinekura and Max..had abit of ramen plus a few beers.. gee the beers hadnt tasted so sweet after that... thanks so much to Hinekura and Max for looking after us.. we look forward to having you fullas down here in shiga anytime..
well whanau thats it...As a famous Japanese proverb says" ONLY A WISE MAN CLIMBS MT FUJI ONCE AND ONLY A FOOL CLIMBS IT MANY TIMES" well i dont mind being a wise man on this one.. It was a mean Hikoi and i will remember it for a long time......

PAORA AND CHANEL

Climbing Fuji san

Chanel on the Top of Mt fuji above the clouds

Ohhhhh yeah boy on the top of MT FUJI

Starting at the bottom

Chanel and me in the dark somewhere up the mountain

Aotearoa-Final destination

A bit of a chilli morning....

Well after a full on week in wellies we drove up to napier to spend our last week with my mum..It was so awesome seeing mum and to spend time with her, especially as she had a roast and steammed pudding waiting for us once we got there..ohhh boy it was the bomb.. thanks mum
After arriving in napier there was no rest for us as we headed up to the east coast the next day.. we decided to stay the night in Te Teko with my aunty flo , which was cool to catch up with her and the whanau as it had been awhile since i had seen everyone.. thank you aunty for having us!!!kia kaha , kia maia, kia manawanui..

The next day we headed up back home into our whanau lands of Te whanau a Apanui..for me this was the highlight of the trip as we went about the business of sussing out our abit of land to build our whare on.. Mum really enjoyed having me and chanel help her out with this take..although we went about it backwards at times we managed to get things done and afterwards have a clear idea of what we want to do..

getting back to Napier after the coast was good.. but our time was fast coming to an end..friday was spent doing our last minute shopping and getting final gifts for our teachers here..the day/night was also seen as cooking heaps of fried bread for my uncles hangi the next day.. the day was full on and was glad to get some moe...

Saturday we had abit of a sleep in and later on in the afternoon went down to the marist rugby clubrooms to help mum out with her catering..Chanel loved the opportunity to work in the kitchen and play shop girl.. while i was outside watching my bro faryn play in the maddison trophy final...for mum and chanel it was to be a quiet night.. after we cleaned up we headed to the taradale rugby clubrooms to join in the celebrations with my bro faryn.. what a top night especially as the TUI was free for the whole night so needless to say we got PARA.. or hammered to say the least..we had a really good night.. chur faryn for the night.. good luck on making the HB team...

Sunday was a chill day..just resting and spending our last moments with mum...

Monday we were up early and to start the day we had a healthy breakfast of mince pies.. we had to get our last fix in before leaving...really enjoyed our time being with mum so it was sad to leave.. thanks heaps mum for everthing..love you always

our trip had gone so fast and it was sad to leave. One thing is for sure is that we ate everything on our "have to eat list" enjoyed all the kai and TUI that we had while at home maybe too much, will have to hit the gym again, but enjoyed it all the same..we had many fond and funny memories on our trip home and at the end me and chanel both felt that we didnt want to leave.. but we only have one year left and not too sure what our next steps will be but we know that home will always be there.. So finally to all our Whanau, Cuzzies, Bros and friends thanks for making our trip primo. Well the best way to sum up our trip as the say on CODE is " MEAN MAORI MEAN" ... kia ora
Paora and Chanel

Aotearoa- Apanui and Naps

Entering APANUI lands

Back home @ the beautiful Whitianga Bay

Me and mum munching on some good old kiwi Fish n chips

Chanel at Pakihikura in Te whanau a Apanui

The end of our trip.. me and mum at the airport

Aotearoa -Wellies..

well after after a week down south we heading to wellies...when we first got here it was our first chance to finally meet chanels nephew tremayne..this was really cool as he was born just after we left so it was awesome to finally meet him..

after meeting chanels whanau i headed off to catch up with some of the boys, while chanel had a few drinks with some of her mates and her whanau.. man it was so primo hooking up with the brothers again..big ups to wi for hosting the night at vibra train..sorry franny for making the place smell like a pub afterwards..it was so cool just chilling and catching up with the brothers plus downing copius amounts of the BIRD...Ngaio thanks for your efforts in getting the party orgainized..maybe next time you will last abit longer!!!! TAFF -serial!!!!!!!!!!!! it was cool to watch the ABs play, well the bits i remember anyway..lasting memory of the night..benny being a soldier and the call of "easy tiger-pass it on"..thanks bros for a top night..

the week was full on with catching up with friends and whanau plus doing some shopping which was awesome..our time in wellies seemed to fly by as each day was full on..

The time spent in wellies was to be the highlight of the trip for chanel ,spending time with her nephew and seeing him and being with him was the best part of the trip for her..

our last night in wellies we headed out to petone to catch up with Jody and kimi who had returned to aotearoa from japan..it was cool catching up with them and also getting on it with the boys again..Congrats Jodz and kimi on your fullas engagement...

well our time in wellies had come to an end and it was once again sad to leave and to also think that our time back home was slowly coming to an end..but we had one final destination...
and for me that was HOME

Aotearoa-Te Ika a Maui

Chanel meeting her Nephew Tremanyne for the first tme

Me Catching up with my Brother Nu'u, with Chanels brother elli and hoani at Wellington NPC game

Tremanynes 2nd birthday- blowing out the cake with his mum and dad

On the piss with Turei and Hama

Enjoying the night with Benny and Nugget

Aotearoa - Te waka a Maui

cher whanau, well finally after 2 years of being here in nihon we decided that it was time to go home for a holiday and boy was it awesome being home again.. Our trip home was for 3 weeks and split into 3 places..AUK/BLENHEIM for one week..WELLIES for one week then finally NAPS/EAST COAT for the final week.. BUT before we reached home we had a 6 hour stopover in TAIPEI, TAIWAN so ....

TAIPEI..
We had a 6hr stopover in taipei, so we decided to get out of the airport and have a tiki around the city..we ended up getting a taxi with a really cool dude named Jerry..at first i thought he was trying to rip us off, buthe turned out to be the man.. we went to see the worlds tallest building TAIPEI 101.. the building was huge and it was cool to down a TUI outside this mean building .. after this we went to have a look at one of the night markets.. as usual heaps to see and buy.. just ended getting a snack.. but it was cool as even our taxi driver jerry was shouting us.. mean alright.. after that we head back to the airport to carry on our journey to aotearoa..

AUCKLAND
Week one was spent in auckland for the night on our arrival in aotearoa and then a week down south in blenheim.. we spent our first night in auks with chanels cousin Brandon and partner Paul..it felt so wierd being home and seeing normal looking people and also hearing nz accents again..well we drove back to Pauls place but had to stop off at the bakery to say kia ora to some old friends..( Mince n cheese pie, sausaage roll)

Chilled at Pauls place and had abit of a nap, chanel was catching up with brandon and paul. Later on in the evening we went out to lonestar, to have a good old kiwi steak.. it was mean...after that criused home for a moe..

next morning we were up and went to the otara markets.. it was cool having a look around and getting a few things.. after that we went home and got ready for our flight down to bleheim.it was good catching up with brandon and paul.. cheers for having us....

BLENHEIM...
we arrived in sunny blenheim and meet up with chanels dad, and lil brother paul..after that we meet up with the rest of the whanau and it was good catching up... but the main part of the night was still to come, watching the ABS vs the Springboks.. we went down to the pub to watch the game.. it was also so primo to catch up with a lost cuzzy.. old cuzzy TUI... lets just say i savored that sweet nectar taste that is TUI...

The next few days were spent chilling around and just catching up...On the tuesday we criused down to Mangamaunu in Kaikoura, down to see chanels Marae and whenua , plus help chanels dad out with the sheep that he is grazing on their whanau lands.. what a truely beautiful place Mangamaunu is and we really loved being down there..

We returned that night and met chanels aunty Marcia and went and stayed a few days with her in picton..It was cool just chilling and also going to get some kuku..what a great day and the dinner we had was also pirmo..cheers heaps Marcia for having us...It was choice...

We only had a few more days with chanels whanau, so we just chilled at home and did a bit of carving which was cool..

Saturday was our last day in blenheim and we went to watch Paul play rugby which was cool.. he is a good player with abit of a step on him as well..after this we went home and chilled and got ready to leave.. it was so Primo being down south and spending time with chanels Dad and whanau.. This was the end of our southern journey as we heading to TE IKA A MAUI... It was so sad to leave but our next journey awaited us in TE IKA A MAUI!!!!!!!!!!!

Aotearoa

me, Paul and lil Johnny going for a hi ika at wairau bar in Blenheim

Chanel and her dad looking out from her marae at Mangamaunu, Kaikoura

First night in Aotearoa-Brandon, Chanel and me at lonestar restaurant- Auks

downing a TUI outside the worlds tallest building in taipei, taiwan.

Me and Chanel getting ready to get some kuku in Picton

Taiku sai and sayonara

cher whanau, well been awhile since our last post so have abit to talk about..well where to start.. well at the beginning of last month I had my Taiku sai or sports festival at school.. this was an awesome day with the students competing in various games, and dances.. this was my second sports festival and as last year the students went hard out especially in the team dances..some groups looked like hip hop videos and they were cool.. this was a primo day

well with the end of july came for the time for some of our whanau here in Nihon to say ka kite and head back to aotearoa and various places in the world.. we had the sayonara party here in omihachiman and our last chance to say good bye to peps in our ken so it was sad to see some people go , but it was a good night to be had and as usual we got hammered... the next day we caught up with jods and kimi and headed to Kobe to have a little good bye kai and sing some karaoke and get on the juice with our kobe whanau..damn what a day.. talk about hot..a typical hot humid day.. but soldiered on and caught up with timoti,chels ,and kahuroa.. it was great catching up with them and then later on with gav, linds and mel.. it was cool chilling , having a kai and singing some karaoke... but its sad to see timoti,chels , kahuroa go... congrats on your expecting pepi...JODY and KIMI well you fullas, we will really miss not having you fullas here. its been awesome being here in nihon and experiencing this place with you fullas..congrats on the engagement..cher cher cuzzies..