I have had a lovely couple of days rest with Mum and sis at Mokoroa Valley retreat thanks to a TimeOut stay. Mokoroa means 'long lizard' which seemed apt, like we were staying in the midst of a tanwiha's lair. I don't know how I feel about, while it feels benign I am aware the land has been through a lot of upheaval being former volcano from the beginning and all the past history up to present day home to wealthy lifestyle blockers.
There is bush all around the holiday home which was very luxe. The owner has a hobby deer farm where he grows deer velvet from their antlers for export to China. There's a very clever irrigation system powered by a water wheel on one of the streams. Sprinklers for the wide expanse of lawn go off in the morning keeping it green.
We went for walks and did some exploring, although unfortunately the major bush tracks are still closed thanks to Rahui for Kauri Dieback and Cyclone Gabrielle slip damage. I was in a contemplative mood though thinking on the many things that had been lost when Auckland Council amalgamated to the Supercity. Waitakere as an entity is no more and felt the loss of territory swallowed up by powers that be. The dichotomy between Auckland and Tamaki Makaurau is never more stark when thinking about place names and their meanings and the things we do on this land.
At Bethells Beach/Te Henga we walked along the ironsands where jellyfish end up. The rock at the entrance of O'Neill's beach is named Waitakere meaning 'deep waters' and is the start of the stream that eventually becomes Waitakere and lends the name to the area. There is a township which lent its name to Henderson library and civic centre and other schools. The local iwi, Te Kawerau A Maki still have links to the land but many had to move further inland because the construction of dams meant estuaries and food gathering sites became silted up and the land was no longer fertile or able to support them.
Every year Auckland becomes more congested and our Waitakere Range rain catchment area now seems unable to cope with the strain. There are a lot of slips and road repair to be done. It's hard to live so far away in the back country where everything you need for living now has to be imported in and everything of value exported out. It's hard to know where we are headed when all governance decisions are now mostly made from Wellington concerning this isthmus.
People say it's all down to education, though I don't know how much sinks in, sometimes I think the land is crying out for healing and redemption with wetland areas demarcated for conservation. I like to think we all can all do our bit to care, but humans being human we are greedy and seem to crowd out everyone in our path, destroying the very things that help us to live. I don't like to think too deep thoughts all the time, but as I thought how peaceful and secluded the valley was I was glad to be home in my own garden with fruit trees and vegetables and never minded that there were other people around me, doing our best to live our lives out of the clutches of the taniwha...
