Kite Surfers Getting Close to the Stars this Matariki

It was a wild and windy southerly that greeted us this morning.

We were all keyed up to participate in the various Matariki celebrations in Wellington City, but the comforts of home kept us from getting out of the door in time. We stayed put and listened to a ‘Celebrating Matariki CD’, which accompanied a book of the same title by Libby Hakaraia and made our own little Matariki mobile.

Matariki mobile:

After which the girls decided they were getting cabin fever and donned their raincoats for some bike action in the puddles.

Just before Dan’s midday soccer (which he played in driving rain and a chilling southerly) we managed a trip out to find a new fish friend for Pyroclastic Flow (Charlotte’s choice – and we can’t get away with ‘Pyro’ for short!). The new fish is called ‘Binkalink’ (again Charlotte’s doing).

Finally, after Daddy’s muddy return and Sophie’s midday slumber, we braved it out and were greeted by the most magnificent rainbow over Evan’s Bay as we drove into town (where was my camera when I really needed it?!). The kite surfers at Lyall Bay were having a blast too, which seemed a fitting tribute to Matariki (again, I really did pick a bad day to forget my camera!).

Making kites, or manu tukutuku, was a favourite activity for ancient Maori and they would fly them during special celebrations such as Matariki. The kites were most commonly in the shape of a bird, or manu. The biggest kites could fly very high and it would take many people to control them using lots of rope made from harakeke, or flax.

The kite known as Manu Tangata could pick people up and fly them short distances (seems the Maori people of old knew a thing or two about kite surfing in their own special way!). Tribes used to have large collections of great kites. However, kite making stopped after the arrival of the missionaries. Today the art of kite making is being revived; kites are once again flying at Matariki.

I tried searching for some decent footage of the kite surfers, but couldn’t find much. However, I did come across this awesome surf video clip from a Californian expat living and working here (we love Lyall Bay!):