Haranui and Beyond
As Woody from Toy Story would say, to Haranui and Beyond! As we head out of Auckland to Haranui Marae the afternoon had that strange ‘four seasons in one day’ feel about it. The skyline has ominous storm clouds rolling in at a great rate of knots but the afternoon sun had a warm and strangely kindergarten-yellow brightness about it. It’s eerie.
From Massey West through to Massey North I’m reminded of why the ‘big smoke’ feels nice to visit but not to stay for me these days. While it’s not the same as The Pacific Highway to the Northshore or Parramatta Road leading to the rest of Australia, Auckland at roughly 4.15pm on a Friday at the start of a long weekend is a strong reminder that it has all the elements of other cities, that is, volumes of traffic and harried people with a strong dose of impatience! Joy? Hardly!
Heading towards Helensville provides a distinctly rural contrast to the forested Waitakere Ranges and West Coast beaches. The river gently runs through fertile farmland and meets the coast at Kaipara Harbour. The harbour is the largest in the southern hemisphere, with a coastline covering some 300 kilometres. I smile to myself because I hear again now the steady plop as the paddle enters the water.
My internal ancestral compass veers west toward the coast then back inland to Parakai. Parakai is a village situated 43 kilometres northwest of Auckland, close to the southern extremity of Kaipara Harbour. Haranui Marae is about 25km from Parakai though the locals still consider it an integral part of their community. Helensville is about 3 km in the other direction to the south-east. It’s known for its hot springs, naturally ocurring geothermal mineral waters and is an agricultural, dairy, sheep and deer farming community.
I made the decision to go to the rear of our three car convoy, this proved fortuitous when the front vehicles overshot the Haranui Road turn off. In all honesty it was completely missable. I spotted the marae across some paddocks before I saw the roadsign leading to it. It seemed like a peripheral quirk of fate that I’d spied a rainbow that ended right over the marae. We’d arrived and to what I wondered.
