Te Aurere Waka Newsletter September 2006
"Nga Atua koe kawe ma runga aurere mai Hawaiki rano."
Hei mihi kia koutou,
Te Waka Raukura.
On Tuesday 29 August Hekenukumai, William Kaipo, James Eruera and John Harding delivered the new hull to Wellington for their Waka Raukura. The hull had been made at Aurere and was to replace the original hull that had rotted. The carved parts rauawa, tauihu and taurapa which had survived are being lashed on by local men.
New Waka Hourua.
The new waka hourua has been worked on again this month. Due to bad weather the marquee was put over the hulls so that work could continue even on rainy days. With two working bees and two wananga, the work has continued at a fair pace. Crew members have also been staying here so that they can work on the hulls. One hull has the rauawa lashed on to both sides and the tauihu and taurapa glued and lashed on. The other hull has one rauawa lashed on and the second rauawa partly lashed. The tauihu is glued and lashed also. All in all it's starting to look pretty good and the next step will be to lash the two hulls together with the aku (cross beams).
Te Aurere.
The weekend of 24 September, Te Aurere was brought back up the river so that she could be worked on. Several attempts before had been thwarted by bad weather but this weekend could not have been better. There is a fair amount of maintenance work that has to be done before she is fit for all the summer work that is mounting up for her.
Te Aurere Waka Wananga 2006.
The final in this year's series of Wananga takes place on 10 to 12 November 2006. This will be held at Aurere and like the rest will carry a fee of $75.00. We are taking bookings now and urge you to book early as there are only 25 places. Bookings are open to both male and female. Just contact me by any of the methods at the foot of this page.
I have been receiving feedback that a good many people don't realise we have a web site! Go to http://www.teaurere.co.nz and check it out. Have at look at the news items. New items are being added regularly by crew members.
And there we have it for another month. Remember, if you are going out on the water tell somebody where you are going and what time you expect to be back, listen to the weather forecast, wear your lifejacket and take your cell phone, also take some flares. Put your phone in an air tight plastic bag: That way if it falls into the water it won't get wet and will float. Think safe, stay safe.
Day light saving starts at the end of this month, remember to put your clocks forward by one hour before retiring to bed on Saturday night, 30 September. Summer time officially starts at 2.00am Sunday 1 October.
Noho ora mai, Mike Harding.