Eddie’s Trip - In his own words
My trip to my henu Rēkohu
By Eddie Te Hōia
Ko taranaki te maunga
Ko waitara te awa
Ko tokumaru te waka
Ko ngati mutunga te iwi
No wharekauri a hau
Ko Eddie Te Hoia toku ingoa
Kia ora, my name is Eddie. I’m 13 years old. My people are from Rēkohu, also known as Wharekauri, also known as The Chatham Islands. I am Moriori and my iwi is Ngati Mutunga.
Last year, I won the John McLaren Youth Award, and this gave me a grant to visit my henu (land) Rēkohu for the first time with my dad.
In July, we went to Rēkohu for seven days. Our trip didn’t start off well because the weather in Te Whanganui-a-Tara made the flight be redirected so we didn’t arrive when we hoped to.
But I didn’t let that stop me being excited. We arrived the next day after another delay but it was fun being on such a small plane. I was one of only 17 passengers. The seats weren’t assigned and you could sit anywhere. There was 20 seats and the rest was cargo. Once we got to Rēkohu we got an SUV to drive. We drove from the airport in Rēkohu to Kaiangaroa. We then went back to Waitangi.
That night for dinner we had famous Rēkohu blue cod. It was delicious. I was so full. I thought that this is what my karāpuna (ancestors) ate but not in a nice pub.
“When I first stepped onto my henu it didn’t feel real. It felt really good. It felt like I was on my own land and my land felt like it was part of me.”
I woke up the next day after a sleep in and we went to the tatahi (beach) which was right on our doorstep for a walk. We found so many bones on the beach. One was a skull which was really cool. We then got fishing gear and went to the little market and I got a lamb and mint pie that was very good.
My favourite part of the day was going to the museum. I liked seeing things about animals and about my people. There were photos and drawings of my hunau (family). It is funny there is a word for family who annoy you in Ta Re Moriori and it’s hunanu. I would call my brother hunanu.
We went for a drive to Owenga and on our way back we saw a shed inside a shed which was very interesting and then we went back and in the evening we found out our beds were fancy massage beds.
On day four, we woke up and jumped into the car to go to the fur seal colony and we made it about halfaway before the road got to muddy and we weren’t confident in driving through.
But we did see the Sutherland sea plane and after that we went to Blind Jim’s Creek and went shark teething and I found one shark tooth and a few kina spikes but the weather wasn’t great so there was very little visibility and after that we headed back to Waitangi. We went to the shop and had some food and then went to see some of our friends on the island and had a good catch-up. Then we headed back to Waitangi to have some pan-fried blue cod which was absolutely amazing. I wish I could have Blue Cod every day which means I must be a real Rēkohu islander. After that we went back to go to sleep.
The next day we woke up early and headed out to Waitangi Wharf to go fishing and I got some limpets as bait. I got real wet while grabbing them but Tangaroa (God of the Sea), the tchieki (Moriori Gods) and the conditions weren’t in our favour and we didn’t have any success.So we headed back to the unit and I got changed into some dry clothes and headed out to Owenga to see if we could fish out there. It looked really nice but I couldn't get any bait for us, so we headed up to the Tommy Solomon statue.
It felt really special to see just part of the statue. It is being fixed. But I have grown up seeing photos of my family next to the statue. Tommy Solomon is my relation and the statue is for all Moriori to be remembered. Moriori who live there and are Solomons look after Manukau and it is beautiful.
I never thought I would see where my karāpuna (ancestors) are from. It made me feel strong and connected with all sides of me.
And then we went back to Waitangi and got bait so we could fish at Owenga Wharf the next day. It was so wet we had to get dry clothes again, and then we went to the memorial garden. It made me sad seeing what happened to my people. I felt like I could feel aniwaniwa (spirits) in this place and it was very tapu. Me and my dad washed our hands to take away the tapu and talked about our history on the way home.
Day six we woke up we went straight to Owenga Wharf and went fishing. I didn’t catch anything but dad managed to catch a spotty on our way back from Owenga. We went back to Blind Jim’s for another try at shark teething and found a few more shark teeth with the lake clearing up.Then we headed back to Waitangi to check if the store had smaller fish hooks, but the store was shut, so we went back to the unit and onto the beach. I found so many bones. My mum said I couldn’t bring them home in my bag so me and dad created a taniwha skeleton and then we went back to the unit and had quesadillas and watched the rugby.
I thought a lot about how special it was to be here and I felt my ropuna (ancestor) Nunuku-whenua who was a famous kura (chief) who made "Nunuku's Law" which is about peace. When I think about who I want to be I think I want to be like Nunuku-whenua.
Day seven we headed out to Blind Jim’s for one final go at shark teething and it was very successful! The tchieki (Moriori Gods) were on our side and there was zero ripples and the lake was completely clear! We found over 20 shark teeth after that and we went to Port Hutt and there was this cool shipwreck.
There were also so many rusty vehicles and things, which was very cool. After that we had one last crack at fishing but no luck. So we gave our fishing stuff to our friends on the island and filled up the car's diesel, then we went and cleaned the memorial garden a little bit.Our family markers are there so we made sure they were nice and took photos for our hunau on the mainland.
Then it was time to go back to Te Whanganui-a-tara and I was sad but grateful.
“I feel more connected with my history and it makes me stand taller. It makes me want to help others like I was helped to be with my people and my land. It makes me proud to be Moriori.”