Mangawhai Camping 21-24.10.2016

Today, Lee, Moana, and us went to Mangawhai. We woke up with the intention of finishing the compost in the garden. However, Lee decided not to let us finish it and informed us that we would be cooking and doing final preparations today. So, we quickly showered and helped our host in the kitchen. While I peeled and sliced potatoes, Jasmin went shopping with Lee.

Afterwards, we prepared potato gratin, pasta salad, and curry. We also made sure to get cornflakes, milk, and drinks.

By two o'clock, we were ready to go. I followed Lee because I didn't know the way and lost sight of him a few times because other cars squeezed in between us or because Lee was sometimes driving (too) fast. But in the end, we arrived at the campsite without any problems.

The campsite was beautiful. It was a huge green area with some cabins and a main house where the kitchen, lounge, and toilets were located. Just a few meters away was a lake. We were amazed when we saw this sight.

John and Silvy, friends of Lee who helped prepare the upcoming project, were already there and welcomed us warmly. Not much happened on that day. We ate together, talked to John and Silvy, and went to bed early. The first time sleeping in our car. More comfortable than expected.

The next morning, Silvy and Moana took us to the market. This is where Silvy became unlikeable to me. I really can't stand it when someone gives me improvement suggestions or tips on my driving every five minutes, especially if that person doesn't even have their own car.

Since Silvy did not have a car, we went to the market with our car - of course, we had to rearrange everything. After five minutes of driving, I was told that I was driving too fast and that I had to be careful because the road was a gravel road.

1. I'm not blind. I can see that the road I'm driving on is not paved and
2. I really wasn't going fast. I was only going about 40 km/h because I know that you shouldn't drive too fast on such roads, even though the speed limit was 100.

But okay, it was a well-intentioned advice, I thought, and slowed down. We arrived at a paved road, so I accelerated. The speed limit was 100. However, due to the many curves and few straight stretches, I didn't even come close to 100. Maybe 70, sometimes 80, and slower in the curves. But even that was too fast. "The roads here are not as good as in Germany."

(In my opinion, the roads here are not much worse than the roads I know from Germany. Or rather, the road we were driving on.)

Fortunately, we arrived after 20 minutes and walked around the market on our own.

There was everything on the market. Food, clothes, books, decorations. But we didn't buy anything. The one and a half hours we were given were actually too long, so we walked through the market four times.

Back at the campsite, we washed the dishes from the previous evening and put the plates and pots we brought with us away. Then lunch was ready. Leftovers from the curry and pasta salad, which we had already eaten the previous evening, and salads were available on the table.

Cam had joined us by now. Another person who wanted to help here.

In the afternoon, Moana suggested that we go to the beach. Lee explained the way to us. The beach was about a 45-minute walk away, and if we were lucky, we could even see dolphins there.

Silvy heard about our plan to go to the beach and asked if she could come along. Jasmin explained to her that we would be walking there, which was the reason for her sudden statement that she didn't want to come along. We didn't mind. But just before we were about to leave, she stopped us and said that someone had to show us the way because we could easily get lost in the forest we had to cross.

Short note: Silvie didn't know the way herself, and Jasmin and I are not children anymore and don't need to be held by the hand when we want to go somewhere.

So the three of us walked to the beach, even though I was already quite annoyed by this woman.

By now, we had found out that talking was one of her passions. She just couldn't keep her mouth shut, so she talked the whole damn time. She didn't care that we weren't really listening to her because she just continued talking to herself. On top of that, we got lost. The path we were walking on eventually ended in the depths of a forest, so we had to walk through the undergrowth. We were very lucky that Silvy is from South Africa and can read tracks, at least that's what she told us. She explained that you could see broken branches here, which people had used as signposts, or that these two logs lying next to each other were supposed to represent a trail. Oh well. Okay. A 10-meter-long trail. Good to know.

The situation was clear: we got lost with the most annoying person in the world.

Nevertheless, after about an hour, we made it to the beach, even though we had to walk through a restricted area because there were forestry works going on (rebels).

The beach was stunningly beautiful. There was no one in sight except two fishermen.

Unfortunately, we couldn't stay for long. The sun would soon set, and we still had to walk back.

To keep it short: the way back was more annoying than the way there. This time, Silvy didn't talk to us anymore, but I swear she talked to herself for an hour. "We should go left here, oh no, the branches are too thick, we should - that looks good over there."

What we learned that day: we won't go anywhere with Silvy anymore. In the end, we should have just told her that she annoys us.

When we returned, we were welcomed back by several people. Unfortunately, I can't remember all the names for the life of me. Moana was relieved to have us back. She was afraid that we got lost and wouldn't find our way back. She had already sent Jasmin a worried text message with Lee's phone, but we couldn't read it because we didn't have any network and Jasmin's phone was out of battery.

In the evening, we all sat together at the campfire. Stories were told, and constellations were explained.

On the third day in Mangawhai, it became sentimental. In the morning, we had a group discussion. First, the large group divided into two small groups. Each group now consisted of about seven or eight people. The purpose of these conversations was for everyone to share how they felt. I almost cried with each person who shared their story. While one spoke of their deceased father, another said that they never felt good enough, and the next spoke of their marriage, which they were determined not to give up on.

We weren't forced to say anything, but we were the only ones who didn't say anything at the end, so I felt responsible to say something. After all, people had shared their feelings with me, so I could also share my feelings. Originally, I had planned to talk about how proud I was that I was here and how grateful I was for everything. But since I was already half crying because of the previous stories, I started crying bitterly when I casually mentioned that I missed my family. Jasmin joined in, and we both sat on the couch crying, even though that was definitely not what I intended with my story.

After the group discussion, Jasmin and I sat by the lake and talked for a while, with tears flowing abundantly. But that was good, it made us feel freer, and on that day, I realized how much I loved and missed my family.

The rest of the day, we helped a lot in the kitchen - unfortunately, this was Silvy's territory, and she ruthlessly made us do all the shit work. She seemed to have understood by now what we thought of her.

In the late afternoon, we planted trees and made mulch rings around them (if it rained, the water would collect in this circle, providing better water supply to the plants).

In the evening, we didn't feel like sitting by the campfire, so we sat outside on our own and talked all evening. John was a bit worried because we isolated ourselves from the others, but we explained that this "isolation" had nothing to do with the people, but that we just wanted to be among ourselves again.

The next morning was our last morning together with Lee, Moana, and the others. We all had breakfast together and then had a brief introduction and "How do I feel?" session as new faces had arrived.

I introduced myself and said that I was grateful for being allowed to participate in their culture, but that I was also excited and curious about what was yet to come.

After a warm shower, the sad farewell came.

I definitely wouldn't want to miss the days in Mangawhai. Not the shared prayers before meals, which were different every time - sometimes they were songs, sometimes poems, sometimes sayings -, not the conversations we had together, and not even the annoying hike to the beach.