10&11|11|18, Last working day, Insight into Maori culture

Hi guys,

it's done! Work is over and after 4 weeks I'm really happy about it.

Yesterday, on Saturday, we had our last working day, which we spent at the Kiwipackhouse.

Actually, on the last day I was able to do a job that I really enjoyed!

My task was to manage the logistics of the individual kiwi pallets coming from the cool house.

Which pallets are being checked, which pallets will be checked throughout the day, and so on...

A job that not only involved physical work but also required some mental effort.

Afterwards, I have to say that I look back positively on the work at the pack house.

The job was acceptable, even though it was quite tiring after weeks of carrying boxes.

But what I really liked was meeting backpackers from all over the world.

I met so many nice people and I will remember this incredibly fun and interesting exchange I had during that time.

As mentioned in the last post, one of the people we met at work was "Craig".

Craig is a Maori who invited us to his home last night.

So after work, we drove to his place and were greeted at the door with an ice-cold beer.

We met his family and were allowed to take a warm shower at his place.

Already at work, we noticed how incredibly interested Craig is in the German language, the country itself, and its history.

He asked us many questions about Europe, our culture, and everything else.

At the same time, he told us about his culture and allowed us to get an idea of it.

He gave us a better understanding of how the colonization of New Zealand by Great Britain affected the Maoris and much more.

On this evening, I learned so many things about the Maori people, and getting to hear it from a Maori himself was a really cool experience.

To learn all this information about the culture of the actual inhabitants of this country, I probably would have had to read a lot, as it is not easy for someone who does not speak the Maori language to learn much about them.

When I told Craig about this thought process, he suddenly burst into joy.

He told me that he is currently developing an app called 'Travelling Native', which allows tourists to learn about Maori culture depending on where they are in New Zealand.

So the app detects the user's location and tells them all imaginable information about the respective tribes and the general history of the Maoris in the areas where they are currently located.

Personally, I think this idea is great because as a tourist in New Zealand, it is really lacking to engage with the indigenous people.

Why am I talking about this in such detail? Craig asked me to introduce the idea of his app to you and if anyone has feedback or even suggestions for features, to send him an email in which I report this to him.

It was really great to see how enthusiastic this 48-year-old man was about tourists coming to this country to learn more about his culture. It was noticeable how incredibly proud he is to be Maori, and how much it also troubles him that people in New Zealand who don't interact much with his people have a very negative image of them. Examples of negative aspects about the Maoris are widely spread here, but people like Craig, who simply radiate pure hospitality, attention, and openness, have now left a very positive impression on me.

We had a really cool evening and we even got to stay in the guest room with his family.

After a shared breakfast and many travel tips, the journey continued.

In conclusion, it was really a great experience.

Today, we strolled around in the next city for a while as we still needed a few things before we could continue our journey.

On my list was a cap, as the sun is really intense here and I was recommended to get one from all sides, and a camping shower.

A camping shower is basically a 30L plastic bag with a shower hose attached, in which you can heat up water with solar power and then take a shower.

In my opinion, a very cool idea that I will definitely try out tomorrow.

Otherwise, we traveled a bit further and eventually stopped at a campground by the water.

From here, we booked our activity for the day after tomorrow.

A tour of the movie set of Hobbiton, where we will even have breakfast in a corresponding 'Hobbit hole'. I'm really excited! 😍

Tomorrow, we will go hiking and enjoy the unique nature of this country once again!

From now on, I will post every day again, as more things are happening now! 😊

Greetings from Matamata, New Zealand! 🇳🇿

Yours, Tim! 😊