‘So, the elders said these white people lived out on the peninsula?’ Aimee asked, opening a local tourism map out on the breakfast table.
‘Yeah. Let’s go to this Otakau marae,’ he pointed at the map, ‘and see if anyone can shed more light on it.’
Matt repeated their conversation with Matawai and Andrew in his head. It was exciting stuff. His father would have been rapt to hear they’d found out more about the rumoured white people.
‘It looks like this road is fastest,’ Aimee said, pointing to Highcliff Road on the map. ‘But the one around the waterfront looks prettier.’
‘I’m with you, let’s make the most of it.’
They finished their breakfast and got straight on the road. As they drove behind the railway station, Matt admired the pretty building.
‘It’s a Dunedin landmark,’ Aimee said. ‘Only that yellow tourist train runs through now though. It goes through some local gorge.
Matt was distracted from the station by the Chinese garden. He made a mental note to visit that if he had a chance. Matt loved Asian gardens. After these two pretty sights, the potential beauty of the harbourside was marred by an awful industrial area.
‘I can’t think of many cities with such a beautiful harbour that have managed to do so little with it,’ he said. ‘There’s so much potential here.’
‘Yeah, they could make some nice parkland, apartments, a few cafes and restaurants, maybe even a promenade. It would be stunning.’
They continued on in silence until they reached the edge of town. Cliffs rose over them on the right, and the harbour hugged the curvy road on the left.
‘This is more like it,’ Aimee said.
What a great road.’
Thirty minutes later Matt fell out of love with the road. Not the scenery, that was perfect. But he had to concentrate so hard on the narrow, winding road that it was a little tiring. After the small village of Portobello, the road straightened out and before long they drove across open countryside beside a golf course. As they arrived back at the water’s edge, Matt saw the sign for Otakau Marae. He turned the car into Tamatea Road and parked at a little gravel area by the marae’s entrance.
‘Let’s go see if we can find someone,’ he said.
They walked around the marae for a while but didn’t see anybody. They even knocked on the door of a nearby house, but there was no answer.
‘Looks like no one’s home,’ Matt said. He felt deflated.
‘They might be at work.’
‘Well, we’re out here now, let’s have a look around and see what we can find on our own. Maybe we can find a beach with a cave above it! If not, a little sightseeing never hurt. We can try here again later.’
Aimee’s face answered his suggestion without a need for words.
Matt and Aimee studied their Otago Peninsula tourist map.
‘There’s too many beaches. Let’s stick to the ones that are close to the roads.’ Matt said.
‘Rightio, and I’d like to see the lighthouse and albatross colony. It’s close to here.’
‘My picks are these cliffs; Lovers Leap and the Chasm, they sound ominous,’ Matt said, grinning cheekily.
‘What about Larnach Castle?’ Aimee asked.
‘I’ve seen plenty of castles before. Besides, this one doesn’t even appear to be old. But if you want to see New Zealand’s only castle, we can go.’
‘Dunno really, how much does it cost?’
Matt read from the brochure. ‘Twenty-five dollars for the castle and gardens. Just the garden is ten.’
‘What?’ Aimee said, her face full of shock. ‘The botanic gardens were free, let’s skip it.’
Matt laughed and agreed. Seems like Kiwis were as inclined to complain about the price of tourism as the English were, and he understood Aimee’s point. If you had the chance to visit castles in England, Scotland, Wales, France… oh the list goes on… why would you pay so much to visit a one-hundred-and-forty year old building in Dunedin? Especially when the university clock tower building was just as old?
They drove off to their first destination. A lot of the roads weren’t sealed. Instead, big gravel stones rolled around under the tyres and a huge dust cloud followed them. It needn’t matter though, since they met no oncoming traffic once they left the main roads. The peninsula was an explorer’s dream. Virtually no one about, beautiful windswept scenery, stunning beaches, and good views. They parked next to one other car and climbed out in preparation for a short signposted walk through the forest.
‘Oh God, wait a sec,’ Aimee said, ducking her head back into the car. She withdrew herself with her hands firmly gripping a familiar purple pullover.
‘Are we meeting your Mum out here?’ Matt asked, smiling from ear to ear.
‘Sometimes it comes in handy for keeping warm too.’ Aimee poked her tongue out at Matt and put the pullover on. Matt couldn’t help but tease her, but he had to admit the wind was crisp and brisk. He locked the car and they walked off in search of Lovers Leap.
‘What a beautiful alley,’ Aimee said, as she walked next to Matt through the forest. Her hand brushed against his with every sway back and forward. If he wasn’t such a wimp, Matt would have caught it and held on forever. They broke free from the trees and were greeted by a beautiful little wooden woolshed on their right. But it was the view to the left that captured Matt’s attention. Long tussock grass, sheep roaming the fields, and beyond a handful of trees that were bent over ninety degrees from the enduring winds, a beautiful and completely empty beach.
‘We’re so going there next,’ Aimee said.
They hurried over the hillside towards two wooden platforms which hung over dramatic cliff-top locations. The Chasm was particularly impressive, and made you wonder how many sheep, or people, had fallen off. Only a thin wire fence stood between the fields and certain death. But the cliffs couldn’t hold them anymore, that beach was calling.
‘I guess at least we can enjoy a walk,’ Matt said, thirty minutes later, as he pulled his sock back on to warm his now freezing toe.
‘I tried to warn you,’ Aimee said, laughing. ‘We aren’t exactly on a tropical island.
‘I should know better. It’s the same back home.’
They walked along the beach and studied the cliffs above them. No caves here. Not up high anyway. There were a few nooks and crannies down at the beach level though and in one they found some penguins. They also walked past a few sleeping sea lions. Aimee warned Matt to keep a respectable distance. Eventually they returned through the lupine-covered sand dunes to the car and drove to the Albatross Colony. They parked and took a quick look at the view over the cliffs and towards the lighthouse before heading into the visitor centre.
‘Should we do the tour?’ Aimee asked.
‘I’d quite like just to sit on the beach down there,’ Matt said, pointing down to a beach near the car park. ‘But you go on the tour.’
‘Nah, let’s just hang out down there.’
They followed the sign to ‘Pilot Beach.’ Close to where the water gently lapped on the shore, two kayakers paddled around in circles.
‘Stop.’ Aimee threw her arm across his chest.
Matt looked down. Another step and he would have caved in a hole in the ground. A rabbit’s burrow, perhaps.
‘That’s a penguin nest,’ Aimee said. ‘We need to keep our eyes open here. The young may be in there while the parents go fishing.’
‘That’s incredible,’ Matt said, bending over and peering into the hole, and indeed seeing and smelling the penguin occupants.
‘I don’t know who’s having more fun out there,’ Aimee said. ‘The kayakers or the seals.’
‘Seals?’ Matt asked, looking up, and then he saw them. Playing among the kayaks were three or four, yes four, seals. They twirled and twisted around like synchronised swimmers, amusing Matt with their fluidity. Aimee pointed at a patch of grass sitting up on the rock-walled edge of the beach.
‘Looks just right,’ Matt said, as they collapsed down to a sitting position where they could relax and watch the seals play.
They took up their places on the grass and Matt was just about to start a meaningless conversation when Aimee came to the party with a dreaded line.
‘I’ve been thinking, Matt, and we need to talk.’
Matt felt the blood drain from his face. He had been waiting for this. The moment where Aimee would tell him that it couldn’t work. Him in England, her in New Zealand, I just think of you as a friend, you’re like my brother. All that stuff. He propped himself up in preparation, ready for the blow.
‘It just feels… right. Being with you. It’s… comfortable. I like you.’
The warmth crept back to Matt’s cheeks. Had he heard that right?
‘You do?’
‘Of course! You’re a sweet guy.’
Blood-cheek restoration complete.
‘I fell in love with you on the flight.’ Matt felt his cheeks overfill with blood as he let that line slip. What a charmer.
‘I think I did too. You I mean. You know what I mean. But, I don’t know how it could work. You know, the distance thing. I don’t think distance relationships are for me.’
Plug pulled. Blood rushes out again.
‘Is there a way we can make it work? What if I moved out here?’
‘No. You can’t move out here, your job is too important. If anyone’s going to think of moving, it’s me.’
‘Are you serious?’
‘I’d have to be, and that’s what I want to talk about.’
‘OK.’
‘If we were going to give this a try, I mean a serious try, then I’d have to move out to the UK. I assume I can transfer my studies there.’
‘That would be no problem.’
‘But I wouldn’t be lifting my roots for a fling. I need to know that you’re serious, one hundred percent. I want you to think about this too. If you’ve got any doubts, I need to know.’
‘I can assure you, one hundred percent. Right now, I have no doubts. If that changes you’ll be the first to know.’
‘OK.’
Matt looked at Aimee blankly.
‘OK what?’ he asked.
‘OK, I’m going to really think about it. I’ll look into transferring my studies. I’ll talk with my parents, get advice from friends, and if it all pans out right I’ll come to the UK.’ She paused. ‘But if I come it’s the real deal, a serious commitment, are you prepared for that?’
‘Aimee,’ Matt said, grabbing her hand, finally making the first move. ‘If you come out to England to be with me, for us, I’d marry you.’
‘You’ve only known me a few weeks!’
‘I knew the day we met.’
Aimee said nothing. She reached over and ran a finger down his cheek. Then, leaning in to him, her lips met with his in what was the most beautiful kiss Matt had ever experienced. The kayakers and the seals all vanished into the background. All that Matt could see now was a restored lighthouse, a rose garden, Aimee and their child running towards him.
Snap out of it Matt, she has to decide to come first. Just enjoy the bloody kiss.
And he did.
With dinner out of the way, and a good dinner it was too, it was time to go back to Otakau Marae and see if they could find someone to talk too. Matt led the way to the marae’s buildings and could fairly quickly see that there was no one about.
‘Let’s try that house again. Maybe someone is home and they can help,’ he suggested.
They walked the few steps to the neighbouring green weatherboard house and knocked on the door. There were sounds of movement, banging, and the shuffling of feet. They waited. Eventually, the door was opened by a beautiful old Maori woman. She stood a good forty centimetres shorter than Matthew. Yet she had the look of someone that could run rings around the best of them.
‘Good evening,’ Matthew said. ‘I hope we aren’t disturbing you.’
‘What are you lot doing here?’ The woman asked, her voice impatient and angry. ‘It isn’t even Saturday for God’s sakes. How many times do I have to tell you religious lot that I ain’t interested?’
The door was closing in a swift movement. Aimee blurted out her words just before it met the frame.
‘We aren’t religious, we’re interested in the marae!’
The door opened slightly.
‘The marae, you say?’
‘Yes,’ Aimee said. ‘I’m from Auckland and my friend is British. We saw the beautiful marae on our way out to the Albatross place and just had to ask about it.’
The door opened fully.
‘Why didn’t you say so? Come in, come in.’ She stood aside and waved her arm to show them into the hall. ‘Why didn’t you stop by earlier? More light, you would have seen more when I give you the tour.’
‘You’ll give us a tour?’ Matt said, trying to sound like an excited tourist, but most likely failing miserably. ‘That’s great, thanks.’
‘We tried, but no one was home.’ Aimee answered.
‘I was here all day,’ the lady said, looking confused. ‘Oh… it must have been when I was up the back picking wild berries for my pudding. My name’s May, anyway.’
The introduction round followed and small talk about a holiday in New Zealand was discussed. It seemed they were going along with this plot. Maybe Aimee figured it would go down better with May if they don’t mention their real reason for interest in the marae.
‘You best come and have a look around the place before it starts getting dark,’ May said, leading them out of the house.
The tour was thorough. May knew every part of the marae as if she was born there. Turned out she was. During the next hour they learned about the meaning of the carvings on the church and the meeting house. They looked at a blue stone in the church wall and heard how it had been removed from the first white man’s house of the area. Aimee was interested to hear that the Treaty of Waitangi was signed by two of the local chiefs on a ship just off-shore. Despite having not intended to get the grand tour, Matt thoroughly enjoyed it and was not at all impatient to get to the point of their visit. But when the opportunity presented itself, he jumped for the chance.
‘You said the first building on the marae was the old church, and that it was built in 1864. Did your people live on the peninsula before then?’
‘Of course, there was many villages all over Muaupoko, our name for the peninsula.’
‘Was everyone who lived among you from just your tribe? Or did different groups live together?’
‘What do you mean exactly?’ May asked, looking a little more serious now.
‘We heard from some Kaumatua that there were stories of white people living on Muaupoko long before Cook arrived,’ Aimee answered. She managed to be tactful even with that information.
May laughed. ‘Oh, them, that wasn’t on Muaupoko.’
‘It wasn’t?’ Matt was shattered.
‘Nah.’ She laughed again and pointed over Matt’s shoulder, towards the harbour. ‘That was over there, over past Port Chalmers, down at Murdering Beach.’
‘Murdering Beach? Who was murdered?’
‘Some Pakehas, back in the early 1800s. They were sealers.
‘Oh.’
‘They’re not your Pakehas though. The ones you’re on about are the ones from way back. I know the story well. Koro told me all about them. They must have been there too, cause Koro never lied.’
‘Koro?’ Matt asked, feeling dumber every minute.
‘Grandfather,’ Aimee answered, garnering a smile from May. ‘And they had a cave there? We heard that they married into the tribe and all.’
‘Don’t know anything about a cave,’ May said, looking curious. ‘Why are you so interested?’
‘Just fascinated,’ Matt answered, half truthfully. He was fascinated. He could see that May wasn’t someone to lie, she really didn’t know anything about a cave. But Matawai and Andrew were sure about that part of the history, just their location was wrong. Now, with the two pieces of information, Matt really felt like he had something to go on. Tomorrow, they would go and find this Murdering Beach and they would search for the cave. Who knew what adventure the new day could bring?