The last 2 days Anne-Maree has been busy doing her mahi in the Motukari catchment, along with her uncles, Sam MacDonald, Peter Martin, and some of the TRC whānau, Fern and Jake. I, George also had the privilege to tag along and take some pictures.
The key is to keep our tāngata whenua connection to our water ways through a Mauri Compass lens. The monitoring started off with Anne-Maree providing a karakia to start our wānanga off and bring us in to focus for our kaupapa. Hīnaki were set and water monitoring done on five zones along the Motukari.
The highlight was hearing Uncle Sam and Uncle Peter korero about history they grew up with, how the Motukari has changed along with the landscape. Kōrero about where watercress was harvested and whānau that live along the Motukari.
Anne-Maree took notes of the health of the wai and rākau along the Motukari and noticed the lack of bird life within the zones. Kōwhai rākau were in full bloom in some areas. The mahi ended at the manga Motukari river mouth near Otamaringa where Anne-Maree closed our wānaga off with a karakia whakakapi.
