Tairua - Home for the last 7 weeks

It feels kinda surreal to be leaving this place. As I look over the photos of the last couple of months we have had so many adventures here, met so many amazing people and done so many things. It’s going to be sad to leave. 

When we travel, we don’t like being tourists; we love getting to know and live like the locals and I think we have achieved that here. We have explored this area well and returned many times to some of our favourite spots like Sailors Grave. We have also had the chance to check out a fair bit of the Coromandel including Whitianga, Coromandel town and Broken Hills in the Coromandel Forest Park.

In our original pre-COVID plan, we were meant to be in Fiji now on a month long trip checking out what will be our home one day and to help decide what we need to take there, whilst also helping out on a couple of local jobs. Instead we have been able to slow down and enjoy an extended stay in a small beach town in the winter.

Sailor's Grave - a favourite local beach to play and explore

St Francis Church, Tairua

Roy has been leading a team of MMM and local volunteers working at St Francis Tairua, building a new entrance to the church. There have been many amazing volunteers helping, both from the church and also from the community. It has been great seeing the whole community come together to support St Francis church, either on the building site or making meals to support the project. The job itself ended up being quite technical (we won’t dip into the gory details of steel portals, 45º wall junctions, side yards, GBUW60 firewalls or Tairua weather patterns here), so let’s just say we extended our stay from 4 weeks to 7. With COVID changing our planned Fiji trip, it was good to be able to use our time in a productive way. 

Beginning of Week 1...

Beginning of week 7... (the old entrance was where the open window is)

Our MMM team has consisted of Ronnie, Malcolm, Ken and Eileen.

Ronnie is from Northern Ireland and came to NZ for a couple of months at the end of January to escape the Irish winter… but now he has been through the NZ winter and is an overstayer applying for an extended visa to stay away from the UK.  We joke that he has become like family, the Uncle we never wanted... but secretly our family quite enjoy having him around. Ronnie came with us to Lower Hutt too, he is a lot of fun to joke with and gives Roy someone to beat at scrabble.

Malcolm put in a good couple of weeks work and was a great help on the job. He returned home to join his family in lockdown in Auckland when COVID changed things again so quickly.

Ken and Eileen are a couple from Auckland who came in their caravan to help for a couple of weeks. They ended up staying for five weeks after Auckland went into lockdown. One of the first questions Eileen asked when meeting me and finding out the kids were homeschooled was, “What curriculum are you using?” when I answered, her response was “I helped write some of those.” It turns out she wrote the English and Maths books Gabrielle started working on in Tairua! Gabrielle has since started referring to her as ‘teacher’. It has been great having them around. Eileen even baked gingerbread with the kids on a rainy afternoon and gave the kids a full tour of their caravan which they enjoyed. 

Some of the local and MMM volunteers

What the kids have been up to...

We have had some great neighbours here; Gabrielle in particular has loved playing with them most days. Siena is about a year younger than her and they spend hours running between houses, playing on the trampolines, swings and in their own world of imagination. Caleb has even been ‘permitted’ by the girls to hang out with them in the last week and has been loving it. When asked, Gabrielle said her favourite place in Tairua was anywhere with Siena.

Just your average afternoon in Tairua

Josh turned 10 in Tairua and has become a very keen fisherman, trying to take every opportunity to give it another try. He has managed to catch five fish here, none of them big, but he was still very proud of them. Josh’s favourite place in Tairua is ‘Paku Wharf’.

The beginning of a new hobby

Kelepi turned 4½ this week and is very excited that it is only six months until he is 5 - he has already drawn a plan for his cake. He loves people and being around anyone that will give him any attention. We got a new passport photo taken for him here; it was quite the experience getting him to keep a straight face. He was pulling all sorts of faces figuring out how to ‘not smile’. Kelepi’s favourite place in Tairua is at the top of Mount Paku, he is the only one in the family to have been up there three times.

At the summit of Mount Paku viewing Pauanui

The kids have all enjoyed exploring a new area of NZ, and like looking at their maps to work out where we have travelled. They are going to have great NZ geography. 

What about schooling?

The kids and I are stuck somewhere between finding some sort of routine for schooling and wrestling with the question of “What in education actually matters?” Is it more important to sit with some workbooks or on a laptop? Or go out and explore the landscapes that change with the storms, discover geodes and different types of rocks and crystals at the beach, talk to the lovely ladies at the shop that sells them all about them, then create artwork out of them? Another day I had to get something signed by a JP here, who took the time to explain to the kids and I exactly what a JP does and how she became one. 

The kids are also all into learning the piano (on an app and with a keyboard that we have been taking with us) in a way that they never would’ve had the opportunity to be in their old ‘school-rushed’ lives. So while we continue to do some workbooks, I am also challenged to make the most of every opportunity we have to explore with this new lifestyle as there is so much learning in it they would never receive at school.

The Bell is home again - one of the final jobs on the to-do list 

Other thoughts...

We came here for 4 weeks, we have stayed here for 7. I know I am not the only one out there for whom this year is full of constant change and slightly out of control - with the next step being unknown - but I am encouraged that my God has it in hand. “We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.” Proverbs 16:9.

As much as we are keen to get to Fiji, to live in community with those people and do our best to support them in what they are trying to achieve, we are aware we are in a marathon, not a sprint. This year has become quite obvious that the marathon isn’t always a pretty, paved track either, but more of a cross-country one! Rushing it won’t work, but it is important to take onboard and learn as much as we can along the way… coz one day we might just need the things that we learnt in this time.  

Some of you know some of my life journey, especially over the last couple of years… where I was thrown a curve ball that required me to reset my busy life, slow down and make time for the things that matter most. Who would’ve thought the whole world would get that chance in 2020?! From that time I have enjoyed holding onto my need to spend time alone, everyday when possible, to think, process, talk to and listen to God. Tairua is such an incredible place to do this, getting a daily dose of Vitamin-Sea is actually so good for us! There are so many amazing views to see here. 

At the end of a hard day, when I was walking alone down Paku Bay I was contemplating why I’m here - of all places. So far from my old life and routines. But I know I am here because I have a God who gave his life for me and now I’m giving my life to serve Him how He has designed us to… and for today that means that I’m in Tairua walking down Paku Bay… which really isn’t the worst place in the world to be.

We feel very blessed and lucky to be living the life that we live. But some days I still really miss that school and kindy run, or popping into church or the shops where I get to see so many different friends. I so appreciate everyone who takes the time to call, FaceTime, text or email. Those sort of things really do make my day.

Celebrating a 10th birthday Josh style - pizza and ice cream 

What next?

We are about to spend a couple of weeks in Pirongia at the MMM Centre (I am looking forward to my bed) before Roy spends three weeks on a job at the Hope Centre in Levin. We are excited to be back closer to Waikanae for a while. If you have a few days to spare, maybe you would like to help Roy out on the job and experience what MMM is all about! 

We should be at St Lukes, Waikanae on 27 September, 4 and 11 October. We will be staying in Paraparaumu in the second week of the school holidays. We would love to catch up with people but are also aware that our time down there will fly by.

If you haven’t yet visited our blog to hear the story that brought us this far and sign up for future updates, you can find it here

Be safe and stay in touch.

Rachael, Roy, Josh, Gabrielle/Gabby and Caleb/Kelepi (names are pretty interchangeable in our family)