For the first time since I've been here I feel as though time is moving slowly today. It's odd.
Updates - I've made more photo copies of pages of books, but this time they are colorful and of paintings by the artist Robyn Kahukiwa. She is Māori and has done a lot of pieces dealing with the idea of wahine (woman) and Māori rights and culture. I've picked out a few about whales that she has done, specifically from a children's book called Paikea. I have also tried to explore more on Youtube the versions of the Paikea folk song. It's kind of addictive and infectious to watch as it's got a sing song quality and there's a nice dance to go along with it.
Anton van Helden has not gotten back to me after getting back to me the first time, but I am hoping that he will soon. Apparently he is very excited and passionate about his work, so I am hoping it will rub off on me and I can soak it in.
Some of the friends I have made here went to the south island for the weekend, and on their way back from the ferry terminal shared a taxi with another woman. Randomly she happened to be in Wellington conducting interviews and research for her book, one of the chapters of which sounds exactly like my thesis. upon further sleuthing (going only off of the fact that her name was Barbara) I found out that she is actually writing a book as a companion for the Tōhora exhibit! Plus she was actually here conducting the interview with a Māori elder yesterday (and I was totally eavesdropping because it sounded interesting) but I had no idea that it was her! I have since gotten her email address, and sent an inquisitive email her way. Here's hoping that something comes out of that. In this adventure for information I enlisted the help of Joan, the woman who led the session on the pōwhiri. She is called a kaiako, or learner in Māori, which translates to teacher. She teaches te reo Māori here in the museum which is really cool. She is super nice and helpful, giving me at least three phone numbers for her - I'm supposed to call her if I can't for some reason get my hands on a voice recorder, as she has one I could borrow. I went to OfficeMax today, and they didn't have any. Well, they said they could order one in but that it would be north of $250. I am going to try and find a cheaper one as that particular version seemed to have a lot of frills I really don't need.
While I have not exhausted the shelves here at Te Aka Matua library I think tomorrow will be devoted to film studies. I have found a few films that have to do with the rise of whale watching in NZ, some stories on Kaikoura, all with an eye to the Māori folklore. It is exciting.
Oh! and more exciting news - I have booked travel to Kaikoura on the south island for next week. I'll be going down on Monday and returning Thursday with a whale watch in the middle. Kaikoura has the highest incidence of sperm whale sightings in the world, and the group I am going through guarantees whale sightings or they will refund 80%. There is also apparently the option to swim with some dolphins. Unclear if this will happen given the temperature and time that I have there. It's kind of funny, because Kaikoura was the only stop in the south island that I missed last time I was here. I did a giant loop of the whole island, but skipped out one stop before at Christchurch to fly back to Wellington. A little bit ironic given my focus on whales now, as Kaikoura was put on the map by whales and dolphins. The hostel I will be staying at is called the Dusky Lodge, after the Dusky dolphins that frequent the waters. It's about a 3 hour ferry ride to the south island, then a 2 hour bus ride down to Kaikoura, which all told really isn't that bad. I'm pretty sure I'll be taking pictures the whole time.
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