Scenes from Waiheke

Yesterday Vicki and I went for a drive out the back of the island along a shingle road - and we pulled over, beside the fence line above Owhiti Bay, a beautiful beach - accessible only by boat.

Private property signs polluted the view, and nearby sheep chewed grass as if we weren't really there.

We sat down on a bench and admired the panoramic vista, the smooth cyan ocean, sparkling in the afternoon sun, the distant gulf islands from a new perspective, and Arcadia rolling like an unmade bed before us - and I said to Vicki - we hardly ever come to these places and just appreciate the beauty of it all.

Yes it was very much like heaven on earth on a Sunday afternoon apart from the reminders of private property and I recalled jumping the fence as a youth - carrying a container of beer we'd lugged all the way from Onetangi - with my older brother, in days when the land owner was more relaxed about the public crossing his land to visit the almost perfect beach there.

The beer had warmed up in the sun and we tried all sorts of methods to cool it down - but alas - tying it to a rope and sending it out to sea only resulted in sea water leaking into it - and that was the end of the beer, so we drank water from a stream instead, which had been infected by cows and I ended up taking almost a year off school and sports with mild liver issues.

Those were the days.

But here I was again with Vicki - and all these past memories were mine alone - but it sure was good to be out in the Winter sun appreciating how lucky we are to live in this place.

Somewhere far away - for just a while - the Press Gallery and fiends in the media were - trying to paint some kind of "coalition of chaos" narrative about the three tunnels versus free dental care - as if Labour and the Greens were an unstable coalition - while neglecting to make the Chinese funding of our roads - and Act's opposition to that proposal a thing.

Yes it seemed unbalanced reporting to me ( especially given the stability we'd all witnessed for years on the left ) and I mused that I had heard Maiki Sherman ask PM Chris Hipkins questions along these lines during his 10.15am announcement about the tunnels across the harbour.

The questions were pitched at PM Chris Hipkins BEFORE the Greens had responded publicly, so to my mind - Maiki Sherman was muckraking again...on behalf of the right wing.

She was framing PM Chris Hipkins as the problem, something we'd never see from her about Nicola Willis nor Luxon.

Framing up division on the left over the wealth tax seemed to me to be a National Party narrative and ongoing strategy that Maiki was running with - but I did get that it must be frustrating to be Green if Labour rules your position out for a term or so.

We sat on the bench admiring the view, breathing it in, far from all these issues - until Vicki's cell bleeped - and she said a friend was ready to be collected and we could go to a local brewery with him for a bowl of fries etc.

Next minute - there we were - now looking over a vineyard - and I reflected how out of place I was - amongst the very wealthy patrons - given my relative poverty plus the state of my teeth which I could not afford to fix - like many other people in Aotearoa, especially as you get older.

My friend discussed a headline he had read in the NZ Herald - that suggested the Greens thought the harbour tunnels were "bonkers" and I said I had also read that headline - and how it was probably about the emissions made by construction or more cars vs public transport - but we'd gone out on this Sunday drive before I could catch up with the content in the article.

Certainly the media - were not discussing much else - and I related the notion that the Greens and Labour have clearly discussed how they will sell their own policies during the election period with each other and there's a "mutual understanding" about that context for the next weeks leading up to the election - because maximising the size of the left bloc was the only path to victory.

The bowl of fries arrived, and I smiled but as always conscious of my teeth - the unaffordable problem that made me feel ashamed along with other things - was always in the background and part of me wished it did not cost so much. Cos then like so many New Zealanders I would fix it and live free of that mindset.

It would be great if we had both the tunnels, the light rail and the free dental I thought - if only we could afford it as a nation - but we did not have a money tree - as Vicki pointed out that there was a big flash helicopter behind me that was gonna take off soon. Yes helicopter - the mode of transport used by the super wealthy to get around out here, while I - the virtual beggar, in some sort of disgrace - sat at a table nearby eating humble fries.

Suddenly a troop of super wealthy people streamed out of the Brewery and circled around our table on their way to the Helicopter - as you do.

Casting aside all apprehension I reverted to G News automation and said to the finely attired gentleman leading the super rich to the chopper - "Off to the helicopter is it?"

He stopped, looked at me, and said, "Yes why do you ask?"

I replied, "Oh nothing, good luck" - and my eyes flashed up to Vicki's eyes - who was throwing me the "stop right now" look.

I put the brakes on where I might have taken the conversation.

These were VIPs or some such thing and I was venturing across a line...

But it was too late, the words were wrong, I had actually intended to be positive - but it sounded like I was calling their ride a death trap. Good luck with that.

"Why would we need good luck?", said one of the richest women in New Zealand - through almost perfect implants a sense of indignation about her.

"Nothing," I said looking down unable to be myself - but rescuing the situation for Vicki.

Well off they stomped - probably wondering what I knew about the helicopter - but Vicki said some of them were the actual helicopter owners ha ha ha.

"Bloody death traps", said our friend as the roar of helicopter

 blades beat the air and the ground shook and everything rattled as the chariot of the super rich took off and headed straight towards us - doing an unplanned "fly by".

"OMG that's for you", said Vicki, "They don't usually go that way".

"Ha ha ha you must have really gotten under their skin" laughed our mate.

Perhaps they were flicking me the bird ha ha.

"I hope they get to Coromandel safely", I thought, refusing to look at them, "Good Luck" - but the gleaming grey paint on the chopper flew into my line of sight anyway - and the absolute luxury of it all hauled arse up, up and away - like the super rich, living in a super rich world, that made them very valuable customers.

Waiheke needed these people to keep small businesses afloat and in some ways this place was becoming gentrified and a rich man's playground.

Ah yes the simple things from the 1970's and the history here long before them, that's what occurred to me, but it was nice to have nice things I suppose.

"So yes, the wealth tax thing would help fix my teeth", I reflected but it was just an unrealistic pipe dream right now and probably important that the country get through a period of some restraint, in a world where tax revenue was down and public services matter.

This was how it felt to be an ordinary kiwi to me - and I wished I had said something better than "Good luck" - but I was glad I hadn't made an arse of myself - which would have upset Vicki.

Still everyone agreed those symbols of how the other side live - really were death traps on some level.

"What's the name of that hill over there?", I wondered, remembering the Chief with the long name that Pakeha like me still struggle to recall.

Scenes from Waiheke

Morena

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