22/07/2026
Kia ora te whānau!! Well, I’ve officially been back in the country for 10 days. Just my luck, I went the whole month overseas sweet as, then as soon as I got home I caught the meanest flu 😂 It took me out for three or four days, so I’ve been keeping things pretty low-key since getting back. Poor ole Jake thought he was getting a break, just ended up having to look after all 4 of us 😅
Arohamai that I haven’t posted many photos either!! My laptop reached full memory capacity after the first week’s worth of videos and photos, so prepare yourselves for a massive photo dump coming soon 😂
After our time in Chile, we spent the most beautiful nine days in Rapa Nui. If this is somewhere you’re thinking about visiting, book longer than nine days because we did NOT want to leave! The locals were truly the hosts with the mostest. They’re an incredibly resilient people, and being there felt so familiar. Imagine Ruatoria, but on an island five hours out to sea in the middle of nowhere lol.
One thing I really admired was that everyone seemed to know how to do everything. They’re a small island, so if they don’t get the mahi done, no one else will. They’re hardworking, resourceful, and almost everyone has some kind of art they use to express themselves. Nearly every man we met could play the guitar or ukulele, and if they couldn’t do either of those, they could definitely sing or dance.
Their kids reminded us so much of our own tamariki too. When they were practising karikari, which is their version of performing arts, their faces looked like they would rather be anywhere else 😂 Even on the other side of the world, kids are still sick to death of practising culture when the adults tell them to lol.
But one of the most humbling parts of the whole trip was seeing how much our presence affected some of their tamariki, both in Rapa Nui and among the Mapuche. Seeing us there, being unapologetically Māori and proud uri of Ngāti Porou, inspired some of them to feel the same way about who they are.
When you’re surrounded by systems that are intimidated by the knowledge and power of Indigenous people, it’s easy to absorb the lies those systems tell about us, especially when you’re young and impressionable. Just like our own kaumātua, their elders carried on teaching even when the kids didn’t want to listen. Then, as adults, those same kids grow up grateful that someone protected the culture long enough for them to return to it.
There’s nothing quite like your Indigenous identity to reconnect you when the whole modern world seems designed to distract you from who you are.
Another beautiful thing about Rapa Nui was their dedication to teaching future generations their traditions. One of the reasons I hardly posted while I was there is because internet and phone service truly are a luxury. Our host told us they only really started using reliable internet once Starlink arrived, which honestly explains why everyone is so bloody talented 😂
You don’t see kids there glued to technology. Their spare time is spent outside, swimming, carving, playing music, learning their language and keeping their customs alive.
My children hardly use technology at home and don’t get much screen time, but I’ll admit they’re still very accustomed to, “It’s raining, so we can watch TV.” Being with the people of Rapa Nui made me realise I need to make a more conscious effort to let my kids play in the damn rain. Give them a guitar. Teach them to carve. Let them create. Let them be bored enough to discover what they’re capable of instead of wasting the day in front of a screen.
The whole trip taught me something else too: Aotearoa really is it. We have so many opportunities here that some of the people we met could only dream about. Exchange trips, education, resources, funding, language revitalisation programmes—for some people, those opportunities feel completely out of reach.
My whole life I’ve been told I’m a dreamer, and after this trip, I totally agree 😂 I have big dreams of Māori being at the forefront of change and healing in this country, while also creating a model that other Indigenous communities can adapt to support their own revitalisation efforts. Imagine if the mahi we're doing here in Aotearoa could inspire and strengthen Indigenous communities around the world, just as they have inspired us.
Whether we like it or not, we share this whenua with people whose ideas for a “better future” often completely sideline the fact that we need our environment—our taiao—to have any kind of future at all.
My big dream is to see Māori leading the healing of our communities, Māori and Pākehā alike. I believe the state of our environment is a direct reflection of the health of our people and communities.
We can do all the taiao and kaitiakitanga mahi we like, but if we want real, tangible change, everyone on this waka needs to be paddling in the same direction. I truly believe Indigenous people can help lead that way forward.
Do I have all the answers? Absolutely not 😂 But there’s a reason one way of speaking about history is “ngā rā o mua”—the days in front of us. We look back to understand where we’ve come from, so we can see more clearly where we’re going. History teaches us what not to repeat, and our old people left us more than stories. They left us maps.
Anyway, in true Turu fashion, I’ve gone way off topic 😂 The main point was: Rapa Nui was beautiful, we didn’t want to leave, I’ve got thousands of photos coming, and this trip has changed the way I see our future!
Tihei Mauri ora!!
