(GENTLE THEME MUSIC) Captions by James Brown. Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2021 (JAUNTY MUSIC) - We like to go on a whanau trip at least once a year. Often that would be to Fiji or the Islands somewhere, and we'll go for a whole week. But, of course, being COVID and everything, Francis is like, 'Oh, should we go down to Queenstown?' Oh, OK. That's something different. And I heard that there's lots of cool activities for whanau and us. - So, hey, when you hop in, you wanna sit on the seat on that side, by the wall, OK? - Then move over for Daddy. - Will we fit? I hope so. Ready? Jump on. - Thank you. - Go, darling. - All right. - Hello. - Hello! I'm excited, because one, I get to spend time with my whanau, but I'm hoping I do get to shut off mahi, and just zone in with my tamariki. (LAUGHS) That's the hope. - Yay! - Ooh! - Wow! - This is tumeke. - FRANCIS: I'm not a heights person, so I'm very afraid of heights. I don't know if it's just me, but I feel like most people do, but you always contemplate your mortality and death, and so you think, OK, if anything happens, have we sorted out wills ` me and my wife, have we sored all that out? And, if the wire was to cut, I'll hold the baby, and then, you know, my wife will take care of herself. That's what you think of. So I was facing away from the view. My wife was looking at the view, cos she's OK with heights. - Don't get too excited. - Yeah, it's a hard one. You live in fear and then you've gotta snap out of it and live life, because we're not gonna fall off the wire. - Whoa. - I know. - Oh, look. Did you see him? That guy just fully jumped off with his bike. - Oh, wow, son, this is beautiful. - Everything looks so small, eh? - So beautiful, eh? - After the lookout, I wanna go straight to the luge, give it a good go, take my sons on. Yeah, we've just come off the gondola. We can go to the luge now. (GASPS) Ooh, look! Come. We'll go have a look over here. Come have a look at this. And then I get a phone call. And it's my cousin Ngahuia Jacobs. She's ringing to inform me... kua mate tona mama. Hi, cousin. Tena koe. - When my wife received the phone call and let me know Aunty Chrissie had passed away, she was very ill, and I've had a feeling it would happen while we were away. - I made a promise to my Aunty that I would make myself available when the time comes, and it didn't matter where in the world I was, I was coming back to her. - So, my flight's at 4.20. - Mm. I need to be there by 3.50 to check in. So do I have enough time to go and take them, or shall I just leave now? - No, we can do one luge and then organise a taxi. - OK. Yeah. OK, then. All right. No problem. I'm really looking forward to the luge. And see my boys, they love racing. And they think their mum doesn't have what it takes. All right, let's go. Ready? Yeah, G. See ya. Oh! (JAUNTY MUSIC) Whoo-hoo! Oh! (LAUGHS) - So it's race time for my son and I ` my oldest son, Nikora. - You ready? - Yeah. - Yeah, let's go. - Yeah! - Yeah. We just hit the track, and the races are on. (JAUNTY MUSIC) Going down the luge was awesome. I mean, I just think of home, and you think, man! You know, all the hills you run down, if you had one of these, you'd be down the hill in two twos. You know, you watch the racing on TV, and the cars and that. But to be able to be that low and close to the ground, going that fast, it is awesome, and there wasn't a fear ` like, because the track's there, you're not worried about what's over the edge. There was no fear of heights. It's just concentrating, trying to beat my son on the luge. Uh, but sadly, that doesn't eventuate. - Mummy's gotta go and catch her flight. So now it's time to say goodbye to my tamariki and my tane. And, look, I know they'll be all right. And I'm just grateful that they understand Mummy needs to go and tiaki Aunty Chrissie. Yeah. Right, kiss Mama. Before I go, Moronai, my son, he's only 12 years old. I can feel him wanting to be with Mum, and I think he felt sorry for me. He's like, 'Can I come?' And I could feel that mamae in his voice. So I said, 'Come on, then. You come and be a mate for Mum.' Mm. I dropped everything, because, Aunty Chrissie is someone who I hold... dear to my ngakau. She has been there for Francis and I at the start of our journey. She has pretty much set tikanga for us here, for Tipene Funerals. She has been a pou arahi for us. There was no hesitation whatsoever... that I move for her when the time came. (FLY BUZZES) THINKS: Hmmm... If I get hurt, who's gonna give me a bath? * (JAUNTY MUSIC) Nikora and I have arrived to the Queenstown Airport. And we're going to take off on a helicopter to one of the local mountains. - Thank you, James. - That's OK. Watch your step up off the trolley there. - I think I need to get out. I'm getting a bit... - All right. Is everyone ready to? - James? - James, could I just pop out for one second? - Just let me start up. OK. As well as being scared of heights, I'm claustrophobic as well. And so the only thing was, in the small space, when it gets heated up, I was trying to tell James that I needed to jump out, but he said no, not while the propellers are turning. But once he got going, the air started rushing through, so it was OK. So, James, do you talk to the airport, for the planes? - Yeah, I am talking to them. Yeah. - Oh, OK. I've just got it turned off for you guys, cos it gets a bit annoying if you're not used to it. - As soon as you get to a certain height up there, it is just breathtaking. It's spectacular. The local mountains are covered with snow, and it's like something from a postcard. - Just off to our front left there now, that little green patch there, we've got a proper golf hole up here. There's four different tee boxes that you can hit from, down to the green. - Does this belong to the company? - Yep, we built it up here about six years ago. We flew a little 1-ton digger up here. (JAUNTY MUSIC) - Come on out, guys. - Thanks, James. - NIKORA: Sweet! Thanks, James. - Welcome to Cecil Peak. - Thank you, James. - (SIGHS) Yeah. Mummy would've loved this. This helicopter trip was meant to be for my wife and I. But obviously she's not with us, so I had to bring my son along just to share this beautiful experience and hopefully add some value to him about the whenua and the country we live in. - You guys want some fish and chips? - Yes, please, James. - Sweet! - This is a bit fancy. - Yeah. - Amen. Let's go for it. Into it. - Yes. - Thank you. - Cheers. - Pretty good spot for some fish and chips, eh? - Honestly. And after all our kai of fish and chips, James pulls out some biodegradable golf balls for us to hit. So here's my chance to get my son back for the loss at the luge. - (LAUGHTER) - Here, have another go. - Oh! Sorry. I just... I can't stop laughing. Go, Dad. - I thought I could hit the ball into Lake Wakatipu. Didn't look that far away from up there. But it was a no-go again. - All right, would you like to have a go? - Yeah, I'll have a go. - Try and go up high, son. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes! - Oh, don't tell me that went into the water. Ooh! That went into the water! - That was a good one. - Yeah. - My son did good again. He drove that golf ball further than I did. I think just being up there with him and being able to do it together was awesome. Also, it was his birthday the next day, so I'll just say to myself, we had to let him win. (PEACEFUL MUSIC) - Today in our care we have Takawai Christina Jacobs, also known as Aunty Chrissie. She was 82 years old and passed away because of heart failure. We have Aunty Chrissie at our Henderson branch. Everyone's here to see you, Aunty. She's been waiting. That's all right. We have all of here mokopuna and her daughters in the room with me. They are all part of... placing Aunty in her moenga. They are feeling... overwhelmed, blessed, knowing that they can do this for their nan, knowing they can do this for their mum. I'm so blessed that we can... that we're all part of this together. (POIGNANT MUSIC) Aunty Chrissie's daughter has a basket full of kawakawa leaves, and also some mamaku. And she would like to place them inside Mum's casket, in her moenga. Just gonna start placing some of these in with her, - cos the rest are gonna go on top of her, eh? - OK, yep. Beautiful. Oh, Ae. Now, I know Aunty Chrissie. Thank you. I had some promises that I needed to keep with her I knew what I needed to do. I needed to have her kotiro in the room with me to place her in her moenga. Mm. What I see here, whanau, this is the first time ever that we've had this amount of whanau in the room. For whanau to see this process, that you place your kuia in her final moenga, is beautiful. Gonna bring her feet-first, whanau. Ready? On three. One, two, three. Bring her feet. Ae? And now we're gonna bring her all together. On three. One, two, three. Here we go, Aunty. Here we go. Here we go. And down. And down. There we go. Here we go, Aunty. We're all going to place some kawakawa leaves on her now. Place them on her. All over her. All over her. That's what she wants. They're all right, Aunty. The reason why kawakawa leaves are significant is because they were here at the time of our Atua, and therefore have Atua status. - Hoki wairua mai ra koe e te whaea... i roto i a matua o to whanau... - You can tell the measure of a person by the amount of people they have touched. I mean, look at this place. Aunty Chrissie is someone that has sat on many boards here in Tamaki Makaurau. She's given her all to many communities here. So we have dignitaries that have arrived, and we have oratory of the highest order. # Te hokinga mai. # Tena koutou. We are now placing Aunty in the hearse, and Moronai and I are taking our Aunty back to Pawarenga. (HORN TOOTS) (BIRDS SQUAWKING, BONGO DRUMMING) Excuse me, where am I? You're lost in the procrastination place. Yeah, right. That makes sense. MAN: Slap yourself out of it. Whoo! * (STIRRING MUSIC) KAIORA: We have travelled five hours, and we have now arrived in Pawarenga, to Taiao Marae, with the horns blazing and the tangata whenua awaiting in their pa tuawatawata. - # Haere mai e te whaea rangatira. # Hoki wairua mai... - It was Aunty Chrissie's wish to lay in state in te whare tupuna o Mataatua. - # Haere mai ki to whare tupuna Mataatua # hohou te rawa nei e. - It has been 42 years since someone has last laid here. And to our knowledge, it was her mother. - Mataatua karanga! - Uncle Pio is Aunty Chrissie's husband. (POIGNANT MUSIC) He told me that he's been waiting for his bride all day, so I feel like I need to touch our Aunty up a little bit and give her a bit of make-up, for her groom. Yes. So, every day, it's going to change colour. But I'll come back and touch up when I can. Yeah. Is that normal for Nan to have this sort of colouring here? - No, not really. - OK. All right, my Aunty. (SAD MUSIC) Although it's a sad occasion, many whanau have come together to work the marae. We're at the back cooking, so we can feed the manuhiri. Ka tika a muri, ka tika a mua, ka rere pai nga ahuatanga katoa. - I made the executive decision to pack up my whanau and head to Pawarenga to attend Aunty Chrissie Jacobs' burial service. We go into the wharenui, and I give Baby Francis over to his mum, so that I could go pay my respects and hariru Auntie Chrissy and the kirimate. I follow tikanga, and I accidentally didn't kiss my wife, because I needed to go and see all the whanau, but she calls me back, and says, 'Excuse me,' so I go back and hariru her ` and rightly so, because she was part of the whanau, the kirimate. So I went back and... took care of business. (STRUMS GUITAR) # Putiputi kanehana e... # - We're now about to close the lid, and Uncle Pio is having his final moment with his darling. He's now about to let go. At this age, when your mate is gone, you've gone too. You know, you don't feel that you're mentally here any more, because your soul has left. Your better half has gone. I know he's pining, and all he wants to do right now is go with her. Mm. Pawarenga is a place that is staunch in Katorikatanga. And we are now transferring Aunty to the church. She's gonna follow you. Oh, she'll still follow you. I'm walking with Uncle Pio, and he says to me, 'I wanna take her to the altar.' Haere mai, Uncle. She's following you all the way to the altar. We are singing himene and waiata until we return Aunty back to her whenua, back to Papatuanuku. - Aunty Chrissie is going to be committed to the earth, and this is the journey that many of her ancestors have taken before her. And as she's lowered into the ground, and the power of the wind and its force is howling through the tangi, I've never attended any burial service or tangihanga like this before. It was so powerful. And this was the mana of the wahine that we buried today. - May the Lord now welcome her to the table of God's children in heaven. We have faith and hope in eternal life. Let us assist her with our prayers. - Those of us who know what a committal is knows that you are committing their soul, committing their body to Atua. But it's no good sharing a committal when they are no longer here, because they are words that are for them ` they need to hear it now. So I sent these words to my Aunty when she was still alive. TEARFULLY: I want to thank you, Aunty. I want to thank you now, because you can hear me. It is with great respect that I bid you farewell. Continue your journey, Aunty Chrissie, with the love of everyone here. Haere i runga i te rangimarie. Go in peace, my Aunty. And know I love you always. Kua tutaki taku mahi, Aunty. Kua oti au. I've finished my mission, and I've completed everything you asked me. (SNIFFLES) Thank you. I remember my Aunty Chrissie telling me when she was low, she said, 'I'm ready to go to paradise, Kaiora. 'Take me to paradise.' - Love you forever. I'm tired, darling. I need to go back to paradise. Heavenly paradise. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2021