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The Crib at Kaka Point

 

Kaka Point is a small, coastal com­mu­ni­ty of approx­i­mate­ly 300 per­ma­nent res­i­dents, less than a half hour dri­ve south­east of Bal­clutha. Sit­u­at­ed in the unspoilt Caitlins region, Dunedin, Gore, Inver­cargill and Cen­tral Ota­go are near­by. A steady stream of nation­al and inter­na­tion­al vis­i­tors pass through the area attract­ed by the ocean, seals, pen­guins, water­falls, rivers and the stun­ning ancient native for­est nearby.

Tuwhare Crib and Residency

The Tuwhare Trust’s ini­tial aim was to pur­chase and restore Hone’s home in Kaka Point as a cre­ative res­i­den­cy. His much-loved crib looks out over the vast ocean and a pris­tine beach that runs to the mouth of the Clutha Riv­er (Mata-au). Hone was very hos­pitable and loved to share his fire, food, a drink, song and laugh­ter. He also val­ued his soli­tude and being able to work undis­turbed in the com­fort­able, peace­ful, inspi­ra­tional place he called home.

Hone’s crib will now pro­vide man­aak­i­tan­ga for writ­ers, artists and manuhiri from through­out Aotearoa. We also wel­come inter­na­tion­al manuhiri. Hone’s crib is a taon­ga that Kaka Point, the Ota­go region and Aotearoa can be proud of.

In Octo­ber 2022, the Tuwhare crib restora­tion project was com­plet­ed; it was a 10-year labour of love for the Trust. On Octo­ber 21, 2022, timed to also cel­e­brate Hone Tuwhare’ s 100th Birth­day, the crib was offi­cial­ly opened, and we launched the inau­gur­al  Tuwhare Cre­ative Res­i­den­cy Programme.

The Trust is cur­rent­ly devel­op­ing two foun­da­tion­al res­i­den­cies as part of the Tuwhare Res­i­den­cy Programme.

The objec­tives of the Tuwhare Res­i­den­cy Pro­gramme are to:

  1. Acknowl­edge and cel­e­brate the Hone Tuwhare legacy.
  2. Sup­port writ­ers and cre­atives to spend time at the Tuwhare crib through our res­i­den­cy programme.
  3. Pro­vide a plat­form for writ­ers and cre­atives to be ambas­sadors of the Hone Tuwhare legacy.
  4. Sup­port the lit­er­ary and cre­ative land­scape of Aotearoa New Zealand.

Here’s look­ing at You, Sea

The sea excit­ed­ly incite­ful is out­ra­geous­ly
     includ­ing itself in ama­teur the­atri­cals again.

The waves are like
     white fringed layers
     of green car­pet, unfolding.

The small focus I have of them
     from my constricted
     view­point is impressed
     on my imag­in­ing, roll-on mind-film,
     forever!

Their con­ti­nu­ity of ebb, of flow,
     lug­ging in sacks full of pipi, kutai,
     tuan­gi, kina, tio & karahu – to mention
     just a small line-up of the
     suc­cu­lent boun­ties of the sea
     that are life-giv­ing – gives me pause
     as well as time, for a prayer
     of thanks to you, Tangaroa.

Wind & cur­rent, how­ev­er, are mischievous
     play-mates. When a decision
     is made for them to insert
     a speak-easy-spoke into the
     sea’s water wheel works then –

O then, dra­ma abounds for sure,
     and the win­dow to the sea-ward
     side of my crib begins rattle-screeching
     an order for me to ‘Come out! Come out, Sloth!
     And wit­ness this!’
     ‘Uh huh’, I say.

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