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Voice of Tiritiri Matangi
so wrong, as 2009 was the start of a worldwide economic downturn.”
The author reminisces that her life in New Zealand was incredible. Her employers were dynamic, she rented an apartment on the beach and quickly made new friends.
“Almost immediately I started volunteering on the conservation island of Tiritiri Matangi,” Berni confirmed. “I would catch the ferry, sail across the waters of the Hauraki Gulf and spend days with other volunteers, cutting back overgrowth, making bird boxes, anything that needed doing
“At lunchtime, I would sit in front of a 950yearold Pohutukawa tree. Its twisted roots spread out across the beach as if it were reaching for the waters. Its bark and branches were dry and brittle and full of holes where animals had once made their homes. I wondered to myself about the incredible stories it could tell if it could talk.”
Berni described how the tree would have witnessed the Maori settlers, the battles between tribes for land, the European settlers, the changing landscapes, the wildlife that was wiped out by man and the volcanic eruptions which destroyed communities.
After a challenging year of closures and redundancies, Berni was due to return to the UK. It was then she decided to give the tree a voice, to tell people about its life.
“I began to write my book which took almost three years to finish and Leamington Spa based artist, Guy Chapman brought my words to life with his illustrations.
“I self published and we sold our book at local book fairs and high end craft events.”
Berni added: “It was the start of my writing and propelled me to reach into the creativity that is inside all of us.”
The Written Word Group welcome new members at their regular meetings in Albox, Almeria. For more information about The Old Man of Tiritiri Matangi or the literary group, please email: balbrighton@ gmail.com.
IT was revealed on Saturday, January 21, that three Spanish divers had been rescued from the freezing waters of the Baltic Sea off the coast of Poland. Their boat had broken down off the coast of the northern city of Gdansk during a bad storm.
Polish rescue services picked the three men up, suffering from the early effects of hypothermia. According to reports, they had spent the previous six
