It was mid-morning when I drove into
the Bay of Plenty town of Opotiki. The skies were impossibly blue and I was on the lookout for interesting things to photograph. Amazingly, I drove right past these spectacular gates at
Opotiki Primary School. It wasn't until I was on my second circuit of the town photographing something else entirely, that I happened to glimpse them in my rear vision mirror.
It goes without saying that I made a hasty U-turn and pulled up outside the school. My wandering was short-lived though as
a huge white bull terrior came bounding towards me. It was just one more of these hideous dogs that seemed to think I looked like a tasty snack. They're one of the few dog breeds that really frighten me. I leapt back in the car and took my remaining photos from the car window and I was unable to get the details about the carvings - other than the fact that the European figure represents
Sir Bernard Fergusson, Governor General of New Zealand from 1962-1967. I loved the fact that so many primary and secondary schools from Opotiki onwards on my journey around East Cape to Gisborne, feature
stunning carvings and ornate gateways. You rarely see such overt expressions of traditional Maori culture and craftsmanship - in the South Island especially - and I think it's marvellous that the kids in these areas grow up in the midst of it all. Like all kids though, I guess many take it for granted.
www.opotikinz.com
Every so often, when I'm leafing back through my photo files, I come upon photographs that I not only like, but enjoyed taking - images and the experience of capturing the image, that have stayed with me long after the event. These are three - taken at Opotiki Primary School at Opotiki in Bay of Plenty. Opotiki itself is the gateway to East Cape, which is one of my favourite New Zealand places for its richness of living Maori culture; and for me, the gateway at Opotiki School somehow summed that up. Like many schools around East Cape, it is so elaborately decorated with historical Maori carvings and designs that I was often given to wondering if the current pupils ever think about their unique school environments. I suppose not. It is after all, all that most of them have ever known. Perhaps they think all New Zealand primary school have beautiful gateways like this? I have written about the Opotiki School before and you can see full images of the gateway in that previous post by clicking on Opotiki Primary School in the label line below this entry.
