- and that ring was not one we had to keep secret or safe. Te Awamutu is the hometown of the Finn brothers, the only musicians I had associated with New Zealand. Now, of course, I know Kiri Te Kanawa is Maori, and everyone knows Lorde is from a suburb of Auckland, but when we were planning this trip, it was really all about Crowded House.
Crowded House's first single, Mean to Me, features the line about Te Awamutu, and listening to the song in New Jersey I had no idea what Te Awamutu was - I thought it was gibberish.
Tom surprised me today with a pilgrimage to Te Awamutu. We first stopped by the museum in town:
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| There were stations where the kids could do rubbings of Maori patterns. |
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| Yes, this is a real record player, playing a Crowded House album! |
The museum was funny. It seemed to be part Finn brothers museum, part kids museum, and part Maori history museum. We enjoyed all the parts.
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| The Finn brothers also collaborated in The Split Enz - a band I hadn't really ever heard of.... |
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| The kids museum part was very fun |
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| Aidan really loved the turntable |
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| After the museum, we had a very nice picnic at the base of a mountain |
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| And we started the hike up to the top after lunch. |
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| Yes, the trees look like they came straight from the Jurassic period. |
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| Here are Aidan and Jasper for scale |
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| We climbed about 400 steps to reach the top |
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| These are the last 26 |
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| Views from the top |
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| Our view from home is pretty nice, too. |
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