We came home to Gisborne today. It’s so nice to be home and grounded for the next few weeks before heading off again!
I often think about home and where I consider home is. Home for me is in my tribal area of Te Arawa where I was born, where I grew up and where I lived for 24 years. This is where my mother comes from and where my roots are. I also have special places in Rotorua that I remember and connect to…

Taranaki is my home. This is also where my roots are, my father is from here and I am very connected to the whenua, to the land here. I have also lived here with the land and it is a very special place for me…actually Taranaki was home for me even before I had lived there.
When I was living in Auckland, this was also home, but not home like Rotorua and Taranaki. My connection to these areas are different, a more spiritual connection…
And now I’m living in Gisborne which I also call home but home in a different way as being this place where I live. My whakapapa links are not directly here and I don’t feel the same about this area as I do about Rotorua and Taranaki. It actually took me a while to settle here, but now I’m settled and its almost like a ‘noa’ feeling for me, unlike the spiritual, sacred connection I feel to my ‘homes’ in Taranaki and Rotorua.
But I also feel at home in other lands overseas. There are some places that I have been to such as Arizona, that I feel I have a spiritual connection to the land, almost like I’ve lived there before. And other lands I’ve visited, I feel very connected to.
I also wonder about my Scottish and Cornish roots and how I would feel in these lands. My gut feeling is that I would feel at home in these places because of my whakapapa connections. Even though I have not lived in Scotland or Cornwall, I have a strong urge to visit these places and I imagine whenever I do, it will be a spiritual journey home for me.
Arohanui,
Jo x