Tuesday 20 February 2018

Braemar Water Springs


First time I've ever been to this spot, thanks to the other half introducing me - known as Te Waiu o Pukemaire or Braemar Water Springs. What a unique place! Unfortunately I have to say I was a bit disappointed. I'm not racist towards anyone else at all, I like people from all walks of life and ethnicity but during the brief time we were there I felt nothing but animosity and judgment.

Sadly it seemed like we were the only European looking people there and when we were walking towards the area people were looking at us and talking about the white people. I'm not sure if any of you know but about a year ago I took a DNA test through ancestry.com - my results came back as extremely mixed from British, Scottish, Irish, Spanish/Portuguese, Scandavian, Filipino, Iraqi, Syrian, Russian, Armenian, Greek/Italian, Pacific Island and Polish - I am anything but plain old white European and it saddens me that people judge others based on how they look.

Needless to say we quickly left after a few minutes...

10 comments:

local alien said...

What a pity. I thought they would be more welcoming. It certainly is an idyllic spot.

PerthDailyPhoto said...

Oh what a shame Amy, it looks like such a lovely spot to cool off. Sounds like they were being a little territorial!

Sharon said...

That is an unfortunate experience. It's such a pretty spot.

carol l mckenna said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
carol l mckenna said...

Beautiful place and photo ~ sorry doubt the 'social experience' ~ when 'will we ever learn?' ~

Happy Week to you,
A ShutterBug Explores,
aka (A Creative Harbor)

Amy said...

yes, it's a pity that in a multi-cultural country such as NZ still has these attitudes, in fact a white european person actually built the springs funnily enough.

Bill said...

Nice looking spot. It's too bad about your experience. My wife had a similar experience when we lived in Alaska. She was visiting a village for her work and the people there made her feel so uncomfortable that she came home early. Whites stick out in Native villages. Oh, she's one of those people, she heard someone say. Not much you can do but it is an eye opening moment.

William Kendall said...

There's nothing in the website that would suggest it's a sacred site. Sad that people would make one feel that way.

b.c. said...

oh i'm so sorry to hear abt your experience...it's sad when people need to make other people feel unwelcome...

kwarkito said...

Yes, a nice spot, and a very sad story.... but the photo is beautiful

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