ONE LOVE // TGA

Hey Guys!

Sorry Ive been MIA for the last month and a bit. If I'm being completely honest life these last few months have been less "adventurer" and more "lame adult". Work has definitely continued to take its mark on my daily life (not necessarily a bad thing). I had to go full adult and find a house to move into - not an easy task when you're a student. Then with the new found house we had to actually move. As someone who has basically lived as a nomad for the last 2 years, I was surprised with how much s*** I had collected. To top it all off, the weather this summer has been absolute rubbish. I think anyone in New Zealand can agree that this summer has to be one of the worst. Not only has it been raining basically every other day, it has been a humid mess. I would gladly take a 35°C dry interior BC day over a 24°C humid Waikato one. Needless to say it hasn't been much of a relaxing and rejuvenating summer.

After working through much of the summer holidays I was looking forward to Waitangi weekend and a 3 day weekend! For those that may be reading who are not familiar with New Zealand's history, the 6th February marks the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi between the British Crown and 500 Maori chiefs. Sadly this national day is often troubled with controversy with many New Zealanders simply taking it as a three day weekend. As someone who comes from Canada where July 1st is just an awesome time to be Canadian, I am saddened that as a nation lacks the same enthusiasm on our national day. And yes, I celebrate two national days plus a Cook Island language week cause I'm greedy like that :D

For the second year in a row I got to spend this weekend in Tauranga with Nathan and his family dancing along to sweet reggae sounds at the One Love NZ Festival. For a nice change the weather was on point. Almost too on point as I was sitting under any shade I could find! Pro-tip to anyone coming to New Zealand, our sun is no joke and SPF 50 will still not protect you from getting burnt!

In comparison to last year, it felt like the amount of people attending had doubled. The air was thick with the smell of sunscreen, sweat and smoke. This years line up was amazing. I have always thought it is insane how much musical talent exists among New Zealanders. One Love does a great job of showcasing New Zealand's reggae talent while bringing in the international names often needed to get the pull of a crowd.

If you have never been to a reggae festival, its an experience that is pretty hard to explain fully. Yes everyone is usually super chill. There are obvious reasons for this (refer to the smell of smoke spoken of earlier). However, what I find is even more chill-causing is the appreciation of those attending. For the most part, everyone at One Love was there for the pure appreciation of reggae music. I was pleasantly surprised for my favourite act to be Tarrus Riley, he got the crowd pumping! That was pretty hard to do in the heat and he managed to engage everyone and forecast the mood for the rest of the night.

One Love was a hit again this year. Secretly I want to keep this little known festival to myself but that wouldn't be in the spirit of the festival. Next year join us and together we can all do our reggae stop till the late hours of the night singing along to feel-good music.