Travels With Agatha Christie And Sir David Suchet S01 E03
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00:00In July 1922, a 31-year-old Agatha Christie found herself here, traveling up a steep hillside,
00:18taking in the view.
00:20It was somewhere she'd never been before, a landscape of crystal waters, blue skies,
00:26and a stunningly picturesque harbor, all seen from the vantage point of this 120-year-old
00:33cable car.
00:36It was wintertime, but no amount of chilly weather could have prevented Agatha from reveling
00:42in this astonishingly lovely place.
00:46And the place where she found herself was here, Wellington, New Zealand.
00:54She was blown away by it, and I can see why.
00:56It's absolutely stunning.
01:04Before Agatha became famous, she set off on an epic world tour with her husband Archie,
01:10to promote the forthcoming British Empire exhibition.
01:15To be held in London in 1924, the exhibition was being designed to boost trade and strengthen
01:21bonds between nations.
01:24Now, a century later, I'm following in her footsteps.
01:31I'm David Suchet, and I played Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot for 25 years.
01:39Armed with my trusty camera, I'm recreating her incredible journey through Southern Africa,
01:46Australia, New Zealand...
01:48Welcome.
01:52...and Canada.
01:53And I'm even following her on holiday to Hawaii.
01:59I want to understand the history and legacy of Britain's empire.
02:03We want that which belongs to Africa to return back to Africa.
02:09And discover how this journey influenced Agatha and her writing.
02:13And then here, they suggest that Poirot was a creation to rival Sherlock Holmes.
02:20Unbelievable.
02:21And through seeing what she saw...
02:24This is extraordinary.
02:25I've never seen anything like this.
02:27And what she experienced...
02:29Just standing here, it makes me realize how volatile the earth is.
02:34I'll learn more about the woman who played such a pivotal role in my own career.
02:39She embraced life for all it was worth.
02:44Wow, what a discovery.
02:50Wellington was settled by British colonists in 1840 and became an important port.
03:05Though the view in Agatha's day would have been somewhat different.
03:09Yeah, now I'm looking at a photograph that was taken around about the time Agatha Christie
03:15would have been here.
03:17And yeah, I think it was probably taken from about where I'm standing.
03:23And looking at that photograph and then looking at the harbour, I can see how much has changed.
03:30I mean, very much built up over there with high rises.
03:34I think there would have been much more trade then, but I mean, the photograph is beautiful
03:39and the view I'm looking at is still absolutely stunning, it really is.
03:47I'm going to take a photo myself.
03:54Got it.
04:00In the 1920s, Wellington was a busy port with ships loading and unloading goods before travelling
04:07across the Empire.
04:09Agatha, Archie and the missions leader Major Belcher would set off from here to see what
04:14New Zealand might offer the Empire Exhibition.
04:21And this was quite the responsibility.
04:24The exhibition was a huge investment and over two years would draw crowds of 27 million people.
04:36But how did New Zealand feel about Agatha and Archie's mission?
04:40What did they gain, if anything, from being a dominion of Britain?
04:45I'm meeting historian Dr Felicity Barnes to find out.
04:50So at that time that Agatha was visiting in 1922, what was the relationship between New
04:56Zealand and Great Britain?
04:57Well, very strong.
04:59If we stick with trade, for example, Britain was New Zealand's biggest virtually sole customer
05:08for its butter, for its frozen meat.
05:12The British imported so much of their food.
05:15Oh, because they didn't produce enough of their own?
05:18Because they'd had this astonishing growth of population, particularly in London, right?
05:23And it grows on the back of imported food.
05:27Yes.
05:28A lot of that imported food is coming from New Zealand.
05:30And hence their enthusiasm for wanting to appear in the 1924 exhibition.
05:35Exactly.
05:37Britain also relied on New Zealand wool.
05:42Wool farming was one of the country's major industries.
05:45And when Agatha visited, she would have seen a lot of sheep.
05:49Wool was an incredibly important export.
05:52And it was one of our very first exports because, of course, it didn't spoil.
05:56So in the years before refrigeration, wool was a key staple export for New Zealand.
06:02And into this period, we've got these new competing products like butter and meat that
06:06we can now safely send all the way across the world to Britain.
06:11So I've got the official guide to the British Empire exhibition, 1924.
06:19And I've just marked the page here because it says, and it bears out what you said,
06:24there's to be seen an attractive display of New Zealand butter and cheese,
06:29which today forms the largest item of the Dominion's export trade.
06:35And when we say attractive, they really meant it because it wasn't just blocks of butter
06:41piled up.
06:42These were butter sculptures.
06:44Butter sculptures?
06:45Right.
06:46Really?
06:47Yeah.
06:48There was one of a New Zealand farmhouse.
06:50There were sculpted cows at life size in butter in these vast refrigerated cabinets.
06:56Really?
06:57So when they say attractive display, yeah, they really were.
07:01But they really went to town then.
07:03They did.
07:04They had to compete because the Australians also had butter sculptures and they had cricketers
07:09moulded out of butter.
07:11And of course, famously, the Canadians had the Prince of Wales moulded in butter.
07:16So really, you know, you had to be on your game.
07:21The 1924 exhibition offered a theme park style trip around the British Empire, as well as
07:28an amusement park, a replica coal mine, and an ornamental lake.
07:34Each Dominion or colony built their own grand pavilion where they showcased their way of
07:39life and their best products.
07:43And actually, you can see when you look at the New Zealand, this is a map of the New
07:47Zealand pavilion, that virtually the entire thing is dominated by these products.
07:51So here on this side, that's the Wall Mountain here at the centre of the side of the pavilion.
07:58You can see a picture of it here.
08:00Goodness me.
08:01Like a pyramid.
08:02Pyramids, yes.
08:03With a top for the sheep.
08:04Is that all wool?
08:05All wool, yes.
08:06Oh, with the sheep standing on the top.
08:08Yes.
08:09My goodness.
08:11Agatha's party had three weeks to explore New Zealand's trade and industries.
08:19And not surprisingly, one of their first ports of call was a woolen mill.
08:24The establishment they visited has long since vanished, but here at Stansborough, they're
08:29keeping old traditions alive.
08:31Hello.
08:32Hello.
08:33How are you?
08:34Pleased to meet you.
08:35I'm very pleased to meet you.
08:37And this is Richard.
08:38Richard's my mill manager.
08:40Even though this looks like an industrial museum, Gerald Eldridge runs Stansborough
08:45as a commercial business, using the same machinery that Agatha would have seen.
08:51This is extraordinary.
08:52I've never seen anything like this.
08:54How old is this machine?
08:56Well, they date back to the 1890s, that particular time when the wool industry was in its prime.
09:02All the towns in New Zealand actually had a woolen mill, employed a lot of New Zealanders,
09:08and often they had 100 of these looms in each city.
09:13Anything from 50 to 100 looms.
09:17Because we produce good wool, and they did wonderful things with it.
09:20All the best designers in Europe used to use New Zealand wool for all their garments.
09:24Yes.
09:25Definitely for all the parish fashion houses and everything, really, in those days.
09:27I know this from my own profession, and personally.
09:32When you wear something like pure wool, and top-grade pure wool, it actually becomes part
09:40of you.
09:41I am, of course, speaking for myself and Poirot, who was a great lover of a quality woolen
09:48suit.
09:50Wool and weaving are no longer the powerhouse industries they once were in New Zealand.
09:57But Cheryl has found herself a new market for her textiles, working with the movie business
10:02here.
10:03In fact, this mill made costumes for a certain Hollywood franchise.
10:09Are you making another Gandalf?
10:11Yes, another Rogue.
10:13Gosh, the detail.
10:16It's phenomenal, isn't it?
10:19Let's have a guess.
10:20How many Gandalfs have you made?
10:22The Gandalf cloaks?
10:23Oh, I don't know.
10:24We've probably sold a few hundred of them, haven't we?
10:26A few hundred?
10:27Yeah, over the years.
10:28So are you saying that individuals actually order these replica costumes?
10:35Yes, they do.
10:36Because they want the authentic garment that was made, and we've got the original designs
10:40of the textiles.
10:41So they know if we make the textiles and remake the garment, they're getting what was actually
10:45used in the movie.
10:46Yeah.
10:47Or as close to as what was used in the movie.
10:48I have a little knowledge of that, because I get the fan mail asking for my bow ties.
10:55Oh, really?
10:56Yes, but we don't make copies.
10:58No, we don't.
10:59We'll have to recreate his bow tie for him.
11:02Yes, my Poirot bow tie is made of pure wool.
11:06Cheryl, Marie, thank you so much.
11:10I've had the most wonderful time here.
11:13Well, thank you for coming.
11:14I'm an absolute Poirot fan.
11:17So here's a slight token of a gift, which probably is very fitting for the 1920s.
11:21It's a very 1920s design.
11:24So enjoy.
11:26Are you serious?
11:27I'm serious.
11:29It feels beautiful, but looking at the pattern, it's perfectly symmetrical.
11:34So Monsieur Poirot would be thrilled to bits, as am I.
11:39Thank you so very much.
11:41I'm delighted.
11:42This will be a real treasure.
11:43There we go.
11:45And look at the costume.
11:47That's lovely.
11:48Perfect.
11:53When Agatha Christie came to Wellington in 1922,
11:58she was only just emerging onto the literary scene,
12:02and she would have wandered through the city incognito.
12:05Oh, hello, David.
12:06Hello.
12:07Good to meet you.
12:08Welcome.
12:09Very nice to meet you, too.
12:11It's a stark contrast to today,
12:13when readers and viewers can't get enough of her or her creations.
12:18What drew you to the role of Poirot initially, way back in 1989?
12:24Yes, that's when I started shooting and got very attracted by this little man.
12:30Today, I'm combining filming with a chat to Andre, a local journalist.
12:36I got to know the character very well,
12:38but never knew that there would be a quarter of a century ahead of me.
12:43I'm amazed at how very popular Agatha Christie still is.
12:49And, yeah, I stopped filming, what, 11 years ago now?
12:53And here in Wellington, I get stopped in the street.
12:57Although I'm very flattered,
12:59the plaudits really ought to go to Hercule Poirot's creator,
13:04Agatha Christie herself.
13:06Well, thank you so much, David, for your time.
13:08Enjoy the rest of your travels.
13:10Thank you very much. Thank you.
13:12Although not yet famous, Agatha was just beginning to make waves.
13:17And as had happened in Australia,
13:19some of the local papers here in New Zealand realised
13:23that they had a published writer in their midst.
13:26I've made some notes, if you don't mind me just using this.
13:32In 1922, when she came to Wellington,
13:37she suddenly gets British authoress in Wellington.
13:42And the article goes on to explain that her second novel,
13:47The Secret Adversary, has been having a good run in Australia
13:52and rather excitingly stated she's now at work on her third book.
13:57But very soon after her tour finished,
14:02her short stories were published.
14:05Now, what's interesting to me about that
14:07is that when did she write these short stories?
14:10We're not quite sure.
14:12I can't help thinking that she must have written
14:15at least some of them during her time on the mission,
14:18which begs the question, what inspired her here?
14:22Whatever antipodean magic it was,
14:25the stories became a roaring success.
14:28And when the stories were published in the sketch,
14:32the magazine really went to town.
14:35There's a fantastic photograph and then the headline here.
14:39They called Agatha Christie, her second novel,
14:43the most brilliant detective novel of the day.
14:47They also suggest that Poirot was a creation to rival Sherlock Holmes.
14:53Unbelievable.
15:00It's time to leave Wellington
15:03and follow Agatha on the next stage of her trip.
15:09This is the inter-islander ferry
15:12that's going to take me from New Zealand's North Island
15:16to the South Island across the Cook Strait.
15:21It's been described as one of the roughest ferry crossings in the world.
15:35This ferry is named Kearahi,
15:38which is a Te Reo Māori word meaning guardian,
15:41so I'm hoping it will keep us safe.
15:44Though I might just go and have a quick word with the captain
15:48for some extra reassurance.
15:50Hello. Oh, hello.
15:52And you're Rowan and you are the captain?
15:55Yes, I'm the captain, for my sins, yes.
15:57How long have you been captain?
15:59About eight years for inter-island.
16:01On this vessel? Yep.
16:03And is it true that this Cook Strait can be the most choppy in the world?
16:08It can get pretty nasty out here. Yes.
16:10You've got the Southern Ocean down there
16:12and basically the next stop down that way is Antarctica.
16:16The maximum we go out in is a significant wave height of six metres.
16:20But that's still...
16:22That's like still hitting a three-storey building.
16:25But as soon as it starts getting above about three to four metres,
16:28you start really feeling it then. Yeah.
16:34Luckily for me, it's calm today.
16:37Calm enough to venture out on deck
16:40and get an Agatha's eye view of the spectacular scenery.
16:47MUSIC
16:50Agatha said that New Zealand
16:52was the most beautiful country she'd ever visited
16:55and, well, you certainly can't argue with that.
17:02Agatha would have spent a lot of time at sea on her tour.
17:06Most journeys lasted for weeks.
17:08Even the relatively short trip from Australia to New Zealand
17:12took her five days.
17:14But unfortunately for Agatha, she wasn't a good sailor.
17:20I do know that she suffered acute seasickness.
17:25I mean acute for days at a time.
17:30And although awful for her personally,
17:32her readers have benefited
17:34as she skilfully turned her own suffering
17:37into her exceptional inventive writing.
17:40It's interesting because in the Poirot stories,
17:43there are one or two characters that suffer from seasickness
17:46and nobody more so than Hercule Poirot himself.
17:49And in my research,
17:51I learned that Agatha Christie gives Poirot
17:55a particular method of dealing with his seasickness,
17:59the laverguerre method.
18:03I think it's a wonderful invention.
18:05Poirot describes the method of laverguerre.
18:09You breathe in and out slowly,
18:14turning the head from the left and then to the right
18:19and counting six between each breath.
18:24I think Poirot, if he was offered to go on the Empire tour,
18:30would not have accepted.
18:33After landing on the South Island,
18:37the Empire mission travelled by car
18:40down New Zealand's wild, rugged and wonderfully scenic West Coast,
18:46where they would explore its rich resources.
18:51On Friday, July 14, 1922,
18:55they arrived in the remote town of Hokitika
18:58to learn about New Zealand's extraordinary gold reserves.
19:02And I'm here with local historian Paul Matwick to do the same.
19:08When Agatha came here with the mission,
19:10what would she have learned?
19:12I think she would have been really intrigued
19:14to find that this town had sprung up from nothing,
19:18literally carved out of the bush simply for the gold.
19:21This really was the last frontier in New Zealand
19:24that was only populated by the local Maori.
19:27Poutini Ngāi Tahu lived in pockets up and down the coastline
19:31until 1864 and the first gold was discovered.
19:36People came from all over the world.
19:38Over the first three years, I think, of the gold rush,
19:42something like 30,000 to 40,000 people sailed into Hokitika,
19:46including my family who were gold miners.
19:49By the time Agatha visited,
19:5150 years later, the gold rush had slowed.
19:55With her keen powers of observation and customary frankness,
20:00Agatha painted a wonderfully vivid,
20:02if less than glowing, picture of what Hokitika was like in 1922.
20:08The beach is awful.
20:10You look out to sea and then turn round.
20:13All the backs of houses and everybody's rubbish
20:16dumped on the sand.
20:20There's some great photos of that era.
20:24Oh, my goodness.
20:26They show the buildings almost on the beach.
20:30The town very much was showing its age
20:33and it wasn't a booming town at that stage.
20:38It might have looked a little worse for wear,
20:41but one of the reasons the mission had come to the area
20:44was to see a new invention in the sand.
20:47One of the reasons the mission had come to the area
20:49was to see a new invention that promised more gold than ever,
20:53the Rimu gold dredge.
20:56The dredge was brand new at the time
20:58and this was the industrial revolution of gold mining.
21:01It was the biggest in the world.
21:03Wow.
21:04It was run by electricity, financed by Americans.
21:07These were giant things.
21:09They were 3,500 tonnes of steel
21:12and each of those buckets weighed two tonnes
21:15on a continuous belt that chewed into the ground.
21:18Just massive, three, four storeys high.
21:21It was such a wonder of the mechanical world
21:24and it was a New Zealand innovation
21:27mounted on a floating pontoon.
21:30On a floating pontoon?
21:32Floating pontoon, yes.
21:34It sank once, but they managed to refloat it
21:38and dried out the electrics and away it went again.
21:42And over the course of its life,
21:45it dredged something like 10 tonnes of gold.
21:47Really?
21:49Incredibly, just over 100 years after Agatha's trip,
21:53they're still mining gold in the area.
21:56Paul and I are taking a tour with mine manager Jimmy.
22:01So there's quite an active gold industry here.
22:04There's quite another modern-day boom going on at the moment,
22:07especially with the price of gold.
22:09If you consider that at this stage,
22:12it's in excess of $4,000 for every 31 grams.
22:16And where are we going now?
22:18This is the original Adias Road.
22:20This is the original road that we're on?
22:22Yes, that went to the Remy Goldridge.
22:24So this is the road that Agatha would have followed.
22:26Oh, that's so interesting.
22:28So we are now entering the mine complex.
22:31Essentially, this is where mining started five years ago.
22:35Well, I have to tell you, Jimmy, I've been in coal mines
22:38and I've been in quarry pits,
22:40and this is the first time in my life
22:44that I have ever visited a gold mine.
22:47It's very exciting.
22:49That's good to hear.
22:51Yeah.
22:54Step five, turn your right, Jim.
22:56Copy.
23:00Whoops.
23:02She's a big one, all right.
23:04Whoa.
23:08Whoa.
23:14Fairly busy.
23:16That's $900,000 right there.
23:19That's quite a significant investment.
23:22There's money in gold, David.
23:31Historically, the Goldridge of the 1920s
23:34were fitted with these huge conveyor belts of buckets.
23:39These days, instead of using the buckets to dredge into a pit,
23:44they use excavators,
23:47which drops the pay dirt and material into a truck,
23:51and from there it's taken for processing.
23:54More than I ever dreamt goes on.
23:58Huge.
24:01OK, drop your window down.
24:03See if I can get anything at all.
24:10You can see all the machines doing like a synchronised kind of dance.
24:14Everybody knows exactly where they need to go.
24:17There's a shaker deck screen.
24:19Oh, yes.
24:21And you can see it shakes and it vibrates.
24:24All the big rocks is expelled over the top.
24:26Oh, yes, I can see, yes.
24:28And the gold material comes down on the table.
24:30So it's sort of sifting.
24:32Yes, exactly.
24:33Like a giant sift.
24:34Yes.
24:35So this is just to show you a little example
24:38of some of the gold that's retrieved.
24:40Yes.
24:41In the bottom there.
24:42Yes.
24:43Here we go.
24:47Oh, wow.
24:48Even better.
24:49That's fantastic.
24:50Even better.
24:51Look at that.
24:53That's gold in my hand.
24:56Thank you so much.
24:58And do you know what?
25:00I feel like a kid again.
25:03Go on, take it.
25:06That's my year's salary.
25:09Not quite.
25:11You're a very accomplished actor.
25:21Gold wasn't the only precious material
25:24that the mission would have encountered
25:26while journeying along this coast.
25:32When Agatha was here with the delegation,
25:34Major Belcher seems to have been very impressed
25:37with the abundance of a certain gemstone in the area,
25:40which he said could feature in the New Zealand Pavilion
25:43in the exhibition itself.
25:45And he referred to it as a type of jade or greenstone.
25:52The gemstone Belcher was describing
25:54was found around Hokitika.
25:57It has spiritual significance for the local Maori people
26:01who collect it and call it pounamu.
26:05I've come to the Marae,
26:07the Maori meeting house just north of Hokitika.
26:11Wow.
26:12Where local guide Te Rua Mason
26:14has offered to tell me more about this precious stone.
26:18Kia ora.
26:19Si David.
26:20Te Rua?
26:21Yes.
26:22Hello.
26:23Kia ora.
26:24Would you like to have a hongi?
26:26A big one?
26:27A hongi.
26:28Just a touching of our noses together
26:30and just a slight inhale,
26:31just acknowledging the breath of life.
26:33I think we should.
26:34Kia ora.
26:38Tēnā koe.
26:39Welcome.
26:41This is my daughter, Whetu Marama.
26:43Hello.
26:44And this is my son, Te Ngāwari.
26:46Hello.
26:47Please.
26:50So this is our wharenui here,
26:52or our meeting house or our carved house,
26:55which capsulates all of our stories and histories within.
26:58It's very vibrant.
27:00Yeah, very vibrant.
27:01At the very, very top up there,
27:03he's carved out a pounamu here.
27:05Can you explain what the figures
27:07either side of the building represent?
27:10Yeah, so these two whakairo that we have on either side here,
27:14they talk about our creation story of the pounamu.
27:17So on the far side over here, we have Waitaiki.
27:21And on the side here, we have Poutsine.
27:24He was the kaitiaki.
27:26He was the guardian of the pounamu.
27:28He spotted Waitaiki, the beautiful lady,
27:30walking across the sand, going down for her morning bathe.
27:34And so he cast her deep into this blue pool
27:37where she sank through the layers of the water
27:40until eventually becoming arrested on the bottom of the riverbed
27:43where she had turned into pounamu.
27:45And that's our little bit of a story
27:47of the creation of the pounamu.
27:49So is what you're saying,
27:51that the lady that we're talking about
27:54almost becomes the stone
27:57and her spirit is within the stone?
28:00Yes, definitely.
28:01And we like to think that when we all receive
28:04or we all find a piece of pounamu,
28:06we too will, say, receive a little bit of that mana,
28:09a little bit of that wairu and spirit as well.
28:12Oh, that's lovely. I like that so much.
28:15So each stone is a very precious thing, isn't it?
28:19It's not just, oh, there's a piece of stone.
28:22It has a soul.
28:23Yes, it has a soul, just like all of us.
28:33Pounamu is only found on the west coast
28:36and in riverbeds of the South Island.
28:42We're heading for the Arahura River,
28:45where Te Rua's family have been hunting for pounamu
28:48for generations
28:49and where he now brings his children to do the same.
28:53In this area, the pounamu are not just green,
28:57but a variety of colours.
28:59I've seen a lot of stone that have come out
29:01of this particular place and it's just absolutely stunning.
29:05And can anybody hunt for these stones?
29:08Today, the rule of thumb is the majority of the rivers
29:13are tribally owned.
29:20All right, that's us, folks.
29:22That's it.
29:25Oh, well, let's go for a little bit of a walk down here
29:28and we'll try our luck.
29:39So, your children are now searching in the riverbed.
29:43Now, what are they actually doing?
29:45So, basically, what they're doing now
29:47is they're looking for high-coloured greens.
29:51The pounamu, you know, that's why the South Island
29:55carries this name Te Wai Pounamu,
29:57the green stone waters.
29:58Yes.
29:59And particularly here on the west coast,
30:01there's a lot of pounamu.
30:03So, they're looking for high-coloured greens.
30:06Yes.
30:07And particularly here on the west coast, you know,
30:10famed for, what can I call that word?
30:13I'm going to call it the different shades of green
30:15that we have here.
30:18For hundreds of years, before modern tools were invented,
30:22the Maori shaped pounamu into axes and knives.
30:26There's a saying that goes...
30:36And it talks about that when that pounamu chisel hit the tree,
30:41chips in the bark started flying off at a great rate of knots
30:45that told the Ngai Tahu carvers
30:48that not only was the stone of beauty,
30:50but it also held a paramount edge.
30:53Always were weapons.
30:55Obviously, when the musket and everything come out here,
30:59then the pounamu transitioned into other sorts of things.
31:03They become heirlooms, where they're worn adornedly by errands.
31:07Yes.
31:08Heru, as hair knot, you know, tying up the hair.
31:12But I've got a few pieces in my bag here,
31:14if you're keen to have a bit of a look.
31:16Yes, I'd like to, very much.
31:17This is what we call the kōkupu.
31:19The kōkupu.
31:21Looking through this stone now, as you say,
31:24with the other stones in the background,
31:27they all sort of merge in together.
31:29Yeah.
31:30So how would you know that that was a pounamu and they weren't?
31:34Oh, well, it's probably not until you actually roll it over.
31:38I've just taken the skin away.
31:39Oh, my goodness.
31:40And then you can really, really see the kōkupu.
31:43And why it carries the name the kōkupu
31:45is because it's the native mountain trout
31:48that is found in particular creeks in the brown water.
31:51You know what you're doing?
31:52You're making me look at what I would think an ordinary stone
31:56in quite a different way.
31:58And I'm going to go to the River Thames when I go back.
32:02And I won't find the pounamu,
32:04but I may have a different viewpoint to what I'm looking at.
32:09That's lovely.
32:11And then we also have another particular piece here.
32:15Yes.
32:16But it's got a very, very high ring to it.
32:20Yes.
32:21Again, you can just see on the outside of it there,
32:23you can just see those high blues coming through there.
32:25Yes, you can. Yes, look at that.
32:27I've done exactly the same on the other side there.
32:29I've just taken off just a little bit of a thin.
32:31Oh, my goodness me.
32:32Just a little bit of a thin layer there.
32:34That's extraordinary.
32:35And that's the blue.
32:36Yes, and that's the blue.
32:37That's beautiful.
32:45They're like little friends sort of in a way.
32:47You sort of can sit there and sort of rub them.
32:50Absolutely.
32:51Well, that's what you told me.
32:52They become people.
32:54I find all this so interesting.
32:56Really, I do.
32:57And it appeals to me very much.
33:02We have a little bit of a saying amongst our people,
33:06you know, the song of the pounamu is to be carried,
33:10is to continue.
33:12So I've got a little piece here for you.
33:15Wow.
33:17And see that beautiful litmus green colour coming through there.
33:21Beautiful.
33:22And then we've also then got that nice white skin
33:26sort of running through there.
33:28Yes.
33:29Oh, it's beautiful.
33:30So if you wouldn't mind accepting this here on behalf of our family
33:36and may this keep you safe.
33:39And every time you touch it, you know,
33:42I hope your thoughts return to the West Coast here,
33:45and particularly here at Te Ara Hura and our family.
33:48Oh, they certainly will.
33:50I can't tell you, this is such a special thing to receive.
33:54Thank you so, so very much.
33:58Oh, yes.
34:06Bless you.
34:09Wow.
34:11What a gift.
34:29In the last few days of their stay in New Zealand,
34:32while Archie and Belcher were engaged on empire business,
34:36Agatha decided to take herself off on a solo trip.
34:43Displaying a sense of adventure
34:45that I'm becoming familiar with on this empire tour,
34:49Agatha travelled to a remote and otherworldly landscape,
34:54a place that must have been unlike anything she had ever seen before.
35:02She came to Rotorua, about 300 miles north of Wellington,
35:08a town nestled amongst a belt of active volcanoes
35:12and geothermal activity.
35:15It's also one of the most important Maori settlements in New Zealand.
35:20The sacred Maori Meeting House is right next to the Anglican Church,
35:25built by British colonial settlers.
35:29CHANTING
35:41Now, this is quite extraordinary.
35:43I've never been in any church quite like this,
35:48let alone an Anglican church.
35:51There is the pulpit being held up
35:55by what I can only assume to be Maori gods,
36:00and above the pulpit is a crucifix.
36:05In the 1800s, the local Maori chief
36:08invited missionaries to hold a service here,
36:11and today's church is clearly influenced by both cultures.
36:16It's absolutely wonderful.
36:18It's as if Maori spirituality
36:22and Christian spirituality have all come together,
36:27embraced each other, accepted each other's differences,
36:31and all can worship Maori Christians in this Anglican church.
36:40Today, this fusion is captured in a window
36:44depicting Jesus in a tasseled cloak worn by Maori chiefs.
36:49You know, looking at that wonderful window
36:52reminds me of how devout Agatha Christie was.
36:56She was a very committed Christian,
36:59and in her mid-60s, she wanted to donate a window,
37:06the East Window, in her local church in Churston, Ferris.
37:11And knowing that Agatha Christie came here to Rotorua
37:16and being a committed Anglican, I just wonder, I can't be sure,
37:22but I wonder if she actually came to this church,
37:26which was very active in 1922.
37:29I'd like to think she did.
37:34Rotorua has a fascinating history.
37:37Ever since European visitors first arrived here,
37:42they were drawn to the health benefits of the geothermal hot springs.
37:49The local Maori realised the area's potential for tourism
37:53and became guides.
37:55But by the time Agatha was here,
37:58colonial expansion across the rest of New Zealand
38:01had stripped many Maori of their land and language.
38:07It happened to an extent in Rotorua too,
38:10but tourism allowed the Maori here
38:13to hold on to their culture and share it.
38:18Agatha was herself shown around by a Maori guide,
38:22a tradition that still exists.
38:24And my guide for today is Justin.
38:28Justin, we know that Agatha Christie came here on her own.
38:33Is this what she would have seen?
38:36Yeah, absolutely.
38:38In the geothermal wonders of Rotorua,
38:41at that time when she visited,
38:43my great-great-grandmother was actually her guide.
38:46No, was she?
38:47Yeah, she was.
38:48You know, in that time,
38:50when somebody as a statue of Agatha Christie was to visit,
38:53you know, you would assign your best guide that you had.
38:56In that time, the Tourism Bureau,
39:00they wanted us to certificate the guides.
39:05And so my great-great-grandmother, our guide Bella,
39:09became guide number one.
39:14I think that gives me some royalty.
39:17You've inherited.
39:19Yeah, I think I'm guide 1,500 or something like that.
39:25Come along this way, David.
39:26Look, you can see this pool down here.
39:28This is one of the many hot springs we have.
39:31This is Puapua,
39:32which once upon a time used to be a geyser.
39:34Really?
39:35Yeah.
39:36Where it used to really spout?
39:37Yeah, yeah, yeah.
39:39Geysers are caused by the pressure of steam
39:42building up underground
39:43and can throw jets of boiling water
39:46tens of metres into the air.
39:48Back in that time in the 1920s,
39:50there would have been 20 active geysers.
39:5320?
39:54So when we say active, we mean erupting geysers
39:57because today we have dormant geysers
39:59but water's still bubbling from them.
40:01Like this one just behind us.
40:02Yes.
40:03We have crystal clear alkaline waters.
40:05My goodness.
40:08You know, our people used these pools for cooking.
40:10Did they?
40:11Yeah, so they would go out to the lakes
40:12and gather freshwater crayfish.
40:14Yes.
40:15Put them in there for a few minutes
40:16until they turn red.
40:17Justin, what is that then?
40:19It's what we call a hangi.
40:21You put a lid on top of it,
40:23it then blocks that pressure
40:25and you can cook in there.
40:26We can cook a frozen chicken in there in 30 minutes.
40:29It's like a pressure cooker?
40:31Exactly the same.
40:32Is it really?
40:33Except it's our version.
40:35And there's no danger of this suddenly spouting?
40:38I won't say that because it can happen
40:41and it has happened
40:43but we're living amongst Mother Nature.
40:45So we have got areas where major changes have happened
40:50because the heat has become so intense
40:52that the area's collapsed.
40:54I mean, just standing here, Justin,
40:56it makes me realise how volatile the earth is
40:59and we really are standing on a very thin crust here, aren't we?
41:03Yeah, we are.
41:09A lot has changed in Rotorua since Agatha's day.
41:15In the 1920s, it was an enclave
41:18where Maori culture survived against the odds.
41:22Today, it's a place where Maori language
41:25and craftsmanship are championed.
41:31At the Te Puea Maori Arts and Crafts Institute,
41:35apprentices are being trained in traditional wood,
41:38whalebone and stone carving
41:41by acclaimed sculptor Stacey Gordine.
41:44Hello, Stacey.
41:46Hi.
41:47What are you actually working on now?
41:49I'm working on a He Tiki pendant.
41:51The first human man was called Tiki.
41:54You find Tiki.
41:55Tiki was something we bought,
41:57our ancestors bought from wider Polynesia
41:59and then we adopted it to this wearable format.
42:02Oh.
42:03It's a calling to be able to do this work.
42:06It's a real privilege to work this material
42:08in this modern environment with these modern tools.
42:11Let's say, for example, using diamond
42:13and using technologies that our ancestors didn't have access to.
42:20And so it enables us to push the art form forward.
42:25Every day, we look back and draw from that tradition
42:28and we know we're part of it,
42:30we know we're the living face of it for today.
42:33And it's up to us to pass it on to the future generations
42:37and add our reflections of our time, our day,
42:41our inspirations, our creativity,
42:44and our knowledge to it.
42:46Very luckily for me,
42:48Stacey and some of his staff and pupils
42:51have taken the ponamu that I was given.
42:54And after revealing its beautiful colours,
43:00they've carved it into something for me.
43:03Though what it is...
43:05Done.
43:06...is a surprise.
43:07Wow.
43:08It's beautiful.
43:09It's beautiful.
43:10It's beautiful.
43:11It's beautiful.
43:12It's beautiful.
43:13It's beautiful.
43:14It's beautiful.
43:15It's beautiful.
43:16It's beautiful.
43:17Whoa.
43:18Goodness me.
43:22Now to just...
43:24Wow.
43:26This is...
43:27Oh, my goodness.
43:29Oh, my goodness, me.
43:33Whoa.
43:37That's so special.
43:39There's a piece of a few of us in this piece, so...
43:42Have you got the other half?
43:43I guess.
43:47So, it's set like that.
43:51Oh, I see.
43:53So that joins onto that.
43:56Like that.
43:57Yeah.
43:58Let's see how we got it out of that shape.
44:01Oh my goodness.
44:03And then we thought the whale tooth,
44:05the whale tooth form was fully considered
44:07a pounamu, a fish,
44:09because it's found in rivers.
44:11Yes.
44:12That was one of the great navigator journeys,
44:14journey of the world,
44:16traveling the world,
44:17just like you're doing on this particular kaupapa,
44:19this particular journey,
44:20so it's fitting in that regard.
44:22And then the tooth as well,
44:23being a symbol of being able to tell stories
44:27and talk on behalf of others
44:28and share those stories.
44:30So, this goes with all of our aroha from all of us.
44:34Just place this in your ear, David.
44:39Okay.
44:40I request you, one hour, your heart.
44:44For me.
44:50Lovely.
44:51Thank you so much.
44:52My pleasure.
44:53It has been a pleasure.
44:54It really, I feel so touched.
45:00Very touched indeed.
45:02I really do mean that.
45:04Thank you so much.
45:05My pleasure.
45:10After three weeks on the road,
45:13the Empire Mission's Major Belcher
45:15pronounced their trip a great success.
45:19The New Zealand Pavilion would be a wonderful attraction
45:22at the upcoming exhibition.
45:24And as for Agatha,
45:26I sense that this trip brought out a whole new side to her.
45:31I think at this point in time,
45:33Agatha, in spite of herself,
45:37is maturing.
45:39There's a certain sense of having fun,
45:43which probably led to a sense of growing independence.
45:46For example, where I'm standing now,
45:49being shown around by Bella.
45:53I think travel is a wonderful educator.
45:56And I think this journey for her
46:00on the Grand Empire Mission
46:02was giving her an opportunity to grow.
46:05Was giving her an outlook on life and experiences
46:09that she would never have been party to
46:11without this opportunity.
46:13I once again agree with her
46:16when she says New Zealand was
46:19possibly the most beautiful country
46:21she'd ever seen in her life,
46:23with a suggestion that she would have loved to have returned.
46:27Well, I'm standing in her shoes.
46:30I feel exactly the same.
47:05I feel exactly the same.