KEY POINTS:
Walking down from the Treaty Grounds on Waitangi Day, Pita Sharples is stopped constantly. His hand is gripped, photos are taken.
"Do you feel like a movie star?" he is asked.
"Oh no," he says. "I'm getting used to this."
Only the day before when he was asked about the expectations on him, he said they were "terribly high".
Asked the same question a day later his answer is unequivocal. "Yes, I know I can meet them."
For Dr Sharples yesterday was a momentous day - his first Waitangi Day as Minister of Maori Affairs.
If he still seems slightly shell-shocked by it all, it's understandable. He talks about the partnership with National: "Who would have thought it? And yet, here it is.
"It's very much a turning point and we have to make sure it's a turning point and not just a flash in the pan. It's going to mean a lot of work, and a lot of people to convince that this is the way."
Waitangi Day was a chance to do that, and so for Dr Sharples and his new friend "Hone Kii" it must have been like a first date with about 10,000 chaperones waiting to thwack them with a newspaper if they disapproved.
So Dr Sharples and Mr Key stood alongside each other on the marae, spoke sometimes bluntly about what it all meant, and spoke together on various television shows. They spoke of each other and to each other.
The day had the effect of letting the public - and in particular the Maori public - see a genuine mutual regard and perhaps come to realise that the relationship between the two parties was more solid than the fragile arrangement many believed it to be.
It sparked hope. Tentative hope, voiced in a way that made it clear National was still on notice, but hope nonetheless that the personalities were right and the time was right for such a partnership to work.
Dr Sharples had enough policy gains to show off to start with - agreement to fly the Maori flag next year and National agreeing not to alter the section of the Resource Management Act which protects Maori interests.
But as Labour MP Shane Jones is more than happy to point out, while allowing the flag to be flown is important, the end result will be judged on "bread and butter realities" such as whether families can afford to feed their children.
And with expectation comes the higher possibility of failing.
So both Dr Sharples and Mr Key were at pains to point out to those gathered at Waitangi that there were no miracles to see here - that the partnership could yield riches only to a certain extent, that they had their differences, that maybe the best that could be hoped for was halfway.
Mr Key managed his day well enough.
He was spoken of fondly and subjected to gentle ribbing that indicated some affection.
But if he needed any reminder he was on probation, he got it when the two protesters launched themselves at him on Te Tii Marae. He determined he would not let it cast a shadow on a day he deemed so important.
As Hone Kii got in his Crown car to leave a man bowled up, eyes fixed on the Prime Minister. His guards stiffened.
"John," the man called. "Come for a paddle next time."
