Ana Apatu: Positivity takes biker a long way

Ana Apatu

Thank you to all of you who have dropped off flannelette PJs for the children. It is worth noting that some PJs have a tag - highlighting that some flannelette is less flammable than others.

Mark Davis, Flaxmere resident, pulls up to Te Aranga Marae riding his Royal Enfield 500cc single cylinder motor bike. I greet him in the carpark and admire his bike, which has character. Mark tells me he had to place an order and wait for three months for the machine to arrive. Over his motorbike years, he owned Harley Davidsons. He is a member of the HB Classics motorbike club, which started in the 1970s.

HB Classics have clubrooms in Mangaroa and organise rallies every month. He reckons downsizing to this bike is safer than the Harleys of the past "reading the stats, it's the older guys who are killing themselves from bike accidents".

Mark is a personal carer, originally from Hawke's Bay, who has lived in Flaxmere for five years. He tells me he originally came here due to cheap housing, moving to Flaxmere from Tamatea. This left him more money for toys. He bought a house seven years ago for $40,000. Apparently this house had a bad reputation, which was why he got such a good deal.

He has never had any break-ins or problems while living there. Mark tells me he knows people who have moved to Flaxmere in their later years, buy a house and have money left over for their retirement.

The latest Census data supports this, there has been an increase in elderly moving to Flaxmere.

Mark recently set up a food cart business, parked opposite Flaxmere College - Margots Pizza and Waffles. He started this business before Christmas. He had the cart custom-built and imported a waffle-maker from the US. "Kim taught me to make pizzas and I taught myself how to make waffles."

Because of his business, Mark has met many people from Flaxmere and has been particularly impressed with Flaxmere College students. He is impressed with how positive many students are about being there. In fact, many spoke of looking forward to going back to school. He is also impressed with how ambitious students are with dreams of becoming doctors, nurses, pilots.

He feels Flaxmere College is a really well-run school. We discuss how this generation of young people are really going somewhere. Ideally, Hawke's Bay will offer these young people good employment because they will go wherever the work is.

He tells me Flaxmere College has an academy where students do all sorts of cool things - camp in the snow, many outdoor activities. He recently took his cart to Flaxmere Primary School. A lunchtime fundraiser. Smiley little kids and caring principal and teachers.

I ask Mark how the cart is going. He currently has someone running it for him. He has been a carer for 20 years, and is back working full-time. However he misses the cart and misses the people.

He enjoys that Flaxmere is compact and a youthful community. What he would like to see is a new supermarket and the whole shopping centre given a facelift. Most people go to town for their main shop. We both comment on how when you enter New World Flaxmere the first things you see for sale are cheap items such as fizzy drinks and cheap foods. Quite different to the entrance to New World Hastings which is brimming with fresh fruit and veges.

When asked about how a cafe would go, he comments on how there is half-a-dozen alcohol outlets but nowhere to go to have a coffee.

Mark discusses how fantastic the gym in the Flaxmere Community Centre is, spotlessly clean and well used. He is trying to keep his fitness levels up and walked a half marathon in Wellington last week.

Finally, he describes the parents he meets - passionate in their love for Flaxmere. "We are Flaxmere and we are proud of it."

-Ana Apatu is chief executive of the U-Turn Trust, based at Te Aranga Marae in Flaxmere