Cynthia Brown and Nikau Munroe Rawiri are solid friends are a random encounter earlier this year. Photo / Jodi Bryant
It is time to reflect back on the year that was and a good chance to catch up with some of the people who made the news this year. Today Jodi Bryant talks to Cynthia Brown and Nikau Munroe Rawiri.
When an elderly Kamo resident and a teenage good Samaritan's paths crossed in September this year, little did they know they'd become nationwide celebrities and firm friends.
Cynthia Brown, 81, stepped outside one hot September day to mow her lawns as Nikau Munroe Rawiri, then 19, happened to drive by.
"I was making my way to my mother's and I saw this lady mowing her lawns and it was a hot-as day. I got up the road and was having this big internal conflict with myself; my head was saying to go but my heart was saying to help her out," he explained.
The offer came as a surprise to an independent Brown who mows her own lawns every week.
"I told him it was okay, I was managing, and he insisted, so I thought, how neat, so I let him mow my lawn."
He then proceeded to carry out a top-notch job while his partner Jordana Naera waited and chatted with Brown.
They then got back in their car and drove off.
When Brown relayed the incident to her daughter Cheryl Smith, she was impressed enough to put a call-out on the Northland Grapevine Facebook page seeking the good Samaritan to reward him.
Said Brown: "I remember sitting up in my bed that night looking at Facebook and seeing the amount of reactions it got and Cheryl said to me, 'I reckon it'll have 1000 by the morning' and I said, 'Noooo!'"
It accrued far more than that and Seven Sharp spotted the post and interviewed both Brown and Smith the following day.
After it aired on TV, the link to the footage was shared on Facebook hundreds of times. That was when Munroe Rawiri became aware there was a nationwide search for himself and by then it was his birthday and, after putting a staple through his finger at work, he was spending it at Whangārei Hospital.
Due to a high number of vehicle crashes in the area that day, Whangārei Hospital was bedlam so after spending most of the day and night waiting, the humble Kamo resident and his partner were well-bored when they started scrolling through their Facebook news feeds.
"We were bored-as so we began scrolling through Facebook and saw this video shared on the Buy and Sell Whangārei page, which I follow," recalled the now 20-year-old. "And I thought, 'I know that house!'.
"We were just cracking up when we watched it," said Munroe Rawiri. "It had been a long day but, when I saw the video, it definitely made me feel better."
Because a humble Munroe Rawiri hadn't told anyone of his deed, he remained unidentified. It was only after his partner shared the post stating that it was the perfect way to end his birthday, that the good Samaritan's name came to light. Then his phone started going "crazy".
Munroe Rawiri, who only lives around the road from Brown, returned with Naera to meet with Brown and Smith the following day and the Northern Advocate was there to capture their reunion.
The following story went viral that weekend, reaching well over a million viewers online with the majority of the 20,000 comments voicing desires for more people like Munroe Rawiri.
That evening, Munroe Rawiri was intending to head north to celebrate his birthday with whānau and by the time he filmed a re-enactment with Brown, it was late.
"When we got there the whānau had just finished watching it on TV and they were all like, 'Oh here's that famous fulla!'."
By the time he returned to work the following Monday his formerly oblivious workmates at Wood Products were well-aware there was a celeb in their midst.
"My boss was happy as, telling all the places we contract to that the person that was on TV works for us," grinned Munroe Rawiri.
As for Brown, she couldn't believe how many friends came out of the woodwork and contacted her.
"I had people from Age Concern down in Wairarapa and friends over in Australia get in touch. I found [all the attention] strange to start with, I mean, it's just me!"
She and Munroe Rawiri hadn't been in touch since September. However, Munroe Rawiri, who drives past Brown's house daily, had spotted her outside a few times and given her a beep.
The trouble is, Brown now receives a number of beeps from bypassers who recognise her so she wasn't aware that one of them was her new friend.
When they reunited last week, they found they had a lot in common.
"We've been talking gardening and he's going to come back and get some clippings once they've got their garden up and running," said Brown.
Munroe Rawiri is still carrying out good deeds – he has numerous lawn mowing rounds he carries out for whānau for free and he was in between jobs the day he stopped to mow Brown's.
"I live my life to nurture, that's how I live my life. My whānau have that mentality, I guess, and I think plenty of my family would have done the same."
Naera said she had received lots of comments from people saying she had a "good man".
"This is just the type of thing he does for people. And he is still just humble."
While Munroe Rawiri described the whole media frenzy as "buzzy", Brown said, although exhausting, especially the re-enacting, it had been a "cool experience".
Smith described their catch-up as "gold". "We're going to keep in touch and have already added each other on Facebook," she said.
Despite the fact they laugh the story "spiralled right out of control" from that single post, Brown and her daughter agree it generated feelings of goodwill.
Said Brown: "People usually moan and groan and grizzle about things and you think, actually, what did you do today?"
Added Smith: "But that story brought about 99.9 per cent positive feedback."
Both kiwi, a male and female, were wild-hatched.