Now is the Hour - Po ata rau.

Continuing my delving into the past. But this is a recent version of Now is The Hour (Po ata Rau)sung by Hayley Westenra at the conclusion of the Rugby World Cup last year(which was won by NZ- just).

Years ago, when I left NZ for my big OE(in 1968), a friend and I traveled to Canada by boat. In those days air travel was extremely expensive and there were still scheduled passenger routes by ship so we took the cheaper option and went on the 'Oriana' from Auckland to Vancouver stopping at Fiji and Hawaii on the way. The voyage took two weeks.

At Auckland when it was time for the ship to sail, we all stood on the deck and threw streamers to our families standing on the wharf. The ship's horn went and over the loud speakers they played 'Now is the Hour' as the ship slowly moved out and all the streamers broke. There were few dry eyes.

It was a very emotional moment and in my mind I could imagine the troop ships leaving our shores loaded with soldiers off to fight in distant lands. My father had left this very wharf 29 years earlier and had described the scene to me many times. He had asked his family not to come and see him off. He said his goodbyes back at home on the farm where they had a big family gathering to farewell him as he visited home on his final leave. He was one of the lucky ones who returned in one piece. His only scars were the ones that don't show - the loss of many friends and a lifetime of nightmares.