Original subtitles

♪♪

Suchet: In July 1922,

a 31-year-old Agatha Christie found herself here,

travelling up a steep hillside, taking in the view.

It was somewhere she'd never been before --

a landscape of crystal waters, blue skies,

and a stunningly picturesque harbour,

all seen from the vantage point of this 120-year-old cable car.

[ Cable car bell buzzes ]

It was wintertime,

but no amount of chilly weather

could have prevented Agatha from revelling

in this astonishingly lovely place.

And the place where she found herself was here,

Wellington, New Zealand.

♪♪

She was blown away by it, and I can see why.

It's absolutely stunning.

♪♪

Before Agatha became famous,

she set off on an epic world tour with her husband Archie

to promote the forthcoming British Empire Exhibition.

To be held in London in 1924,

the exhibition was being designed to boost trade

and strengthen bonds between nations.

Now, a century later, I'm following in her footsteps.

I'm David Suchet,

and I played Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot for 25 years.

Armed with my trusty camera,

I'm recreating her incredible journey through Southern Africa,

Australia, New Zealand...

-Welcome. -Thank you.

...and Canada.

And I'm even following her on holiday to Hawaii.

I want to understand the history and legacy

of Britain's Empire...

We want that which belongs to Africa to return back to Africa.

Suchet: ...and discover how this journey

influenced Agatha and her writing.

And then here, they suggest that Poirot was a creation

to rival Sherlock Holmes.

Unbelievable.

And through seeing what she saw...

But this is extraordinary.

I've never seen anything like this.

...and what she experienced...

Just standing here, it makes me realise

how volatile the earth is.

...I'll learn more about the woman

who played such a pivotal role in my own career.

She embraced life for all it was worth.

Wow, what a discovery.

♪♪

♪♪

[ Bell dings ]

Wellington was settled by British colonists in 1840

and became an important port.

Though, the view in Agatha's day

would have been somewhat different.

Yeah, now I'm looking at a photograph

that was taken around about the time

Agatha Christie would have been here.

And, uh, yeah,

I think it was probably taken from about where I'm standing.

And looking at that photograph,

and then looking at the harbour, I can see how much has changed.

I mean, very much built up over there with high-rises.

I think there would have been much more trade then.

But, I mean, the photograph is beautiful,

and the view I'm looking at is still absolutely stunning.

It really is.

♪♪

I'm gonna take a photo myself.

♪♪

[ Camera shutter clicks ]

Got it.

♪♪

In the 1920s, Wellington was a busy port,

with ships loading and unloading goods

before travelling across the Empire.

Agatha, Archie, and the mission's leader, Major Belcher,

would set off from here

to see what New Zealand might offer the Empire Exhibition.

♪♪

And this was quite the responsibility.

The exhibition was a huge investment...

and over two years would draw crowds of 27 million people.

♪♪

But how did New Zealand feel about

Agatha and Archie's mission?

What did they gain, if anything,

from being a dominion of Britain?

I'm meeting historian Dr. Felicity Barnes to find out.

So, at that time that Agatha was visiting in 1922,

what was the relationship between New Zealand

and Great Britain?

Well, very strong.

If we stick with trade, for example,

um, Britain was New Zealand's

biggest virtually sole customer

for its butter,

for its, uh, frozen meat.

The British imported so much of their food.

Oh, because they didn't produce enough of their own.

Because they'd had this astonishing growth

of population, particularly in London, right?

And it grows on the back of imported food.

-Yes. -Barnes: A lot of that imported food

is coming from New Zealand.

And hence their enthusiasm for wanting to appear

-in the 1924 exhibition. -Exactly.

Suchet: Britain also relied on New Zealand wool.

♪♪

Sheep farming was one of the country's major industries.

And when Agatha visited, she would have seen a lot of sheep.

Wool was an incredibly important export,

and it was one of our very first exports

because, of course, it didn't spoil.

So, in the years before refrigeration,

wool was a key staple export for New Zealand.

And into this period, we've got these new competing products

like butter and meat that we can now safely send

-all the way across the world to Britain. -Suchet: Yes.

So, I've got, um,

-the official guide... -Yeah.

Suchet: ...to the British Empire Exhibition.

-Barnes: There it is. -Suchet: 1924.

And I've just marked the page here because it says,

and it bears out what you said, uh,

"There's to be seen an attractive display

of New Zealand butter and cheese,

which today forms the largest item

of the dominions export trade."

And when we say attractive, they really meant it

because it wasn't just blocks of butter piled up.

These were butter sculptures.

-Butter sculptures? -Right. So --

-Really? -Yeah. There was one of, uh,

a New Zealand farmhouse.

There were sculpted cows at life size in butter

in these vast refrigerated cabinets.

Suchet: Really?

So, when they say attractive display, yeah, they really were.

They really went to town, then.

They did, but they had to compete

because the Australians also had butter sculptures,

and they had cricketers moulded out of butter.

And, of course, famously,

the Canadians had the Prince of Wales

-moulded in butter. -[ Chuckles ]

So, really, you know,

you had to be on your game.

♪♪

Suchet: The 1924 exhibition offered a theme park-style trip

around the British Empire.

As well as an amusement park, a replica coal mine,

and an ornamental lake,

each dominion or colony built their own grand pavilion

where they showcased their way of life and their best products.

And, actually, you can see when you look at the New Zealand...

-Yes. -This is a map of

the New Zealand pavilion -- that virtually the entire thing

is dominated by these products.

So, here on this side, that's the wool mountain here.

-Yes. -At the centre of this side

-of the pavilion. -Yes.

Barnes: You can see a picture of it here.

Suchet: Oh, my goodness me, like a pyramid.

-A pyramid, yes, with a top for the sheep. -Is that all wool?

-All wool, yes. -All with the sheep

standing on the top.

-Barnes: Yes. -Suchet: My goodness.

♪♪

Agatha's party had three weeks

to explore New Zealand's trade and industries.

And not surprisingly, one of their first ports of call

was a woollen mill.

The establishment they visited has long since vanished,

but here at Stansborough,

they're keeping old traditions alive.

-Hello. -Hello, how are you?

-Pleased to meet you. -I'm very pleased to meet you.

-And this is Richard. -Richard?

Richard's my mill manager.

Suchet: Even though this looks like an industrial museum,

Cheryl Eldridge runs Stansborough

as a commercial business,

using the same machinery that Agatha would have seen.

This is extraordinary.

I've never seen anything like this.

-Oh. -How old is this machine?

Well, they date back to the 1890s.

And that particular time,

when the wool industry was in its prime,

all the towns in New Zealand actually had a woollen mill,

um, employed a lot of New Zealanders,

um, and often they had 100 of these looms in each city.

-100? -Anything from 50 to a 100 looms.

♪♪

Because we produce good wool

and they did wonderful things with it,

all the best designers in Europe

used to use New Zealand wool for all their garments.

-Suchet: Yes. -Um, definitely for

all the Paris fashion houses and everything,

-really, in those days. -I know this from...

-Eldridge: Yeah. -...from my own profession,

and personally -- when you wear something like pure wool...

-Mm-hmm. -...and top-grade pure wool,

it actually becomes part of you.

I am, of course, speaking for myself and Poirot,

who was a great lover of a quality woollen suit.

♪♪

Wool and weaving are no longer the powerhouse industries

they once were in New Zealand,

but Cheryl has found herself a new market for her textiles,

working with the movie business here.

In fact, this mill made costumes

for a certain Hollywood franchise.

Are you making another Gandalf?

Yes, another robe.

Gosh, the detail.

It's phenomenal, isn't it?

Uh, at a guess, how many Gandalfs have you made?

The Gandalf cloaks? Oh, I don't know.

We've probably sold a few hundred of them, haven't we?

-Yeah. -A few hundred?

Yeah, over the years.

So, are you saying that, uh,

individuals actually order these replica costumes from...

Yes, they do, because they want

the authentic garment that was made,

and we've got the original designs of the textiles.

-Yes. -So, they want --

they know if we make the textiles

and we make the garment,

they're getting what was actually used in the movie...

-Yeah. -...or as close to

as what was used in the movie, so...

Well, I -- I have a -- a little knowledge of that,

because I get the fan mail asking for my bow ties.

-Oh, really? -Yes, but we don't make copies.

No, we don't. We'll have to recreate his bow tie for him.

[ Laughs ] Yes, my Poirot bow tie is made of pure wool.

Cheryl, Marie, thank you so much.

I've -- I've had the most wonderful time here.

Well, thank you for coming.

And I'm an absolute Poirot fan,

so here's a slight token of a gift,

which probably is very fitting for the 1920s.

It's a very 1920s design, so, um, enjoy.

-Are you serious? -I'm serious.

It feels beautiful, but looking at the pattern,

it's perfectly symmetrical.

So, Monsieur Poirot would be thrilled to bits, as am I.

Thank you so very much. This will be a...

-Thank you, I'm delighted. -...real treasure.

There we go.

And look at the costume. That's lovely.

Perfect.

♪♪

When Agatha Christie came to Wellington in 1922...

...she was only just emerging onto the literary scene,

and she would have wandered through the city incognito.

-Oh, hello, David. -Suchet: Hello.

Lovely to meet you. Welcome.

Very nice to meet you, too.

It's a stark contrast to today,

when readers and viewers can't get enough of her

or her creations.

What drew you to the role of Poirot initially,

yeah, way back in 1989?

Yes, uh, that's when I started shooting

and got very attracted by this little man.

Today, I'm combining filming with a chat to Andre,

a local journalist.

I got to know the character very well,

but never knew

that there would be a quarter of a century ahead of me.

-Yeah. -And also...

I'm amazed at how very popular Agatha Christie still is.

And, yeah, I stopped filming, what, 11 years ago now?

And here in Wellington, I get stopped in the street.

Although I'm very flattered,

the plaudits really ought to go to Hercule Poirot's creator,

Agatha Christie herself.

Well, thank you so much, David, for your time.

-Thank you. -Enjoy the rest of your travels.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

Although not yet famous,

Agatha was just beginning to make waves.

And as had happened in Australia,

some of the local papers here in New Zealand

realised that they had a published writer in their midst.

I've made some notes, if you don't mind me just using this.

In 1922, when she came to Wellington,

she suddenly gets "British authoress in Wellington."

And, uh, the article goes on to explain that her second novel,

"The Secret Adversary," has been having a good run in Australia,

and rather excitingly stated she's now at work

on her third book.

But very soon after her tour finished,

her short stories were published.

Now, what's interesting to me about that

is that when did she write these short stories?

We're not quite sure.

I can't help thinking that she must have written

at least some of them during her time on the mission,

which begs the question, what inspired her here?

Whatever Antipodean magic it was,

the stories became a roaring success.

And when the stories were published in "The Sketch,"

the magazine really went to town.

There's a fantastic photograph, and then the headline here,

they called Agatha Christie, her second novel,

"the most brilliant detective novel of the day."

They also suggest that Poirot was a creation

to rival Sherlock Holmes.

Unbelievable.

♪♪

It's time to leave Wellington

and follow Agatha on the next stage of her trip.

♪♪

This is the Interislander Ferry...

♪♪

...that's going to take me from New Zealand's North Island

to the South Island across the Cook Strait.

It's been described as one

of the roughest ferry crossings in the world.

♪♪

This ferry is named Kaiarahi,

which is a Te Reo Maori word meaning "guardian."

So, I'm hoping it will keep us safe.

Though I might just go and have a quick word with the captain

for some extra reassurance.

-Hello. -Oh, hello.

-Suchet: And you're Rowan? -Rowan, yes.

And you are the captain?

Rowan: Yes, I'm the captain, for my sins, yes.

How long have you been captain?

Um, about eight years for Interislander, yeah.

-Well, on this vessel? -Yup.

And is it true that this Cook Strait

can be the most choppy in the world?

-Uh, it can get pretty nasty out here. -Suchet: Yes?

You've got the Southern Ocean down there,

and basically the next stop down that way is Antarctica.

The maximum we go out in

is a significant wave height of six metres.

-But that's -- that's still... -That's, like, still hitting

-a three-storey building. -Mm-hmm. Ooh.

But as soon as it starts going up above about

three to four metres, you start really feeling it then.

Yeah.

♪♪

Luckily for me, it's calm today.

Calm enough to venture out on deck

and get an Agatha's-eye view of the spectacular scenery.

[ Camera shutter clicks ]

♪♪

Agatha said that New Zealand was

the most beautiful country she'd ever visited,

and, uh, well...

you certainly can't argue with that.

♪♪

Agatha would have spent a lot of time at sea on her tour.

Most journeys lasted for weeks.

Even the relatively short trip from Australia

to New Zealand took her five days.

And unfortunately for Agatha, she wasn't a good sailor.

♪♪

I do know that she suffered acute seasickness.

I mean, acute for days at a time.

And although awful for her personally,

her readers have benefited,

as she skilfully turned her own suffering

into her exceptional inventive writing.

It's interesting because in the Poirot stories,

uh, there were one or two characters

that suffered from seasickness and, uh,

nobody more so than Hercule Poirot himself.

And in my research,

I learnt that Agatha Christie gives Poirot

a particular method of dealing with his seasickness.

The Laverguier method.

I think it's a wonderful invention.

Poirot describes the method of Laverguier.

"You breathe in and out slowly,

turning the head from the left

and then to the right,

and counting six between each breath."

I think Poirot,

if he was offered to go on the Empire tour,

would not have accepted.

♪♪

After landing on the South Island,

the Empire mission travelled by car

down New Zealand's wild, rugged,

and wonderfully scenic West Coast...

♪♪

...where they would explore its rich resources.

On Friday, July 14, 1922,

they arrived in the remote town of Hokitika

to learn about New Zealand's extraordinary gold reserves.

And I'm here with local historian

Paul Madgwick to do the same.

When Agatha came here with the mission,

what -- what would she have learnt?

Well, I think she would have been really intrigued to find

that this town had sprung up from nothing,

literally carved out of the bush, simply for the gold.

This really was the last frontier in New Zealand

that was, um, only populated by the local Maori,

um, Poutini Ngai Tahu,

who lived in pockets up and down the coastline until 1864, um,

and the first gold was discovered.

People came from all over the world.

Over the first three years of,

I think, of the -- of the gold rush,

something like 30,000 to 40,000 people sailed into Hokitika,

including my family, who were gold miners.

Suchet: By the time Agatha visited 50 years later,

the gold rush had slowed.

With her keen powers of observation

and customary frankness,

Agatha painted a wonderfully vivid,

if less than glowing, picture of what Hokitika was like in 1922.

"The beach is awful.

You look out to sea and then turn round.

All the backs of houses

and everybody's rubbish dumped on the sand."

These are some great photos of that era.

Oh, my goodness.

Madgwick: They show the buildings almost on the beach.

The town very much was showing its age,

and, um, it wasn't a -- a booming town at that stage.

Suchet: It might have looked a little worse for wear,

but one of the reasons the mission had come to the area

was to see a new invention that promised more gold than ever,

the Rimu Gold Dredge.

Madgwick: The dredge was brand-new at the time,

and this was the industrial revolution of gold mining.

It was the biggest in the world.

-Wow. -Madgwick: It was run

by electricity, financed by Americans.

These were giant things. They were 3,500 tonnes of steel,

and each of those buckets weighed 2 tonne,

and there were 100 of them on a continuous belt

that chewed into the ground.

Just massive, three, four stories high.

It was such a wonder of the mechanical world,

and it was a New Zealand innovation

mounted on a -- on a floating pontoon.

It's huge. On a floating pontoon?

-Floating pontoon, yes. -Oh.

-That sank once. -[ Chuckles ] Oh, did it?

Um, but they managed to refloat it

and, uh, dried out the electrics,

and away it went again.

And over the course of its life,

it dredged something like 10 tonnes of gold.

Really?

Incredibly, just over 100 years after Agatha's trip,

they're still mining gold in the area.

Paul and I are taking a tour with mine manager, Jimmy.

So, there's quite an active gold industry here?

There's quite another modern-day boom going on at the moment.

-Right. -Especially with the price of gold.

If you consider that at this stage,

it's in excess of $4,000 for every 31 grams.

And where are we going now?

This is the original Adairs Road.

Oh, this is the original road that we're on?

-Yes, that went to the Rimu Gold Dredge. -Yes.

Madgwick: So this is the road that Agatha would have followed.

-Suchet: Oh, that's so interesting. -Madgwick: Yup.

Cory: So, we are now entering the mine complex.

Essentially, this is where mining started five years ago.

Gosh. Well, I have to tell you, Jimmy, I've been in coal mines,

and I've been in quarry pits,

and this is the first time in my life

that I have ever visited a gold mine.

It's -- I'm just -- It's very exciting.

That's good to hear.

Suchet: Yeah!

♪♪

Man: Yeah, turn on your right, Jim.

Copy.

♪♪

Whoops. There we go. She's a big one, alright.

Whoa.

♪♪

Fairly busy.

That's $900,000 right there.

[ Chuckles ] It's quite a significant investment.

There's money in gold, David.

♪♪

-[ Camera shutter clicks ] -Thank you.

Historically, the gold dredge of the 1920s were fitted with,

um, these huge conveyor belts of, um, of buckets.

These days, uh,

instead of using the buckets to dredge into a pit,

uh, they use excavators, um,

which drops the pay dirt and material into a truck.

And from there, it's taken for processing.

More than I ever dreamt goes on.

Huge.

♪♪

Can you drop your window down?

See if I can get anything at all.

[ Camera shutter clicks ]

You can see all the machines doing like

-a synchronised kind of dance. -Suchet: Yeah.

Everybody knows exactly where they need to go.

-There's a shaker deck screen. -Oh, yes.

And you can see it -- it shakes and it vibrates.

All the big rocks is expelled over the top.

-And expel the rocks... -Oh, yes, I can see, yes.

Cory: ...down the bottom.

And the gold material comes down on the tables.

-So, it's sifting? -Yes, exactly.

-Like a giant sieve. -Suchet: Yes.

So, this is just to show you a little example

of some of the gold that's retrieved.

-Yes. -In the bottom there.

-Yes. -Here we go.

♪♪

Oh, wow.

-Cory: Even better. Even better. -Suchet: That's fantastic.

Look at that. That's gold in my hand.

Thank you so much.

And do you know what? I feel like a kid again.

[ Chuckles ]

Go on, take it. Take it, though.

That's my year's salary.

-[ Laughter ] -Not quite. Not quite.

You're a -- You're a very, very accomplished actor.

[ Waves crashing ]

♪♪

Suchet: Gold wasn't the only precious material

that the mission would have encountered

while journeying along this coast.

♪♪

When Agatha was here with the delegation,

Major Belcher seems to have been very impressed

with the abundance of a certain gemstone in the area,

which he said could feature in the New Zealand Pavilion

in the exhibition itself,

and he referred to it as a type of jade or greenstone.

The gemstone Belcher was describing

was found around Hokitika.

It has spiritual significance for the local Maori people,

who collect it and call it pounamu.

I've come to the marae,

the Maori meeting house just north of Hokitika...

Wow.

...where local guide, Te Rua Mason,

has offered to tell me more about this precious stone.

-Kia ora. So, you're David? -Te Rua?

-Yes. -Hello.

Kia ora. Would you like to have a hongi?

-I beg your pardon? -A hongi.

It's just the touching of our noses together

and just a slight inhale,

just acknowledging the breath of life.

-Alright. I think we should. -Kia ora.

♪♪

Oh, tena koe. Nau mai. Welcome.

-Thank you. -This is my daughter,

-Te Whetu Marama. -Hello.

And this is my son, Te Ngawari.

-Hello. -Hello.

-Please. -Thank you.

-Mason: Come onto our marae. -Thank you.

Mason: So, this is our wharenui here,

or our meeting house or our carved house,

which capsulates all of our stories and histories within.

-Suchet: It's very vibrant. -Mason: Yeah, very vibrant.

At the very, very top up there,

he's carved out a pounamu, he is.

Can you explain what the figures

either side of the building represent?

Yeah, so these two whakairo, uh,

that we have on either side here,

they talk about our creation story of the pounamu.

So, on the far side over here, uh, we have Waitaiki.

Um, and on the side here, we have, uh, Poutini.

Um, he was the kaitiaki,

he was the guardian, um, of the pounamu.

He spotted Waitaiki, the beautiful lady,

walking across the sand, going down for her morning bathe.

And so, he cast her deep into this blue pool

where she sank through the layers of the water,

until eventually become

and rested on the bottom of the riverbed

where she had turned into pounamu.

And that's our little bit of a story

of the creation of the pounamu.

Suchet: So, is what you're saying,

that the lady that we're talking about almost becomes the stone,

and her -- her spirit is within the stone?

Yes, definitely.

And we like to think that when we all receive,

or we all find a piece of pounamu,

we too will, say, receive a little bit of that mana,

a little bit of that wairua and spirit as well.

Oh, that's lovely. I like that so much.

So, each stone a -- is a very precious thing, isn't it?

-It's very precious. -It's not just,

"Oh, there's a piece of stone"?

-Mason: No, no. -It has a soul?

Yes, it has a soul, just like all of us.

♪♪

Suchet: Pounamu is only found on the West Coast

and in riverbeds of the South Island.

♪♪

We're heading for the Arahura River,

where Te Rua's family have been hunting for pounamu

for generations,

and where he now brings his children to do the same.

In this area, the pounamu are not just green,

but a variety of colours.

I've seen a lot of stone that have come

out of this particular place,

and it's just absolutely stunning.

And can anybody hunt for these stones?

Today, uh, the rule of thumb is the majority of the rivers

are tribally owned.

♪♪

Alright, there's us, folks. That's it.

♪♪

Oh, well, let's go for a little bit of a walk down here.

-Okay. -And we'll try our luck.

♪♪

♪♪

So, your children are now searching in the riverbed.

Now, what are they actually doing?

So basically, is what they're doing now is,

they're looking for high coloured greens.

The pounamu, you know,

that's why the South Island carries this name,

Te Wahipounamu, or the Greenstone Waters.

-Yes. -And particularly here

on the West Coast, um,

you know, is famed, um, for -- what can I call that word?

I'm gonna call it the different shades of green

that we have here.

Suchet: For hundreds of years before modern tools were invented,

the Maori shaped pounamu into axes and knives.

Mason: There's a saying that goes,

"Ka rere te maramara, Ka huaki ki waho,

Ka tipu mai i uta, Ka takoto mai i waho, E hura ki te ata,

Ko te ata o Tane."

And it talks about that,

when that pounamu chisel hit the tree,

the chips and the bark started flying off

at a great rate of knots,

that told the Ngai Tahu carvers

that not only was the stone of beauty,

but it also held a paramount edge.

Always, um, were weapons.

Obviously, when the musket and everything come out here,

then the pounamu transitioned into other sorts of things.

They become heirlooms

where they were worn adornedly by, uh, earrings.

-Yes. -Um, hairdo, as hair knot,

you know, tying up the hair.

But, um, I've got a few pieces in my bag here...

-Suchet: Have you? -Mason: ...if you're keen to have a bit of a look.

Suchet: Yes, I'd like to, very much.

This is what we call the kokopu.

The kokopu.

Looking through this stone now,

as you say, with the other stones in the background,

they all sort of merge in together.

-Yes. Yeah. -Suchet: So, how would you know

that that was a pounamu, and they weren't?

Uh, well, it's probably not until you actually roll it over.

-I've just taken the skin away. -Suchet: Oh, my goodness.

Mason: And then you can really, really see the kokopu.

And then why it carries the name the kokopu is

because it's the native mountain trout

that is found in particular creeks in the brown water.

You know what you're doing?

You're making me look at what I would think an ordinary stone

in quite a different way.

And, uh, I'm gonna go to the River Thames when I go back.

And I'm gonna -- I won't find the pounamu,

but I may have a different viewpoint

-to what I'm looking at. -Mason: Yeah, kia ora.

That's lovely.

And then -- And then we also have, uh,

-another particular piece here. -Yes.

-Mason: But it's got a... -[ Clattering ]

got a very, very high ring to it.

-Yes. -Mason: Again, you can just see

on the outside of it there,

you can just see those high blues coming through there.

Suchet: Yes, you can. Yes, look at that.

Mason: And I've done -- I've done exactly the same

on the other side there.

I've just taken off just a little bit of a thin...

Suchet: Oh, my goodness me.

Mason: Just a little bit of a thin layer there.

-Suchet: That's extraordinary. -Mason: Just to sort it out.

-And that's the blue? -Yeah, and that's the blue.

That's beautiful.

♪♪

They're like little friends, sort of, in a way.

You sort of can sit there and sort of rub them.

Absolutely.

Well, that's what you told me, they become people.

♪♪

I find all this so interesting. Really, I do.

And it -- And it appeals to me very much.

♪♪

Yeah, and we have a little bit of a saying amongst our people,

um, you know, the song of the pounamu is to be carried.

It's to continue.

Um, so I've got a little piece here for you.

-Um... -Wow.

We can see that -- that beautiful litmus green colour

-coming through there. -Beautiful.

Mason: And then we've also then got that nice white skin

-sort of running through there. -Yeah. Oh, it's beautiful.

Um, so, um, if you wouldn't mind accepting this here on --

on behalf of our family, and, uh, may this keep you safe.

And every time you touch it,

you know, I hope your thoughts return to the West Coast here,

and particularly here at Te Arahura and...

-My goodness. -...and our family in Hokitika.

Oh, they certainly will.

I can't tell you, this is such a special thing to receive.

Thank you so, so very much.

Thank you.

-Mason: Yeah. -Oh, yes.

♪♪

Bless you. Thank you.

Wow.

What a gift.

♪♪

♪♪

In the last few days of their stay in New Zealand,

while Archie and Belcher were engaged on Empire business,

Agatha decided to take herself off on a solo trip.

♪♪

Displaying a sense of adventure

that I'm becoming familiar with on this Empire tour,

Agatha travelled to a remote and otherworldly landscape --

a place that must have been unlike anything

she had ever seen before.

♪♪

She came to Rotorua, about 300 miles north of Wellington --

a town nestled amongst a belt of active volcanoes

and geothermal activity.

♪♪

It's also one of the most important

Maori settlements in New Zealand.

The sacred Maori meeting house is right next

to the Anglican church, built by British colonial settlers.

[ Choir singing in Maori ]

♪♪

Now, this is quite extraordinary.

I've never been in any church quite like this,

let alone an Anglican church.

There is the pulpit being held up

by what I can only assume to be Maori gods,

and above the pulpit is a crucifix.

In the 1800s,

the local Maori chief invited missionaries

to hold a service here,

and today's church is clearly influenced by both cultures.

It's absolutely wonderful.

It's -- It's as if Maori spirituality

and Christian spirituality have all come together,

embraced each other, accepted each other's differences,

and all can worship, Maori, Christians,

in this Anglican church.

Today, this fusion is captured in a window depicting Jesus

in a tasselled cloak worn by Maori chiefs.

You know, looking at that wonderful window

reminds me of how devout Agatha Christie was.

She was a very committed Christian.

And in her mid-60s,

she wanted to donate a window,

the east window in her local church in Churston Ferrers.

And knowing that Agatha Christie came here to Rotorua,

and being a committed Anglican, I just wonder, I can't be sure,

but I wonder if she actually came to this church,

which was very active in 1922.

I'd like to think she did.

♪♪

Rotorua has a fascinating history.

Ever since European visitors first arrived here,

they were drawn to the health benefits

of the geothermal hot springs.

♪♪

The local Maori realised the area's potential for tourism

and became guides.

But by the time Agatha was here,

colonial expansion across the rest of New Zealand

had stripped many Maori of their land and language.

♪♪

It happened to an extent in Rotorua too,

but tourism allowed the Maori here

to hold onto their culture and share it.

♪♪

Agatha was herself shown around by a Maori guide,

a tradition that still exists.

And my guide for today is Justin.

Justin, we know that Agatha Christie came here on her own.

Uh, is this what she would have seen?

Yeah, absolutely.

Um, the geothermal wonders of Rotorua,

at that time when she visited,

my great-great-grandmother was actually her guide.

-No, was she? -Yeah, she was.

Do you know, in that time when somebody

as a stature of Agatha Christie was to visit,

um, you know, you would assign your best guide that you had.

In that time, um, the tourism bureau, they wanted us to,

um, certificate the guides.

And so, my great-great-grandmother,

our guide Bella, became guide number one.

♪♪

I think that gives me some royalty, but it doesn't really.

-Yeah, yeah. -You've inherited?

Yeah, yeah. I've in--

I think I'm guide 1,500 or something like that.

Come along this way, David.

Look, you can see this pool down here.

This is one of the many hot springs we have.

This is Pua Pua,

which once upon a time used to be a geyser.

-Suchet: Really? -Te Hau: Yeah.

-Suchet: Where it used to really spout? -Te Hau: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Suchet: Geysers are caused by the pressure of steam

building up underground

and can throw jets of boiling water

tens of metres into the air.

Te Hau: Back in that time in the 1920s,

there would have been 20 active geysers.

-Suchet: 20? -Te Hau: So, when we say active,

we mean erupting geysers.

Because today we have dormant geysers...

-Yes. -Te Hau: ...but water's still

bubbling from them, like this one just behind us.

-Yes. -Te Hau: We have crystal-clear

-alkaline waters. -Suchet: My goodness.

You know, our people use these pools for cooking.

-Do they? -Yeah, so they'll go out

to the lakes and gather freshwater crayfish.

-Yes. -Put them in there for

a few minutes until they turn red.

Suchet: Justin, what -- what is that then?

It's what we call a hangi.

You put a lid on top of it,

it then blocks that pressure, and you can cook in there.

-What? -We can cook a frozen chicken

in there in 30 minutes.

It's like a pressure cooker?

-Exactly the same. Yeah, yeah. -Is it really?

Except it's our version.

And there's no danger of this suddenly spouting?

Uh, I -- I won't say that,

because it can happen, and it has happened,

but we're living amongst Mother Nature.

So, we have got areas, uh,

where, you know, major changes have happened

because the heat has become so intense

that the area's collapsed.

Suchet: It's -- I mean, just standing here, Justin,

it makes me realise how volatile the earth is.

Uh, and we really are standing on a very thin crust here,

-aren't we? -Te Hau: Yeah, we are.

♪♪

Suchet: A lot has changed in Rotorua since Agatha's day.

In the 1920s, it was an enclave

where Maori culture survived against the odds.

Today, it's a place

where Maori language and craftsmanship are championed.

♪♪

At the Te Puia Maori Arts and Crafts Institute,

apprentices are being trained in traditional wood, whalebone,

and stone carving by acclaimed sculptor, Stacy Gordine.

Hello, Stacy.

-Stacy? Hi. -Hey.

What are you actually working on now?

I'm working on a hei-tiki pendant.

The first human man was -- was called Tiki.

And you find Tiki, Tiki was something we bought,

our ancestors bought from wider Polynesia.

Um, and then we adopted it to this -- this wearable format.

-Wow. -Gordine: And it's a calling

to be able to do this work.

It's a real privilege to work this material

in this modern environment with these modern tools.

We'll say, for example,

using diamond and using technologies

that our ancestors didn't have access to.

♪♪

And so it enables us to -- to push the art form forward.

♪♪

Every day, we look back and draw from that tradition.

And we know we're part of it.

We know we're the living face of it for today.

And -- And it's up to us

to pass it on to the -- to the future generations

and add -- add our reflexions of our time,

our day, our inspirations, our creativity,

and become part of that -- that living tradition.

♪♪

Suchet: Very luckily for me,

Stacy and some of his staff and pupils

have taken the pounamu that I was given.

And after revealing its beautiful colours...

♪♪

...they've carved it into something for me.

Though what it is...

-Done. -Suchet: ...is a surprise.

Wow. Goodness me.

♪♪

Now it's adjustable.

Wow.

This is -- Oh, my goodness.

Oh, my goodness me.

Whoa.

That's so special.

There's a piece of a few of us in this piece.

So, have you got the other half?

-Yes. -Oh, you've got the other half.

-So, it's set like that. -Oh, I see.

-Yeah. -So that joins onto that?

-Yes, so it's like that. -Like that?

Yeah.

And see how we got it out of that shape.

Oh, my goodness.

And then we thought the -- the whale tooth,

the whale tooth form was fitting.

We consider pounamu a fish, because it's found in rivers.

-Yes. -The whale was one of the great,

you know, navigator journeys -- journeyer of -- of the world,

travelling the world just like you're doing

on this particular kaupapa,

-this particular journey. -Yes.

So, it's putting in that regard.

And then the tooth as well being a -- a symbol of --

of being able to tell stories and talk on behalf of others

and share those stories.

So, this goes with all of our aroha from all of us.

Just place this in here, David.

♪♪

Okay.

Very close to your manawa, your heart.

Hongi.

♪♪

-Tena koe. -Thank you so much.

-My pleasure. -It really, um...

-Hongi? -I feel so touched.

♪♪

Very touched indeed.

I really do mean that. Thank you.

-Thank you so much. -My pleasure.

♪♪

Suchet: After three weeks on the road,

the Empire Mission's Major Belcher pronounced

their trip a great success.

The New Zealand Pavilion would be a wonderful attraction

at the upcoming exhibition.

And as for Agatha,

I sense that this trip brought out a whole new side to her.

I think at this point in time,

Agatha, in spite of herself,

is maturing.

There's a certain sense of having fun,

which probably led to a sense of growing independence.

For example, where I'm standing now...

being shown around by Bella.

I think travel is a wonderful educator,

and I think this journey for her

on the Grand Empire Mission

was giving her an outlook on life and experiences

that she would never have been party to

without this opportunity.

And I once again agree with her

when she says New Zealand was possibly

the most beautiful country she'd ever seen in her life,

with the suggestion that she would have loved

to have returned.

Uh, well, I'm standing in her shoes,

and I feel exactly the same.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪