Guest Writer Spot

It’s nearly the weekend and so it’s time for my guest writer slot. Many of you will know my guest this week – it’s the wonderful Robbie Cheadle. She has a new collection of short stories out. One of them is called The Warning. Here, Robbie tells us about her visit to the special place that inspired her story.

A Visit to Te Wairoa, The Buried Village

In 2016, my oldest son, Gregory, was part of the team from his school that won the South African leg of the Kid’s Lit Quiz. That year, the finals were taking place in Auckland, New Zealand and we grabbed the opportunity to visit this beautiful country. We visited many amazing places on the North Island and learned a lot about life in New Zealand but the most memorable place for me was Te Wairoa The Buried Village.

Te Wairoa was a Maori and European settlement located close to the shore of Lake Tarawera. The settlement was founded in 1848 by the Reverend Seymour Mills Spencer as a place where visitors could rest and stay on their way to visit the Pink and White Terraces which were considered to be the eighth natural wonder of the world.

On 10 June 1886, Mount Tarawera erupted, destroying the Pink and White Terraces and burying the villate of Te Wairoa. For more than four hours, rocks, ash and mud rained down on the village killing more than 150 residents.

The Buried Village experience comprises of a fascinating museum that houses a huge collection of objects that have been excavated over the past 80 years from the Mount Tarawera eruption and the Te Wairoa Archaelogical Site.

The museum provides a lot of insight into life in the settlement at the time of the eruption and tells stories of several the people who were living in the village. I found it to be a very emotional and intense experience to read the stories of these families and individuals, some of who were very heroic during the catastrophe, and learn of some of their tragic deaths. I became totally engrossed in their stories and seeing the excavated remains of their homes, buried beneath 1.5 to 2 meters of mud, ash and rocks was almost traumatic for me. I have always become very involved in such stories. I felt the same way when I visited the Titanic exhibition.

One of the lead figures was a guide called Sophia Hinerangi, a woman of Maori descent, who spoke both Maori and English. On 31 May 1886, a part of tourists accompanied by Guide Sophia, sighted a phantom canoe. This was believed to be a warning of impending danger. When Mount Tarawera erupted in the early hours of the morning on 10 June 1886, Guide Sophia was the heroine of the night and sheltered 62 people in her small whare. Sophia’s whare withstood the force of the eruption due to its steep-pitched roof and strong timber walls.

After surviving the eruption, Sophia left the village and set up a new life in Whakarewarewa. Her incredible story of having experienced this terrible natural disaster combined with her knowledge and natural manner with tourists resulted in her becoming the Caretaker of the Whakarewarewa Thermal Reserve in 1896. Sophia put her status and influence to good use by encouraging local women to become guides, thereby, giving them the gift of independence through earning their own living.

A picture of a whare, partially buried at The Buried Village. Photograph by Robbie Cheadle.

The inside of an excavated house showing the mud, rock and ash approximately 2 meters deep at The Buried Village. Picture by Robbie Cheadle.

About And the Grave Awaits

The cover of And the Grave Awaits featuring a cross-shaped gravestone with a bunch of roses on top. Cover artwork in charcoal and coloured pencil by Robbie Cheadle.

A collection of short paranormal and dark stories.
Includes the award-winning short story, The Bite.

A group of boys participate in a reality television challenge; to the death.

What does it mean to be a Canary Girl? One young woman is about to find out.

Where is the bride? A beautiful young woman goes missing during a game of hide and seek on her wedding day.

Some stories will make you cry, some will make you gasp, and some will leave you believing in vigilante justice. All will end with a grave.

Amazon USA pre-order link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D7745TZB

About Roberta Eaton Cheadle

Author photograph of Roberta Eaton Cheadle

Award-winning, bestselling author, Roberta Eaton Cheadle, is a South African writer and poet specialising in historical, paranormal, and horror novels and short stories. She is an avid reader in these genres and her writing has been influenced by famous authors including Bram Stoker, Edgar Allan Poe, Amor Towles, Stephen Crane, Enrich Maria Remarque, George Orwell, Stephen King, and Colleen McCullough.

Roberta has two published novels, a collection of paranormal and historical short stories, and has horror, paranormal, and fantasy short stories included in several anthologies. She and is also a contributor to the Ask the Authors 2022 (WordCrafter Writing Reference series).

Roberta also has sixteen children’s books and three poetry books published under the name of Robbie Cheadle and has poems and short stories featuring in several anthologies under this name.

Roberta’s blog features discussions about classic books, book reviews, poetry, and photography. https://roberta-writes.com/