\u201cHe kept that very private because he didn\u2019t want it to take attention away from the job at hand.\u201d<\/p>\n
High-profile figures and everyday locals have described the Ng\u0101ti Hine kaum\u0101tua and respected broadcaster as a driving force for te reo and the wellbeing of M\u0101ori.<\/p>\n
He tirelessly championed M\u0101ori culture and language through governance, community leadership, Ng\u0101ti Hine FM and television.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll our lives, he\u2019s always been heavily involved in our M\u0101ori communities,\u201d Ramari said.<\/p>\n
When Bristowe was out carving better paths for his people, his wife Luana held the fort at home.<\/p>\n
But Ramari said they never missed out on their dad.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was such a big part of our everyday life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Len Bristowe spent decades championing M\u0101oritanga in Tai Tokerau.<\/p>\n
The wh\u0101nau shared many phone calls, visits and meet-ups at \u014ct\u0101huhu\u2019s Vietnam Cafe, where Bristowe enjoyed Vietnamese chicken noodle soup.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore we went to Auckland to live, he would look at you sideways if you tried to serve him rice or noodles or anything like that, but it\u2019s a favourite food of his.\u201d<\/p>\n
As kids, Bristowe would take his children on trips he called \u201ceveryday explorations\u201d rather than holidays, Ramari said.<\/p>\n
One trip was to Kerikeri, with the kids unaware of where they were going or why. They arrived at an orchard where Bristowe started picking fruit.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause we were young, we used to think, \u2018oh Dad, you\u2019re not allowed to eat that, you\u2019re stealing\u2019,\u201d Ramari said.<\/p>\n
She and her brother would fret that he\u2019d get caught as he indulged in the fruit and the p\u016bh\u0101 growing at the base of the trees.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s munching away on them without a care in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Through laughter, Bristowe would ask his mortified children if they wanted some of the peaches or oranges.<\/p>\n
\u201cLater on obviously we realised that he was friends with these orchard owners. He knew them and so he would just have us on … he\u2019s a real joker.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ramari\u2019s childhood memories of her dad included him diving for seafood to deliver to elderly people in Pipiwai, Motatau, Matawaia and beyond.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember dropping kaimoana off to all the nannies in really remote areas,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
As Ramari grew older, the pair became closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was a bit of a sounding board for my dad and a bit of a confidante.\u201d<\/p>\n
The two shared similar values and understood how they could use their fortunes to help their communities.<\/p>\n
Ramari runs a transport business with her husband, hiring many M\u0101ori school leavers to help them enter the workforce.<\/p>\n
At the time of Bristowe\u2019s death, he was proud of a project reintegrating Ng\u0101wha Prison inmates into the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very much like my Dad in that I have the same understanding that people are people regardless of the titles that you carry and how much money you have in the bank,\u201d Ramari said.<\/p>\n
She believed people would be surprised that Bristowe chose to live simply, despite being financially secure.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur father lived like a peasant, anything of money value he shared with those who needed it.\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked what Bristowe would want his legacy to be, Ramari said he would want M\u0101ori to work together, not against each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t imagine life without him,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cHe kept that very private because he didn\u2019t want it to take attention away from the job at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488564,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[95,245006,9516,6028,1061,84321,1342,245008,30864,6451,204591,5829,9943,245007,111,43,139,69,1118,245009,245010,2122,6923,6123,30859],"class_list":["post-488563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-and","tag-bristowe","tag-broadcaster","tag-champion","tag-children","tag-fearless","tag-five","tag-jokester","tag-kaumtua","tag-knew","tag-len","tag-many","tag-memories","tag-moritanga","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-practised","tag-preached","tag-share","tag-what","tag-while","tag-whnau"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}