One Land: Welcome the Dalrymples

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Dalrymple family

MAORI FAMILY - NON TE REO SPEAKING
The Dalrymple Family, Gisborne

Father: Evan Dalrymple (42)
Mother: Sally Dalrymple (42)
Daughter: Jess Dalrymple (19)
Daughter: Kayla Dalrymple (15)

For the Dalrymple family from Gisborne, the One Land experience will be a journey of discovery. A blended family, Mum Sally is Pakeha, while her two daughters are both part-Maori, as is their step-father Evan.

Kayla and Jess are part Ngati Kahungunu, while Evan is part Ngati Pouru. But none of the family have ever experienced Maori language or culture, despite their own heritage and living in a region rich in Maori history.

The Dalrymples are about to leave behind all traces of modern, Western culture and step back into the world of an 1850s Maori Pa, together with their new whanau the Ririnui family from Tauranga.

Sally is the school librarian at Lytton High School in Gisborne, and says her favourite activity is having coffee and cake with friends. She met her husband Evan on a blind date, and remembers being "stoked he was so gorgeous and manly!"

Evan is a boat builder by trade, but is now a partner in a spouting company. He loves Trademe, motorsport, the couch and his "beloved, enormous TV".

Eldest daughter Jess is a final year nursing student at UCOL in Palmerston North. She says she wanted to take on the challenge of One Land because none of her friends think she is capable of living without her ditigal camera, her eftpos card, her laptop and her cellphone! Mum fondly refers to Jess as her "chocolate blonde", and says she is a clean freak who washes her hair twice-daily and insists on clean towels with every shower!

Kayla is a student at Gisborne Girls High School, and loves her friends, music, cellphone, car and ipod (in that order). Kayla says she loves nothing more than spending a day at the beach with her friends, while Mum says she is the bright one in the family.

For both Kayla and her big sister Jess, their biggest worry about living on the Pa is personal hygiene. "We won't be able clean our teeth or shave our legs!" says Kayla. "Oh my god how will we cope!"