Category The Wakas

Half of an old Maori river canoe. It is made from a single trunk.

Diary: The River Road.

It wasn’t so far from Opotaka to the start of the River Road, but from there it got harder. To get to Taumarunui, we had to cross over countless times, and it seemed that every two hundred paces there was another stream to cross.

We had been told that Taumarunui was a special place; it was the place of the last big rapids. Once there we could float on the current down to the sea.

We were careful to introduce ourselves respectfully, explaining that we were only passing through, and that as soon as we had built canoes we would be gone.

The Chief told us where we should camp, and where we might find good trees.

The men worked quickly. We soon had boats again, and were on the River Road...

Ngati Tumatakokiri warriors drawn by Isaac Gilsemans from the deck of the Zeehaen

The history of Ngati Tumatakokiri is not well known.

Their ultimate fate was to be conquered and dispersed as a tribe around 1830. None of their senior members married into other nobility, and with their stories no longer forming part of a tribe’s history, their oral tradition was lost. Fortunately, some stories were recorded by early Europeans, and it is on these accounts, and those of the conquering tribes, that this account is based.

Diary. Moving again.

Tara went South with a lot of people. They have gone to find the great Harbor that Whatonga discovered.

We have left too; Tautoki and his people remain in Heretaunga.

We took boats as far as we could, with all our goods, but it wasn’t very far...

From Nukutaurua to the Heretaunga Plains

At Nukutaurua, the Kurahaupo people had a reasonably comfortable life. The sea gave them plenty of fish and shellfish, and there were eels in the lagoons and estuaries, but the land was not so generous. The plants they had brought with them; Taro, Kumara, Yam, Aute, Gourd and Cabbage tree did not grow well there.

If they wanted the plants they had brought with them to yield crops, they needed to move.

In those times there were no roads, only a few tracks, and the Maori had no wheels or pack animals. When moving from one place to another the choice was simple. Either; walk and carry what you have with you, or put it in a boat and paddle.

The founding population of New Zealand was born of Polynesian seafarers; accomplished boat builders, navigato...

Nukutaurua

If you travel to the Mahia Peninsula, cross to the North side, and follow the road to the East, you will pass many Urupa. They are all on the North side of the Peninsula.

This is a sacred place.

The tar seal stops at Nukutaurua, and a little further on the road ends. If you want to go further, then you have to walk.

And so it was for the crew of the Kurahaupo.

Incredibly, after successfully crossing 4,000 km of Pacific Ocean, the Kurahaupo finally came to grief on this benign looking shore on the Mahia Peninsula.

Diary: Nukutaurua

“When we left Te Hiku o Te Ika, we left Po and some others behind, but some Te Ngare joined us, and we had a crew again; there had been so few of us on that leg from Rangitahua.

‘The fire in the sky’ seems so far away now.

The Kurahaupo’s...

The Kurahaupo’s progress across the Pacific Ocean

The people of the Kurahaupo had traveled 3,000 km from Raiatea. With their boat repaired, they set sail again from Rangitahua, on the final ocean leg of their voyage.

The closest land is the North Cape of New Zealand…. 1,000 km to the West-South-West. If their course was good, and the weather fair, they would make that distance in about 10 days.

Diary: The ‘Great and misty land’

”We had been on the ocean over a week when we first saw the land sign. Land was still far off, beyond the horizon, but we could see the signs. In the direction we were sailing there should be nothing… nothing that is except Kupe’s ‘Great and Misty Land’… and now, we were approaching it.”

The next afternoon we saw it… what excitement there was...

Raoul Island

The Kermadec Islands are somewhat grandly named.

Raoul, 8 km across at its broadest point, is by far the largest in the chain; and the only one with water. It is mostly rugged and steep. It has rocky beaches facing North and South-West, but no safe anchorage. Anyone visiting in a sailing boat would not choose to linger.

The next largest is Macauley Island. It is 100km to the South-South-West, just over a kilometre across, and barren. There are no trees there, and no water.

The remainder of ‘islands’ in the chain are just rocks; the largest being 100 metres across.

The people of the Kurahaupo had managed to find Rangitahua, Raoul to us, a tiny speck 2,000 km’s away from their point of departure...

Rarotonga and the Cook Islands

All boats bound for New Zealand went via Rarotonga; this was how the Polynesians negotiated their way around the Pacific. Directions to destinations were known from a small number of ‘hubs’. From these hubs it was known how to get to the individual islands.

To find your island of choice, you first went to the hub that it could be reached from.

Diary: Rarotonga

We didn’t stay long in Rarotonga, just long enough to re-stock our water and food and take the advice of their navigator tohunga. Some of us had relatives there, so there were hello’s to make, and then again more painful partings.

The people at Avura were friendly, but they wanted us to move on; they have enough of their own people to feed without having to look after us as well...

In days following the launch preparations gathered pace. People began to say their goodbyes and important items for the voyage and subsequent settlement were moved towards the beach. Voyaging time, was nigh, and they would leave soon. The best time for voyaging was November to February, when the wind was most reliable and the sky was clear. A long voyage would be started at the beginning of the season.

There was a lot to take. Of course, they needed food and water for the voyage, but they also had to prepare for survival in a new land.

The men would have taken whatever tools they had; knives, adzes, hatchets, chisels, drills and hammers, and things that would help them catch food; spears, fishing lines, hooks and lures. They would use these on the journey as well as when they arrived.

Th...

The vessel sighted mid-Pacific by Schouten in 1616

What do we know of the type of vessels used to first explore and settle New Zealand?

We can’t be entirely certain, but some things are well understood. We know the general size, appearance, and construction of these ocean-going vessels, but we do not know absolutely; the bow and stern shape of the hulls, or the type of sail rig.

They were large catamarans. The hulls were long and narrow and for ocean going a length of about 25 metres was preferred. The hulls were joined by spars, over which a deck was laid. The vessels could carry up to sixty people or more.

There is no written description of these vessels, and there are no contemporary pictures...