A Few Maori Stories

The Maori guide at the Te Puia Maori Cultural Centre in Rotorua told us how New Zealanders became to be known as Kiwis. He explained that New Zealanders were sent to war (during the first or second world war - I can't remember) with Kiwi shoe polish and had a reputation for having the shinest boots on the front. The other allied soldiers would barter for the shoe polish in exchange for cigarettes and hence, the NZ soldiers became known as "Kiwis". Kiwi polish was actually invented by a Scotsman married to a New Zealander and when she died, he named the shoe polish "Kiwi" after her. Whether this is true or not, who knows, but it sounds like a good story anyway.

The Maoris tell another story ("Te Ika A Maui") as to how New Zealand was discovered. Maui was half man and half god and knew many magic spells and because of this, he was known as Maui Nukurau (the Trickster). Maui's brothers planned a fishing trip without him, so he hid under the floorboards of their canoe. When the brothers paddled out to deep water, they discovered Maui under the floor boards, who laughed and boasted at how he had unwitted them. Angry at Maui's sudden appearance, they immediately decided to turn back. Maui encouraged them to keep paddling, saying he knew of a place where they would fill their nets. The brothers, tempted by the promise of good fishing, followed Maui's advice and were astonished at the size of their catch.

Maui waited until his brothers wanted to return home before he told he wanted to fish. An argument ensued and when the brothers agreed to let Maui fish but wihout bait, Maui smeered his own blood on his jawbone hook and threw it as far as he could. When the canoe rocked, Maui knew he had caught a very big fish, pulled and pulled, the sea was in turmoil and Maui tugged until the fish broke the surface. Maui had not caught a fish but had fished land. Realising what he had done, Maui said to his brothers "I must go and make peace with the gods because I think they are angry with me." As soon as he had gone, the brothers started to argue over who should have possession of the land. The argument became fierce and soon the brothers began to slash and carve the land with their weapons. To this day those cuts and bruises of long ago can still be seen in the valleys and mountains of the North Island.

On Thursday morning (20th Dec) we drove from Rotorua to Napier, stopping at Huka Falls on the way. The Huka Falls are a set of waterfalls on the Waikato River which drains Lake Taupo. A few hundred metres upstream from the Huka Falls, the Waikato River narrows from roughly 100 metres across into a narrow canyon only 15 metres across. The volume of water flowing through often approaches 220,000 litres per second. At the top of the falls is a set of small waterfalls dropping over about 8 metres. The most impressive, final stage of the falls (pictured above) is an 11 metre drop. The drop is technically six metres (cliff beneath the water) but the water flow raises the level to 11m. Hukafalls Jet (which you can see in the picture) takes tourists within a few meters of the bottom of the final stage.

After lunch at Lake Taupo, which is the largest lake in New Zealand and lies in a caldera created following a huge volcanic eruption approximately 26,500 years ago (and according to geological records, the volcano has erupted 28 times in the last 27,000 years), we headed to our hotel in Napier for a quick check in, and then continued the drive further south to visit my dad's brother and his wife who live near Waipukerau, which is about 100km from Napier. It is truly in the wip wops - they have a lovely house which they have spent the last few years renovating and an amazing garden but unfortunately, they live next door to the neighbour from hell. He is the infamous local farmer and apart from rearing his cattle, he seems to have nothing better to do than terrorise the neighbours and let his cows and sheep run amok.

We also visited the town which has the longest name in the world (about 15 minutes away from their house) - "Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamatepokaiwhenaukitanatahu" (see photo), which is in the Guinness Book of Records. Why on earth someone would name a village with something which is unpronounceable to us ordinary mortals I don't know, but the plaque by the name explains that Tamatea was a well known chief, warrier and explorer of his time. He is the ancestor of the Ngati Kahungunu people of Porangahau and acquired many names to commemorate his prowess. Whilst passing through the inland district of Porangahau, Tamatea encountered the Ngati Hine people and had to fight them to get past. In the battle known as "Matanui", his brother was killed. Tamatea was so grieved at his loss that he stayed for some time at that place and each morning he would sit on the knoll to play a lament on his Koauau. Hence, the name indicating the hill on which Tamatea, the chief of great physical stature and renown, played a lament on his flute to the memory of his brother.

By this point the rains came in and it was really wet and miserable. We therefore sought warmth and solace at the only pub in the village and sampled the local fare - fish and chips. For some reasons the locals managed to spot us as tourists a mile off but then again, we were the only nutcases freezing our backsides off wearing shorts and T-shirts. And we thought it was currently summer in New Zealand!