Taniwha's home (Part 1 of the Harbor)

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Oct 1, 1999

Many people have come to this place. Many have loved this harbor, and many have stayed, but all have left their own mark on it. Almost fully enclosed it is backed with dark green hills and provides a natural safe haven from the windy straits that lie just beyond the headlands. As the last piece of land before the long journey across the sea to the southern island it has become a center of commerce and trade. Hundreds of years before the European adventurers ventured across the world to this place, it was inhabited by the Polynesian race who had traveled from the mythical Hawaiki. With no compass to guide them, in huge open canoes the Maori sailed south to settle in the land they names Aotearoa (Land of the Long White Cloud). The shear numbers of Maori tell us that this colonization was no accident of fate, for no one wind blown boat could be responsible for the population, their livestock, and their crops.

It was not long before the sheltered harbor at the southern most tip of the north island drew people to it. The Maori have no written history, so we will have to trace the rich oral history handed down to us.

Let's start at the beginning... The harbor, then a large lake, was the home of two powerful Taniwha. A Taniwha can have many shapes, shark, whale or that of a terrible monster. They live in water, and by their nature are movers of the earth. The Taniwha in the harbor were called Ngake and Whataitai, and though they shared a home, they were as different as an autumn wind from a summer. Ngake was a restless easily agitated creature, while Whataitai was quieter and calmer. One day Ngake, lured by the sight of the wide waters just beyond the hills, determined to escape the lake. Working himself into a great fury, he exploded against the earth, ripping and tearing it and his own hide as he went. Whataitai watching his comrades exit, determined on his own method of escape. Quietly he swam for the rip that Ngake had made, but there were treacherous shallows there, and the taniwha's huge body became trapped in them. Though the tides kept him alive, he could not move, and generations later when the earth shook (some say about 1460), he was dragged into the air with it and died. The hill known as Matairangi (Mt Victoria) is in fact his body.

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