3 Days 2 nights- Maori Waka Tour in the Bay of Islands

We departed on a misty shrouded morning aboard a Maori Waka from Opito Bay in the Bay of Islands. We had on board food supplies, tent, fishing rods, diving gears and everything else needed to stay out for 2-3 nights camping on islands and visiting sacred Maori places and a Marae deep in the Bay of Islands. The sea was perfect and flat and although over cast and cloudy for 2 of the 3 days we had no rain and the weather was warm and humid.

The Waka travelled about 2 hours and we were on a secluded beach on an Island somewhere in the Bay.

We set up camp and went and did some fishing. Our Maori chief in charge Hone Mihaka and his grandson taught us how to set up a fishing line (the Maori way) guaranteed to catch fish. 2 hours later we were had hot barbecued fresh fish in a plate and enjoying a beautiful dinner.

Later on the evening we sat around the fire while Hone shared stories and history about the Bay of Islands which spoke of a people who have been living in Aotearoa for thousands of years. He shared part of his genealogy with us which when I stopped counting had passed the 34th generation sometime back.

He spoke in a way that had us all (6 on this 3 day tour) captivated and if he hadn't stopped and told us to go to bed around 1.00am in the morning we could have easily listened all night.

At times he seemed to be speaking to his ancestors and every now and then he would start to chant and sing in a way that was eerie and yet magical and spiritually charged.

He fired a flame in some of us which had us deep in thought through out the whole 3 day encounter.

He spoke of a time past and yet it seemed at time that was also talking of things yet to happen.

Day 2

We rose early to hear Hone and his grandson down near the sea, We wondered what they were doing, I could tell that they were conducting a ceremony of sorts, Hone's grandson seemed to be praying or rather chanting and singing like the birds that were singing in the trees all around our campsite. I recorded the sounds and it seemed that Hone and his grandson were in perfect harmony with the surrounding environment. After about 30 minutes or so Hone and his grandson then knelt by the waters edge and took some water and seemed to be offering it to the sky. I wanted to go and see what they were doing as did the lady with me however we knew that this was something that we had stumbled upon and not some sort of tourist show thing. It was magical, later after breakfast when I asked Hone what they were doing he just said, nothing much, we were just doing what everyone else was doing (the birds, fish, insects etc....) catching the first rays of sunlight as they come over the Horizon. It was then that I understood the depth of this man and his family. I began to understand that I was a witnessing events of Maori that until now I had thought was something that the Maori's used to do. Not at all I was witnessing it for real. WOW! and Wow!

After breakfast we put all our gear onto the waka again and we set out to explore another part of the Bay of Islands. We paddled the Waka until we were tired and then Hone started his small out board motor and we just sat back and relaxed while he pointed and sometime stopped at areas and Islands and talked of his ancestors and the places they lived before the European came.

He showed us some beautiful bays where there were once bustling Maori communities and now they are full of European homes that belong to some very wealthy migrants. The Maori families are now living in towns and cities trying to scrape a living in a modern world.

We stooped in an area of ocean around 2 kilometres off shore and suddenly Hone was over the side of the with no goggles or flippers. He seemed to be down forever and when he appeared he had a big fish in his hands. When we asked him how he caught he just said it was a fluke, The fish was asleep and didn't see him coming.

At another place he put on the goggles and snorkel and dived down several times. On about the third time he came up with a lobster, He threw it in the front of the Waka, climbed back aboard and then looked to the sea and spoke in a chant for a few seconds afterwards he turned and smiled at us and said " dinner tonight"

We then went further along the coast and stopped at a place where he said his father brought him to the day that he passed away. His father said to him on that day that this was a good place for fishing so we started fishing. His grandson suddenly had a very big fish on his line. Hone asked him to give the rod however Bayley carried on struggling to wind the fish in.

Hone kept asking Bayley to pass him the rod until finally Bayley said something to him in Maori which made Hone go silent and sit and watch as his grandson spent the next 15 minutes fighting the fish which he did get to the Waka.

It was a Kingfish and it was his first too. Later that evening when I asked Hone what bayley had said to him during that epic struggle of man and fish Hone said his grandson said that "Tangaroa (the god of the sea) would have given Papa the fish if he wanted Papa to have it"

I cannot explain in writing how special this Journey was for those of us who were on the tour. One has to be there to sense the magic, the power of this gentleman, his family, his people and his connection to the environment. This man is completely at home in culture and and environment. He made us feel like we actually belonged to something greater than ourselves. This is the best experience I have had in my life and I return to to my own country knowing more about myself than I ever did before my encounter with Hone Mihaka and the people we met who come from a Maori tribe called Ngapuhi.

Patricia Lee

Houston

USA