Wairaka and the Whakatane Harbour

Meg and I enjoyed a family dinner on the Whakatane Harbour before we left for home.  The Harbour is on the Whakatane river in the wide calm water before the river forms the bar with the ocean.  A lovely statue stands on large boulder inside the bar.  It remembers a wonderful Maori legend, as described on the city's website:

"The bravery of Wairaka and the daughter of Toroa, captain-navigator of the Mataatua waka is commemorated by a statue in the Whakatane Harbour.. When the Mataatua waka (Maori) first arrive at Whakatane after making a perilous voyage from Ngati Awa’s ancestral homeland of Hawaiiki 600 years ago, the men left the women alone in the canoe while they went ashore.  When the canoe started to drift back to sea, Wairaka (defying the tapu that forbade women to handle a canoe) seized the paddle and brought the waka back to shore crying ‘Kia Whakatane au i ahau’ – I will act the part of a man.  This cry is said to the origin of the towns’ name."

Besides watching the sun set behind Wairaka, we also enjoyed watching both a powered para glider and a paraglider drift back and forth about us, the river, and the cliffs, and then land gently as the light was leaving the sky.

Whakatane_Harbour, Whale_Island_NZ

Wairaka, Whakatane_Harbour

Powered_paragliding, Whale_Island_NZ

Wairakaka, Whakatane_Harbour

Whakatane_Harbour, Whakatane_River

Ohope and the Bay of Plenty

Named by Captain Cook during his 1769/70 exploration of New Zealand, the Bay of Plenty still enjoys great abundance from the land and the sea. Over 80 percent of New Zealand's kiwi crop is grown here, along with apples and berries. Dairy, beef, and sheep are also important industries. Stretching nearly 160 miles from the Coromandel Peninsula to the west and Cape Runaway to the east, the Bay offers sandy beaches, intimate coves, verdant hillside--a remarkable kaleidoscope of color and texture.  Its east-west orientation presents never ending palette of sunrises and sunsets.