Te Waka
Tour

The story began long before the waka reached Aotearoa.

There are two sides to every story.

In Aotearoa, many know the names of the great waka and the places where they arrived. Te Waka Tour shares the northern side of that voyage: the islands, people, knowledge and pathways that made the journey possible.

Travelling in great ocean-going vaka, waka and va'a, our voyaging tūpuna transformed Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa from a seemingly boundless ocean into connected pathways linking islands, peoples and cultures. They read the migration of birds, the movement of stars, wave and swell patterns, the sun, clouds and ocean life to guide their way across the Pacific.

Over generations these master navigators settled islands throughout the central and southern Pacific before reaching Aotearoa. Some remained there. Others returned north carrying news of a large southern land where the climate was cooler, but food, space and resources were plentiful.

Oral histories in the Cook Islands and Aotearoa describe waka assembling at Avana in Rarotonga before sailing south. Seven are commonly named: Aotea, Tainui, Te Arawa, Mataatua, Takitumu, Tokomaru and Kurahaupō.

This tour brings those histories back onto the land where part of the story unfolded. Papa Tita and the Te Vaka crew connect Taputapuātea in Raʻiātea, Rarotonga and Aotearoa, sharing histories of navigators and tūpuna including Kupe, Toi and Arera Ukarau. Travel Te Ara o Toi, visit Punanga Ariki and begin reconnecting your Aotearoa story to its Pacific origins.