The long white cloud
VulcanSpirit
Richard & Alison Brunstrom
Mon 1 Apr 2013 09:30
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The first Maori settlers arrived in NZ about
1250-1300AD (they claim much earlier, but the archaelogical evidence is quite
clear). They apparently had detailed sailing instructions and it seems
evident that they had been preceded by an explorer. According to Maori
legend this was one Kupe, and it was Kupe's wife who named NZ
'Aotearoa' (Eh-Oh-Teh-Aroa), literally the Long White Cloud. And here, I
reckon, is why she did it:
 This is looking from the very north of South Island
towards the North Island in the distance. You can see why Aotearoa was and is
such a fitting name - to Polynesians used to small islands and small round
clouds this must have been a very distinctive sight.
In the middleground is the small island of Motuara.
Nowadays this is a bird sanctuary (and a wonderful one to visit, see a later
Blog) which has recently been crucial in saving the South Island Saddleback from
extinction. But its earlier claim to fame is as the place where in January 1770
Cook first raised the British flag (on the small hill to the right), in the
presence of the bemused local Maori chief, and claimed the entire country for
King George. It seems he chose this island because the only permanent
habitation in the area at the time was a pa (a fortified Maori village) on
the small island to the right, thus enabling some locals to acknowledge their
new sovereign. Cook's claim had no direct immediate effect, and when he
returned three years later the pa was abandoned.
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