Friends in New Zealand

One day a fisherman named Kupe, his friend Ngahue, and their families set out in large canoes from a land called Hawaiki. One legend says they were following a giant octopus that had been stealing their fishing bait. After sailing into unknown waters for many weeks, Kupe’s wife sighted what appeared to be a long, low white cloud. She called, “He ao! He ao!” (“A cloud! A cloud!”) Kupe called the land they were nearing Aotearoa, which means Land of the Long White Cloud.

This is the Maori legend of how the Polynesian people first discovered New Zealand about A.D. 900. Kupe and his companions did not remain in Aotearoa, but returned to Hawaiki to tell of their discovery.

Nearly 400 years later, several families in seven large canoes set out to find Aotearoa and make it their home.

Many years later, in 1642, Abel Tasma, a Dutch explorer, discovered these islands and the Maori people. He named the land Nieuw Zeeland.

After Captain James Cook visited the islands in 1769, many settlers from England went there to live. The Maoris and the pakehas (white men) live together as friends.

Children in New Zealand start school in February and begin their summer vacation in December.

The kiwi is New Zealand’s national bird. You may read more about this unusual bird on page 13 of this magazine.

New Zealand is the most isolated country in the world. Its nearest neighbor is Australia, and that country is almost thirteen hundred miles away.

Glowworm Grotto, on the North Island, is a deep cave with thousands of glowworms on the roof of the cave. They look like tiny lanterns with blue-green lights. To see the glowworms, you must ride into the cave in a boat. At the slightest noise, the glowworms turn off their lights.

Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauatamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu is the longest name of a place in the world. It is the Maori name given to a sheep station on the North Island. The translation is: The summit where Tamatea, the circumnavigator, played his flute to his beloved.