Kupe's travels around Aotearoa

The great battle between Kupe, his warriors, and the giant wheke (octopus) of Muturangi took place at the top of the South Island. Kupe's children, wife, and other whnau e bers sta!ed at Te "hanganui#a#Tara ("ellington), to gather supplies and to keep safe fro what Kupe knew would be a fierce sea battle. $nd dangerous it was. %is huge ocean sailing &essel, Matahorua, was al ost capsi'ed, which would surel! ha&e been the end of Kupe and his crew. (ut Kupe's )uick thinking sa&ed the da!. (! throwing calabashes into the sea to i itate bodies, he tricked the giant wheke. $nd when it e erged fro the depths, Kupe leapt onto its head and struck the blow that ended its life. $rapaoa was the na e gi&en to that fatal blow, and that was the first na e gi&en to the South Island of $otearoa. "hen Kupe returned to Te "hanganui#a#Tara, he was et with great surprise and *o!. %is daughters were so sure that he had been defeated b! the wheke that the! had slashed their chests in ourning. So the rocks of that area were stained red with blood and are still known toda! as +ari "hero (,ed ,ocks). $fter resting at Te "hanganui#a#Tara, Kupe and his whnau set sail once ore. (efore the! left, Kupe na ed the two islands in the harbour after his daughters Matiu (So es Island) and Makaro ("ard Island). The! then tra&elled around the south coast, stopping firstl! at a place to gather shell fish. There the! used bull kelp to ake containers for storing food. That place (Sinclairs %ead) was na ed ,i u ,apa, eaning 'flattened seaweed'. $fter the! had gathered supplies, the! continued up the west coast to +orirua where the! stopped at an island off the coast. Matiu, Kupe's daughter, was so pleased that the! had successfull! crossed the great ocean of Kiwa and that her father had defeated the giant wheke, that she suggested na ing the island Te Mana#o#Kupe#ki#$otearoa. Kupe agreed and the island is still known toda! as Mana Island. "hile e.ploring the harbour at +orirua, Kupe saw a large white stone in the water, which he retrie&ed to use as another anchor stone for their waka Matahorua. The new anchor was na ed %ukatai because of its white colour. The! then tra&elled south to $rapaoa (South Island) to find out how plentiful the resources were and whether or not other people li&ed there. Their *ourne! along the "est /oast brought the to a ri&er that Kupe na ed $rahura, eaning 'the wa! opened up'. The! didn't disco&er other people, but the! did find a stone the! had ne&er seen before. +lentiful in the ri&ers of the south, the beautiful pouna u (greenstone) was recognised not onl! for its beaut! but also for its tool aking properties. 0ne particular t!pe of pouna u had flecks of white running through it, which were likened to the inanga (whitebait) the! were catching in their nets. Kupe's wife, %ine#te#uira#i#waho na ed that t!pe of greenstone Inanga for that reason. The tra&ellers then continued down the "est /oast until there was no ore land to disco&er, and so the! ca e around the southern coast of the South Island. There the! saw an! seals and penguins. Kupe said to his tra&elling co panion %ine#waihau, 12ea&e !our pets here to dwell at this end of the island, for there are surel! no people here1.

So the seals and penguins were left to inhabit the southern end of $rapaoa, which is now called Te "aipouna u or Te "aka#a#Mui. Kupe and his tra&elling co panions then sailed back to Te Ika#a#Mui (3orth Island) and continued their *ourne! back up the western coast. The! passed b! Mana Island and Kapiti Island on the side closest to the shore, and so it was said that Kupe se&ered these islands fro the ainland. This occurrence was recorded in song and handed down through the generations. The! sailed further north up the coast and stopped at the outh of the "hanganui ,i&er. (ecause it was so wind! there, Kupe na ed that place Te Kaihau#o#Kupe (Kupe's windeating). "hile e.ploring the "hanganui ,i&er, one of Kupe's crew was drowned crossing the ri&er to gather korau (wild cabbage). %is na e was +awa, and so that place was na ed Kauarapawa. The! left the "hanganui ,i&er and continued up the coast to +tea, where Kupe planted karaka seeds. 2ater, when he had returned safel! to %awaiiki, Kupe recalled this part of his *ourne! to Turi. In !ears to co e, Turi captained the waka $otea and e&entuall! settled his people in the +tea area. Kupe continued up the coast of Te Ika#a#Mui until the! ca e to the %okianga harbour, which was so bountiful with sea life that Kupe's daughter %ine#te#uira asked if the! could take possession of that place. Kupe agreed, and the tohunga recited their karakia and placed a stone of urutapu (na ed Ta ahaere) at the harbour's entrance. This was a &er! sacred cere on! and that particular place is still known to be tapu to this da!. The tra&ellers feasted in celebration at a place called Tarata#rotorua, then readied the sel&es for the long *ourne! back to %awaiiki. %okianga eans 'the returning place', and was so na ed because Kupe and his whnau departed fro that area. 0nce back in their ho eland, Kupe was asked an! )uestions about the land of the long white cloud. $nd so the stories of disco&er! and ad&enture were shared with the people of %awaiiki - stories of giant trees, ountain ranges, ri&ers full of fish and greenstone, and forests full of birds, so e standing taller than a an. So enticing were these stories that the people of %awaiiki wanted to see those places for the sel&es. Talk of following Kupe's tra&els to the distant shores of $otearoa beca e a realit! when new waka were built and an! ore people decided to lea&e %awaiiki to start a new life in the distant land. This was the beginning of the igration of the Mori people fro %awaiiki, and was ade possible because Kupe had chased the giant wheke across the +acific 0cean to disco&er a new and wonderful land called $otearoa.