Auckland:
Capital city of the South Pacific!
Many people and cultures traveled
by sea and air to this farmost land
to spread their generations.
All of us have a right to identity here.
Fat wood pigeons and tuis
catch the
currents
between Nikau palms and old puriri
collapsed under their own weight.
Te Hunga Rere Tai
gazes
from three storeys,
out across the native bush at Opahi Bay.
Adventurous sea-going friends
commission a carving for the lounge
of their new bushland home
overlooking the sea
and their yacht Queen B.
.
already split from the sun,
but majestic and meaningful
as any message on a pole.
He recognises all ancestors
of the people of New Zealand
He represents the nature of traveling
and welcomes you to Aotearoa
whoever you are
Ko Te Hunga Rere Tai,
te ingoa o tenei whakairo.
He tohu o nga tupuna katoa
- "New Zealand was settled by many peoples and cultures, who have traveled by sea and air to these shores."
- Te Hunga Rere Tai was carved by Mark Klarisich of Opononi.