Song and story of the Māori. The canoes/Tainui

Action song : Toia mai nga waka.

Legend tells us that when the canoes arrived in Aotearoa, they made their first landfall in the Bay of Plenty somewhere around the Cape Runaway district. After their arrival they dispersed and settled in widely separated districts.

Tainui was captained by Hoturoa, and first landed near Cape Runaway, then came up the eastern coast to the Waitemata harbour, up the Tamaki reach of the Waitemata, then after a bit of exploration on land, it was discovered that Manukau harbour opening on to the open sea of the west coast was separated from Tamaki by a fairly narrow strip of land, so it was decided to man haul the Tainui canoe across this isthmus. The chant by which the canoe was dragged has been preserved to this day. "Toia Tainui tapatu ki te moana, Haul Tainui to reach the sea".

After being launched in the Manukau harbour, the Tainui canoe sailed into the open sea and down the caost, parties from the canoes were landed at Raglan, Kawhia and Mokau.and the canoe was finally hauled ashore at Kawhia harbour. The descendants of the people who came in the Tainui live in well extended districts, they include the Waikato and the King Country tribes, the Thames Valley and the Coromandle Penninsular.