Hawaiki

And it wasn't until I went to school where they said, like, the more specific you get about yourself and your own experiences and your own perspective, it's going to have an inverse effect and more people are going to be able to relate to your poems.

It literally taught me how to write a good poem and also doing that school That kind of led me to getting my first book published.

I wrote Pocahontas when I was studying, and it also connected me to the community of writers that I have now, and that's probably been the ongoing inspiration for my writing is having other people around me who are doing it too.

So speaking of Pocahontas, one of the poems in the Hawaiki, very good, very good read.

I really enjoyed it.

Would you like to perhaps

So I wrote this book when I was like 21, and a lot of it's quite hard for me to read now.

I know one day hopefully I'll come back to it.

Story one, The Wanderers.

Somewhere far across the sea lies Hawaiki, that wonderful motherland, where the sun's rays glow from early dawn to sudden night.

Nobody knows now where that old land is.

Nobody has ever found it again.

When wars and famine drove them out from their ancient homes, they said, "Let us set out across the sea that we may find new homes in which to live." They sailed across tropical seas to the islands of the Pacific, some now and some again setting up their homes where the coconut and breadfruit grow.

There they lived their island lives, swimming, diving, fishing, boating, sometimes making long voyages in their carved canoes far out into the great unknown seas.

One voyager returned with tidings of a new land seen far to the south, with white-topped mountain peaks such as had shone in Hawaiki.

"Let us go to that land.

Story 1 of Maori Land Fairy Tales by Edith Howes Story 1 The Wanderers Somewhere far across the sea lies Hawaiki, that wonderful motherland where the sun's rays glow from early dawn to sudden night.

Nobody knows now where that old land is.

Nobody has ever found it again.

They sailed across tropical seas to the islands of the Pacific, some now and some again, setting up their homes where their coconut and breadfruit grow.

There they lived their island lives, swimming, diving, fishing, boating, sometimes making long voyages in their carved canoes, far out into the great unknown seas.

One voyager returned with tidings of a new land seen far to the south, with white-topped mountain peaks such as had shone in Hawaiki.

Let us go to that land.

These islands are already overfull, said some.

Story one, The Wanderers.

Somewhere far across the sea lies Hawaiki, that wonderful motherland where the sun's rays glow from early dawn to sudden night.

Nobody knows now where that old land is.

Nobody has ever found it again.

When wars and famine drove them out from their ancient homes, they said, "Let us set out across the sea that we may find new homes in which to live." They sailed across tropical seas to the islands of the Pacific, some now and some again setting up their homes where the coconut and breadfruit grow.

There they lived their island lives, swimming, diving, fishing, boating, sometimes making long voyages in their carved canoes far out into the great unknown seas.

One voyager returned with tidings of a new land seen far to the south, with white-topped mountain peaks such as had shone in Hawaiki.

"Let us go to that land.

Down the cliff there is a pahutakawa tree believed to have been planted by Kupe over 600 years ago.

There your spirit leaps off the tree and travels through the air back to Hawaiki.

Today marks the end of Te Riki o Te Reo Māori, Māori Language Week.

I'd like to acknowledge my first Māori language teacher from Pianga School in Turangi, Mrs Grace.