Kite

Manu Aute - Kite

Manu Aute - Kite

Uenuku and Kaharau

When Rāhiri’s first son Uenuku reached adulthood he went to Whiria to reclaim his birthright. He and his half-brother Kaharau fought, but Rāhiri made peace between them. He instructed his sons to weave a flax rope long enough to go around Whiria mountain.

The rope was attached to a kite which, after being launched, came to rest against a pūriri tree. Rāhiri named that place Whirinaki (which means ‘to lean against a support’). The kite was hoisted again and flew further eastward before landing on the banks of the Taumārere River. Blown by the easterly winds, it then landed at Tahuna, near present-day Kaikohe. Its path became the boundary that Rāhiri set between the Hokianga and Taumārere. He also decreed that the Hokianga lands would go to Kaharau’s descendants, and the eastern lands of Taumārere to Uenuku’s descendants.