Te Aurere
Ko Hōkūle‘a te tuatahi o te maha o ngā waka tauira. Whāia, ka tāraia e Hekenukumai Busby o Te Tai Tokerau a Te Aurere. I te tau 1992 ka rere te waka ki Rarotonga; ko Mau Piailug te urungi. Nā te tōmua o tōna whakaterenga, ka pākia a Te Aurere e te āwhā mō hia ngā rā. Ka waea mai Te Ratonga Tirorangi (New Zealand Meteorological Service) kia haere te waka mā tetahi huarahi, ka tohu a Piailug ki tōna ake huarahi i runga i ngā mātauranga i akona ki a ia. Hauware atu. Ka whāia ko ngā tohutohu a te Pākehā. Kātahi ka tino kino rawa atu te āwhā. Nāwai ā, ka tūpono rātou ki tētahi āwhā nui. Heoi nō konei ka whai rātou i ngā tohutohu a Mau, ka puta rā rātou ki te wāhi marino.
I te tau 1995 ka tere a Te Aurere mai i ngā moutere o Marquesas ki Hawaii i te taha o ētahi atu waka hōu, arā, a Tākitimu me Te Au-o-Tonga nō Rarotonga, a Hōkūle’a me Hawai’iloa nō Hawaii. I te hokinga, ka rere tika a Te Aurere mō ngā rā e 30 mai i Hawaii ki Rarotonga, ki Aotearoa.
Te Au-o-tonga
Ko Te Au-o-tonga tētahi waka i whakawhiti i Te Moananui-a-Kiwa. Nā ana haerenga ka mōhiotia ka taea te rere mai i te uru o Poronihia ki Aotearoa. Koinei pea te huarahi i haerea e ngā tīpuna o te Māori. Nā Thomas Davis i tārai a Te Au-o-tonga ki Rarotonga. Nāna i hautū te waka mai i Rarotonga ki Hāmoa. Heoi nō te kaha rawa o ngā ‘hau marangai’ o te rāwhiti, ka haere whakatetonga te waka ki Aotearoa kātahi ka rere ki Rarotonga i te raki.
He maha ngā waka kape kua whakaitia nā te mea ehara rātou i hangaia i ngā taputapu tūturu. Hei tauira, i tāraia a Hōkūle‘a mai i ngā papanga o te ao hōu, he mīhini ō Te Au-o-tonga rāua ko Te Aurere, ā, kei te maha o ngā waka ngā waerehi, aha atu. Hāunga anō a Hawaiki-nui; he waka tūturu tenei. Nā Mātahi Avauli Whakataka-Brightwell te waka i tārai i ngā tau tōmua o te tekau tau atu i 1980. Ko ngā takere i tāraia mai i te tōtara, ā, i herea ki te taura kopu i mahia mai i te weu kokonati. Ko ngā tokotū i mahia mai i te bamboo, ko ngā kōmaru i whatua mai i ngā rau pandanus. Kotahi anake te taputapu hōu, he waerehi. I te tau 1985 ka whakatere a Whakataka-Brightwell rāua ko Francis Cowan o Tahiti i a Hawaiki-nui mai i Tahiti ki Rarotonga tae atu ki Aotearoa. I tā rātou hekenga mai, ka tūpono te waka ki ētahi āwhā nui.
E mau ana i a Whakataka Brightwell te wairua o te whakaoranga o ngā mahi whakatere moana:
Ka noho au i te taha o Hawaikinui, me tētahi whakaahua o te tipuna o tōku matua ... kua whaona te waka ātaahua nei ki tōku hinengaro, tōku wairua – ngā tohu o ngā toki ki runga i te takere, ngā whakairo whakapapa, te rongo o te rākau me ngā taura. I rapu huarahi ahau i te ngarotanga o ngā whenua, te paheketanga o ngā tikanga me te reo, tae atu ki te kore mahi o taku iwi. 1