| The Whale Rider |
 "In the old days,
in the years that have gone before us,
the land and the sea
felt a great emptiness, a yearning. The montains were like poutama, the stairway to heaven, and the lush green rainforest was a rippling with kakahu of many colours. The sky was iridescent paua, swirling with kowhaiwhai patterns of wind and clouds; sometimes it reflected the prisms of rainbow southern aurora. The sea was ever changing pounamu, shimmering and seemless to the sky. This was the well at the bottom of the world and when you looked into it you felt you could see forever.
" A book by Witi Ihimaera - now a motion picture set in the traditional lands... of Aotearoa Koro Apirana - the Grandfather... Rawiri Paratene |