'Our Waka Hourua ‘Tairāwhiti’ is named after the Tairāwhiti Gisborne/East Coast area - the coast where the sun shines. ‘
Tairāwhiti’ follows great voyaging traditions, providing an opportunity for cultural and sailing experiences where storytellers share our authentic Polynesian waka with the public. It’s also used as an alternative educational platform as a floating classroom for the benefit of school pupils in the region. So haere mai, welcome aboard the Waka Hourua for a journey that spans millennia, from canoes carved by the ancestors using stone age tools and the great trees provided by Tane Mahuta (God of the Forest) - sailed by man to discover and settle the Islands of the Pacific Ocean, to the fibreglass hulled vessel we berth today'