Here, the harbour is not an end, but a threshold

The next morning we climbed to Arai Te Uru. On one side lay the sheltered Hokianga Harbour; on the other, the Tasman Sea kept arriving. The sand hills rested between them.

The harbour’s full name, Te Hokianga-nui-a-Kupe, is bound to the navigator Kupe and the idea of departure and return. Local tradition says that when Kupe left, Arai Te Uru and Niua on the northern shore were appointed guardians, watching over vessels and those passing through the harbour mouth. The entrance looks spacious and calm, yet beyond it lie shifting bars, currents and open sea.

The wind was strong at the summit. On the way down, our two children each took one of my hands—they said my hands were too cold.