Cramped sleeping conditions, no toilet, and showering with buckets of salt water. These are the living conditions for crew members of two Hawaiian va'a that have docked in Whangarei.
The canoes named Hokule'a and Hikianalia arrived in Whangarei on Saturday. The double-hulled waka are here on a worldwide voyage, that started in Hawaii in 2013, called Malama Honua, a Hawaiian term that reflects the core value of the voyage - "caring for island Earth".
Crew member Daniel Lin said while some might find the spartan living conditions tough he was having an adventure of a lifetime. He said the aim of the journey was to circumnavigate the world and talk about world conservation and cultural preservation while in port.
"The hokule'a is a symbol of deep cultural meaning and heritage. It was built in 1975 from a painting as an experiment to disprove Western science that Pacific people weren't clever enough to navigate. So in 1976 it was sailed in Tahiti and it has been sailing ever since then."
The canoe is navigated in a completely traditional way, no GPS, no compass, instead trained navigators use the stars and the natural environment to guide the crew to find land and islands.