A family is full of praise for a bus company's mercy dash to Whangarei Hospital's maternity unit to make a special delivery.
The delivery - to a young mother expecting her first baby - was a carved waka paddle, or hoe, that her mother, Tarena Eketone, accidentally left on a Mana Bus in Auckland.
Ms Eketone brought the paddle from Wellington, intending to give it to her daughter on the birth of her baby, due last week.
But when she changed buses in Auckland for the leg to Whangarei, she left it on the bus.
The paddle, an early 21st birthday gift for her daughter, was handcarved by Ms Eketone's cousin to represent "the women in the family".
She chose it instead of a traditional key because, where a key represented becoming an adult, her daughter was already finding her own way in life, she said.
With Ms Eketone by her side, the young mother was induced on July 5, and her healthy baby was born in the early hours on July 7.
The day before, the paddle was also delivered to Te Kotuku Maternity Ward - by the bus company.
"I hopped off the bus feeling like I had forgotten something," Ms Eketone said. "It wasn't until the bus took off that I realised I had left it in the overhead compartment."
She said her husband had worried the paddle would get lost if she took it on the bus.
A distraught Ms Eketone continued her journey to be at the birth, and Mana Bus staff tracked down the paddle.
The company's normal policy is for passengers to collect left luggage themselves.
But staff felt strongly about hand delivering the paddle because of its significance and because they didn't want Ms Eketone to miss the arrival of her grandchild, commercial manager Benjamin Lee said.
Digital marketing manager Nikita Fraser travelled by Mana Bus from Auckland the next day, with the paddle belted into the seat beside her.
"I couldn't sleep that night," Ms Eketone said. "I was unsure whether the paddle would really make it home, it seemed too good to be true.
''The paddle was supposed to be a surprise for my daughter, but I had to tell her about it as soon as I saw her in case it never came back.
"I was overwhelmed at the support from ManaBus.com to locate the paddle. I feel so grateful. The hoe is full of aroha."
Ms Fraser was thrilled to be able to return the gift.
"When I arrived at the hospital, Tarena greeted me with a big hug, tears in her eyes, and she just couldn't believe the paddle had made it home.
''I felt so honoured to be able to reunite Tarena and her family with this special gift."
Ms Eketone said she wanted to pass on something with significance to her whanau and to honour its generations of women.
In a twist ending to the tale, the baby who it was assumed would be a girl is a boy.