Hinemoa lived in the village of Owhata, on the shores of Lake Rotorua.
She was a chieftainess of a tribe and became friendly with Tutanekai, a young man who lived 4km away on Mokoia Island. Their friendship and subsequent love was frowned upon - Tutanekai, you see, was an illegitimate son.
He
would sit outside his whare and play his flute, the sound drifting across the water to Hinemoa.
The couple's tribes did not want them to marry and took to beaching the canoes at night so the pair could not meet.
One night, a tearful Hinemoa could bear it no longer. She lashed six gourds together and swam toward the sound of Tutanekai's flute.
Exhausted, she reached the island, and sank into a hot pool to recover. As she relaxed, she was startled by a man filling a calabash from a nearby cold water spring.
To disguise herself, Hinemoa called out loudly, impersonating a man's voice. "Who is that for?"
The man replied he was a servant, collecting water for Tutanekai.
Hinemoa was delighted to know she was so close to her love.
She grabbed the servant's calabash and broke it on the rocks. The servant reported this strange encounter to Tutanekai, who ignored it, too tired to investigate.
But when it happened again, and again, he angrily stormed down to the rock pool where he discovered Hinemoa. The couple returned to Tutanekai's house.
The next morning, a servant noticed an extra pair of feet in Tutanekai's bed.
Their union was reported to the tribe, which finally accepted the couple's love - a love that was also immortalised in the song Pokarekare Ana.
