Anton Kuraia makes his way up Queen St to Auckland Central police station thanks to an escort by his colleagues. Photo / Supplied
Anton Kuraia makes his way up Queen St to Auckland Central police station thanks to an escort by his colleagues. Photo / Supplied
Two American tourists could be forgiven for confusing Anton Kuraia for an Arabian diplomat as he shook the hands of police officers and received a gift from world famous cricketer Martin Crowe.
Dressed as Lawrence of Arabia in tribute to TE Lawrence's desert pilgrimage, Whangarei policeman Mr Kuraia and hisArabian princess wife Louise arrived at Queens Wharf in Auckland via a police boat about midday on Waitangi Day.
Click here to see where it all began. A couple of American tourists caught up in the excitement of Mr Kuraia's arrival were overheard asking whether he was a visiting Arab sheik or diplomat and asked did New Zealand welcome all foreign dignitaries this way, with clapping and cheering from happy on-lookers and a line-up of uniformed police.
Mr Kuraia is walking 809km to Wellington to raise awareness and money for fighting cancer naturally.
He was diagnosed in April 2013 with acute myeloid leukemia - a type of blood cancer usually fatal within a few months. After 10 weeks in hospital and chemotherapy, he was discharged and told he would die within four to eight weeks. Mr Kuraia changed his diet completely, took intravenous Vitamin C and 10 weeks later, a bone marrow biopsy showed a complete remission of the cancer.
Yesterday, on day eight of his journey, Mr Kuraia said meeting Martin Crowe had been amazing and he had written a personal message inside the book he wanted to keep private.
