Paddlers travel to waka anniversary

The waka Te Hono ki Aotearoa (The Link to New Zealand) travels down a canal in the Dutch city of Leiden during a handover ceremony in 2010. Photo / Supplied

A group of top Northland paddlers are in the Netherlands celebrating the fifth anniversary of the first fully-carved Maori waka to be based permanently in Europe.

The waka Te Hono ki Aotearoa (The Link to New Zealand) was made in Doubtless Bay by master waka builder Hekenukumai Busby for the Dutch national ethnographic museum in the city of Leiden.

It was handed over in 2010 in an elaborate ceremony watched by thousands of people, including members of the Dutch royal family, crowding the city's canals.

Nga Waka Federation chairman Robert Gabel, of Kawakawa, said the group arrived on Monday afternoon in the midst of the national King's Day celebrations.

"It's pumping. Everyone's dressed in orange, bands are everywhere, and people are literally dancing in the streets," he said.

The group would spend eight days in Leiden teaching haka, waiata and drills to members of the city's Njord Royal Rowing Club, the student club tasked with paddling and maintaining the waka.

They would also hold public workshops on celestial navigation, voyaging and waka protocols. They planned to launch the waka on the canal next to the museum today.

London-based Kohanga Reo o Ngati Ranana will perform during public celebrations this weekend.

The group includes Robert and Rutene Gabel of Kawakawa; Chappy Harrison, Kaitaia; Fuifui Teevale, Kaitaia; Pomana Taniwha, Russell/Kaitaia; and Billy Harrison, Whangarei/Kaitaia. They are accompanied by carvers, weavers and officials from Toi Maori, the arts organisation that led the project.

Mr Busby designed the 16-man waka for Dutch conditions with an ability to turn in narrow canals and with a lowered taurapa (stern post) to fit under low bridges.

The waka originally formed the centrepiece of an exhibition on Maori art and culture and took part in the City of London Festival in 2011 and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee pageant on the River Thames in 2012.

The waka is on permanent loan to the Volkenkunde Museum in Leiden but Toi Maori retains ownership. It was built as a "waka for Europe" to promote Maori culture and New Zealand at events around the continent. The museum paid for the waka, a fibreglass training canoe and a carved waka shelter with a grant from the Dutch equivalent of the Lottery Grants Board.

Every year members of Njord Royal Rowing Club travel to Northland to take part in Waitangi Day celebrations.