Waitangi Day 2023: Waka parade dazzles

Waka line up on Tii Beach ahead of the Waitangi Day waka parade.

Always one of Waitangi Day’s – if not Northland’s – greatest spectacles, yesterday’s waka parade off Tii Beach featured nine waka ranging from doubled-hulled waka tangata [people’s canoes] to the great waka taua [war canoe] Ngātokimatawhaorua, which requires at least 80 paddlers to propel its 35-metre fully carved hull.

A doubled-hulled waka tangata [people’s canoe] taking part in Monday’s Waitangi Day waka parade.

Albert Cash on the beach at Te Tii for the waka parade.

Joe Conrad, kaihautu [captain] of war waka Ngatokimatawhaorua at Tii Beach, Waitangi.

The waka prepare to leave Tii Beach, Waitangi, for the annual waka parade.