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Port Nicholson (Wellington harbour) was originally land-locked. It was a lake. Within this water lived TWO taniwha. The first was Ngake. Ngake was a vigorous, thrashing, turbulent taniwha, never at rest.
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Port Nicholson (Wellington harbour) was originally land-locked. It was a lake. Within this water lived TWO taniwha.
The first was Ngake. Ngake was a vigorous, thrashing, turbulent taniwha, never at rest. The other taniwha was Whataitai. He was the very opposite. He was easy-going and gentle-minded. When he moved, he moved easily and gently.
The two taniwha wanted to be free, to be out in the deep waters, that they could see on the other side of the land. One day Ngake decided to do something about it. He twisted his tail up behind him like a giant spring and with a RRRROOOOOAAAAR, he drove off down towards the south, down the bay, heading out to the great wall of land where Seatoun is now.
He hit it with such force that heSMASHED!right through the land and out into the open sea. Bleeding and battered, he swam off into the deep waters of Te Moananui-a-Kiwa.
Whataitai was very impressed and decided he too wanted to break out. However, he decided that he was going to go out his own way. He curled himself up into a great ball and with a MIGHTY push of his tail, headed south. But….the water was now shallow, Whataitai became well and truly stuck in the sand. He lay there for a very, very long time until a great earthquake lifted him up and he died a dreadful death. His wairua left him in the form of a bird, and the name of that manu was Te Keo.
Te Keo flew to a little knoll on Matairangi, or Mount Victoria, and he began to tangi.