Sky Piercer
photos by Mickey Ross
A ferocious wind tore out of the south and ripped at the ocean’s surface, churning the deep blue into surging violence. Waves battered the waka as Aoraki and his brothers struggled to keep the wooden canoe afloat on their voyage around Papatuanuku, the Earth Mother. With no land in sight the ocean floor reared up, flipping the waka and stranding the three sons of Rakinui, the Sky Father. Aoraki and his brothers climbed onto the top of their upturned waka. With nothing between them and the frozen wastelands of Antarctica the southern wind soon froze the brothers in place and turned them to stone.
Their canoe became the Te Waka o Aoraki, the South Island of Aotearoa/New Zealand, with Aoraki, the tallest brother as its highest peak. His brothers settled nearby and created the Kā Tiritiri o te Moana, the Southern Alps, the powerful mountain chain that forms the spine of this isolated isle.
This is one of the many versions of the explanation for how the Southern Alps and its crowing glory, Aoraki/Mt Cook came into existence. Up until today, the mountain is revered in Aotearoa/New Zealand and sacred to local Maori tribe Ngai Tahu.