Aotearoa: The land of the long white cloud

New Zealand's Maori name is Aotearoa (ow-tay-ah-row-ah). 

Legend has it that when land was sighted from the first migrating waka about 1400 years ago it was Kupe's wife Kuramarotini who called out ' he ao, he ao, he aotearoa!' (a cloud, a cloud, a long white cloud).

Waiting for Mish at my favourite little bay beside the airport, there was a very long chunky white cloud hanging in the sky from the entrance to Wellington Harbour, across Cook Strait and over to the city's southern suburbs. 

Here it is: a long white cloud. 

And up the hill behind me, a moa!