Kua hoe te iwi tūmatanui i te awa tūpuna o Waikato i Kirikiriroa mā runga waka tāngata me te rongo i ngā kōrero tuku iho. He mea uaua tēnei haerenga te whāwhā e te iwi whānui, heoi, kua whai wāhi i raro i te karanga o te hui taurima o te awa o Waikato.
E whai ana i ngā tapuwae o ngā mātua tūpuna o nehe i runga i te awa o Waikato.
“Mō ngā tāngata katoa,” i kī atu a Noenoe Kerr, kaiarataki o te waka.
“Māori mai, Pākehā mai he aha atu rānei, kia kite rātou i ngā hua o ngā mahi waka i te ao Māori. Ngā painga ō roto, kia kohi hoki rātou he tūmomo mātauranga mō te rohe o Waikato, mō ngā kōrero hoki o te awa o Waikato.”
I mea atu te Kaihautū o te hui taurima a Lee Ann Muntz, “Ko te hiahia ka hono ngā iwi ki te awa. Kia tiaki tō mātou tūpuna awa, kia hono ki te awa. Honohono ngā iwi katoa ko te whakawhaungatanga hoki.”
Nō te tīmatatanga o te marama tonu i tīmata ai ngā whakatairanga i te tuku takutaku i te wāhi orokohanga o te awa ki te Iti o Waikato i Tūrangi. Koinei te tau tuarua e tū ana te hui taurima.
“Ko ngā mahi toi, ngā mahi rāranga, mahi poi, mau rākau, whakaairo me te kapa haka hoki,” i kōrero atu a Muntz.
Ko te nuinga o ngā tohunga ki konei, ko te nuinga mō konei, Tainui waka.”
“Ko tētehi o ngā tino whakataukī taku nei mōhio, o te awa o Waikato. He piko te taniwha, Waikato Taniwharau,” i mea atu a Kerr.
“I te ao Māori ko te taniwha tētahi kaitiaki. I ngā rā o mua ia piko, i reira tētahi Pā mō ia o ngā hapū iti o Waikato. Ko nga taniwha me kī, ngā kaitiaki o āua Pā, ko ngā rangatira.”
Hei te paunga o tēnei marama tū ai tētehi konohete pūoro ki Te Pūaha o Waikato, hei whakakapi i ngā whakanuinga.
