Rereka ki te Toka Nā DR REGINA EISERT rātou ko DR MATIU PREBBLE, ko DR GERARD O’REGAN.
FOLLOW THE BIRDS
THIS PAST SUMMER, THREE NGĀI TAHU EXPEDITIONS FOLLOWED THE
path of the birds and whales to the Southern Ocean, reigniting a long-standing interest in one of the most enigmatic regions of the world’s oceans. Gazing south, a vast expanse of water links Bluff to the great ice barriers guarding Te Tiri o Te Moana, the Antarctic Continent. On the way lie the Subantarctic Islands, cool and damp, sparse on top but with rich animal and plant life about the coastal edges and recognised as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. These remote islands recall what Te Waipounamu might have looked like before humans first arrived. Pressing on, we arrive in the Ross Sea region. Seabirds and whales 44 ı TE KARAKA
come here all the way from New Zealand, Australia, and as far as Tonga to feed under the midnight sun during the short polar summer, when the Southern Ocean teems with prey. EXPLORERS, HUNTERS AND SCHOLARS The teams who travelled south followed the steps of early explorers. Ground-breaking work led by Ngāi Tahu archaeologist Atholl Anderson and Gerard O’Regan, in the late 1990s established Maukahuka – the Auckland Islands as the southern point of the Polynesian Triangle. About 700 years ago, Māori established camps on Enderby Island. Atholl found that they hunted seals and nesting seabirds and collected shellfish, but from his initial findings suggested that they did not stay long.