Ko te ngohi moana i pae ki Te Māhia kua tōia ki uta. Nō te ata nei ngā karanga me ngā karakia ka whakahaerehia hei poroporoāki i te tipua tohorā i pae ki Te Ika Whenua, āra i te taha raki o Te Māhia, i te pō Paraire. Marū pai ana te takutai i te hunga e whakamīharo ana, otirā e hina pōuri ana.
He toto ki te moana, he paenga kauika ki te mahia i heke ai te roimata.
E ai ki te Heamana o Mahia Māori Committee a Paora Ratapu, “This is a big job for the local iwi here, Rongomaiwahine.”
Hei tā tētahi Kainoho a Te Ata o Te Rā Rere ki a Te Kāea, “We will treat this as a tūpapaku on a marae, and he will go from the marae to the urupa.”
E mahi tahi ana te papa atawhai me Ngāti Rongomaiwahine ki te Tanu i te kauika nei i mate inanahi whai muri i tōna paenga i te paraire.
E ai ki te Mangai o DOC a Jamie Quirk, “The other day he got driven in here when it was a South-Westerly which comes directly into the bay. He got stranded and died of natural causes.”
Hei tā Rere, “This is a natural occurrence. The whales would come to this point to travel to the other side of the isthmus. This was the shortest route.”
He mahi papatoiake. Inā hoki, tekau ma ono mita tōna roa, e wha tekau tana, arā, e wha tekau mano kirokaramu te taumaha.
E ai ki a Quirk he mea nui tēnei rauemi ki te iwi, “The cultural materials in this animal would be the teeth but also the bones and especially the jawbone.”
Hei tā Rere, “They were buried here and buried deep enough to stop people from digging up the bones. Firstly we would remove the jawbone and that would go to Rongomaiwahine.”
E whakapaetia ana ka ono ki te waru haora te roa o te to i te tohora tōna rima tekau mita ki konei ki tōna takotoranga. Kātahi ka tapahia te kauae. Ko te toenga, ka tanumia.
“What we don’t want to do it break it or burst it. It’s got to be done correctly.”
Mai anō mai anō te paenga o nga kauika ki tēnei takiwā. E ai ki te mātanga mahi kauika nei, ka kitea ia rima ki te ono tau.
Hei tā Quirk, “During the year we get a large number of whales washing up on this beach. A majourity of them are smaller whales, generally about 3-4 meters long.”
Ahakoa te taumaha, e mea ana a Ngāti Rongomaiwahine, he hua nui ka puta i tēnei kura wānanga.