Aotearoa 22 / Piopiotahi
Piopiotahi is the Te Reo Māori name for Milford Sound, a fiord that was formed by the atua (god) Tuterakiwhanoa. The name comes from the piopio bird, who was said to have flown through the mountains in mourning after the death of famed hero Maui.
Tuterakiwhanoa carved out the entire Fiordland coast from South to North using his toki (axe) and powerful karakia (spiritual chant), his skills continually improving until he came to Piopiotahi - his final masterpiece.
Early Maori began to explore Fiordland from about 800 years ago where they found the precious Pounamu or New Zealand Jade, commonly known as Greenstone.
Pounamu with its beauty, resilience and rarity has great spiritual significance to Māori people, and its possession is held in high regard. The Māori that gathered the stone from Milford Sound traded it with other tribes throughout the country.
With 1.2m hectares of virgin rainforest, fourteen fiords puncturing over 200kms of coastline and sheer granite mountains rising from the sea to over 2700m, Fiordland is an increasingly fragile home to a unique range of indigenous species. For some of our most treasured species like Kea, Fiordland is rapidly becoming their last remaining refuge.
Some of these images are available to be ordered as custom made prints. Proceeds from the sale of these prints will be donated to the New Zealand Nature Fund. You can read all about their conservation work, specifically their Fiordlands Project, at https://nznaturefund.org/
