Kupe and Te Wheke

According to Maori oral history, the great navigator Kupe discovered Aotearoa (NZ). Kupe lived with his family in Hawaiiki, growing crops and fishing the bountiful oceans. Also on Hawaiiki lived the priest Muturangi, who kept a giant octopus as a pet.

For fun, the octopus took to stealing the baits from Kupe’s fishing lines. When Kupe found out about this trickery, he chased the octopus across the ocean in his waka Matahourua. He caught his prey in Cook Strait between New Zealand’s North and South Islands, and the two fought a great battle.

During the struggle, the octopus’s tentacles gouged out the Marlborough Sounds. Finally Kupe killed the beast, cut out its eyes and placed them on rocks near the entrance to Queen Charlotte Sound.

This place is today known as Nga Whatu – “the eyes” (also known as The Brothers).