Spirit of Adventure

Te Ao Hou, December 1962, Page 41

Spirit of Adventure Now he is looking for thirty men, Maoris for preference, who possess the necessary spirit of adventure for an expedition of this kind—‘I'm not interested in anyone who says it can't be done. The men I want must have a positive outlook and be prepared for some degree of hardship with cheerfulness and optimism.’ The vessel will have to carry radio, lifeboats, lifebelts and rafts, but apart from this he plans to make the conditions as traditional as possible. The main diet for all will be taro and kumera, and a quantity of dried fish and karaka berries will also be included. ‘As far as I'm concerned at the moment there will be nothing cooked on the voyage. Everything will be either dried or preserved and for the entire trip members of the expedition will be living on a spartan diet.’ Training would be required and much of it would have to be done in their own time. Self-discipline would be a basic requirement, because the early Maori voyagers were able to travel for long distances without water. One other difficulty will be that the ocean winds are not nearly as favourable for a voyage from New Zealand to the Central Pacific, as they are for canoes coming in the other direction. Mr Metekingi gives his reasons for the voyage as being sentimental, historical and scientific, and hopes to be able to make a start in a few months.