This story uses the Taranaki mita when spelling maunga, which local hapū and iwi spell as mounga.
Picture this: you’re doing some high-altitude camping on Taranaki’s Pouakai ranges, waking up just in time to crawl out of your cosy sleeping bag, unzip your tent and stand out in the crisp morning air to bask in the soothing sunrise. As te rā rises in the east over the world’s largest ocean, golden streams of light start illuminating Te Pouakai and its imposing neighbour, Taranaki Mounga. When the sun is perched high enough in the heavens to bathe Aotearoa in daytime, you notice something beautiful – a wavy blanket of clouds cloaks everything beneath your mountain-top perch, making it seem as if the mounga is floating like a waka does on te moana nui a Kiwa.
