Aotearoa

Aotearoa is the Maori name for New Zealand. It means land of the long white cloud
The prompt for this week at Poets United is cloud

Mount Cook is the highest mountain in New Zealand. The photos of  Mount Cook (Mount Oaraki) were taken when me and Peggy walked the Hooker Valley Track a week and a half ago. It is about 4 hours drive from Christchurch. We stopped at Lake Tekapo, had a walk around and we ate lunch at Lake Pukaki. At Mt Cook we went straight to the start of the Hooker Valley Track which leads to the glacier and is roughly 3 hours return. It is getting more and more popular and the number of tourists are increasing rapidly. I understand. 

I am sad that there are a lot of problems in this country but for me Aotearoa is about nature, is about beauty at the very core. I feel very attached to it and grateful that I can go out there any time and emerge myself in it. I hope that it doesn't get destroyed as some rivers and lakes are already very polluted in NZ. Luckily we have lots of protected areas. We have about 13 national parks and many reserves.

Hooker Valley Track

Aotearoa

Aotearoa land of the long white cloud

spilled over the Canterbury planes

draped over the mountains who

raise their heads throughout the land

blessing the land with Aoraki,
son of the sky father

resting with his frozen thighs

on the wet wild scentless earth

looking over sailing icebergs

as ice crystals soften into sea

creating a canvas of turquoise

Aotearoa land of the long white cloud

invites me to its lakes
invites me to its mountains
invites me to the ocean,

cradling these intriguing islands

I observe the clouds collide

and merge in understanding

A breeze whispers to
listen to natures intelligence

born out of an ancient wisdom
Its beauty matching our hearts

Aotearoa land of the long white cloud

With a heartbeat of all that is real

with veins that fill the land with blue blood

with the skin of soft and swirling folds

with the sensual touch of the sun

sliding down the mountains, inch by inch

creating shadow and light, yin and yang

in deserted places of sacred silence
where the song of the bellbird is enough

I join the people who flock this land

on a pilgrimage to the pastures

of penetrating beauty, of preservation of life

A natural heritage of an untamed place

sold by many to the modern world

Icebergs from Aoraki (Mt Cook)

Glacier lake Pukaki with Aoraki on the background with a whiff of cloud above

Lake Benmore in the early morning

Peggy next to the church of the Good shepherd at Lake Tekapo