Tainui ancestor Taikehu is responsible for giving the Manukau Harbour its name. He christened it Manu-ka-u, where manu means "bird" and ka-u means "the sound of", recognising the plethora of seabirds alighting on the tidal mudflats. Given 60% of the country's wading birds use the harbour during any given year, this title is understandable. Legend also has it that Taikehu dipped his hand into the water and caught two fat mullet! Tarakihi are usually caught in large numbers near the harbour entrance these days. Talking of which, the harbour entrance and the infamous sandbar were christened Te Manukanuka o Hoturoa by another Tainui ancestor, Hoturoa, due to his understandable anxiety when negotiating his waka's passage through the broiling waters off the coast and past Paratutai - "rise and fall of the tide" - en route to the comparative shelter of the harbour. Which wasn't always as it appears today. Back in prehistoric times, the Manukau was a large bay which fed straight into the Tasman Sea. We have the volcanic cones of the central plateau to thank for the formation of the sand-based barrier which grew to form the sheltered haven we know in the 21st Century, numerous eruptions directing quartz and pumice northwards along the Waikato River to mix with the existing iron sand and form the underfoot base for which the Manukau's southern shores are noted today. In these days of global warming, it's challenging to conceive the idea of there having been ice age periods at various times during the past two million years. But the polar ice caps were far greater in mass than is the case today, so much so that it wasn't till around 5000 BC that the Manukau Harbour filled with the volume of water for which it is now known. It's hard to conceive the Manukau as a river, winding its way through a forested valley to the sea, but that is what history suggests it was like in times past. Little wonder it is the shallow harbour it is in light of this knowledge. Information sourced from "Not Just Passing Through - The Making Of Mt. Roskill", by Jade Reidy in 2007, and "Waitakere Ranges: Nature; History; Culture", by The Waitakere Ranges Protection Society Inc in 2006, edited by Bruce and Trixie Harvey. Background photo features "San Tongariro" approaching Cape Horn, while in the distance (top right), "Westport" is at anchor.