Uruao travelers!

Green grass stretching for miles, tall trees and bushes litter the area and whānau gathered all around, singing songs and dancing together. 

Sounds like a typical day in Aotearoa, but the Canadian sun shone a light upon familiar lands, new faces and exotic foods.

We stayed in tipi’s amongst each other, snuggled warm in our sleeping bags alongside giant moths and hungry mosquitoes at that moment in time we had never appreciated our comfy beds at home more. 

We were accepted into the indigenous culture of Canada - meeting people of the Cree nation; with native dances and beautiful songs, and in return we performed and sung our hearts out to show our appreciation.  

The Pow Wow struck our hearts and we were instantly in love, we were met with bright colours and feathers along with a fierce warrior dance that made our insides shake with excitement and our eyes open in wonder. 

Our time in Edmonton, Canada was short lived, mainly spending our time learning about the sacred culture of the first nations and performing our haka, our own warrior dances in front of excited and fascinated eyes. 

There were so many memorable moments.

The end of this part of our journey was washed with tears, the stories they told were of unforgivable actions; and these weeping families struck a bow in our hearts for our indigenous cousins. 

Once again, we're reminded of home. It ended with hugs and farewells, then we were off.

A huge mihi goes to Marylin Shirt from the Blue Quills University for hosting our travellers, the people of the Cree Nation and First Nations Tribes for hosting us on this journey.