"Anticipation is growing. The warriors are ready. They're preparing themselves.
The paddlers are already on their waka," Scotty Morrison, alongside veteran journalist Tini Molyneux, told viewers from the banks of the Waikato River. It was Thursday, and the body of Kiingi Tuheitia was being escorted to the barge to take him to his resting place on Taupiri maunga. That prompted Morrison - the presenter of TVNZ's Te Karere and Marae - to recall that council permission was required in 2006 for Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu to make the same journey.
Times have changed. "In 2008 after the Waikato River settlement ..
. a request was put in by Waikato Tainui that they had more control over the river. This time they could say: 'We're taking our King on the awa at this particular time,'" Morrison said.
"That's mana motuhake for you," Molyneux replied. Times have changed a lot for the media since 2006 too. Whakaata Māori now has two TV channels, which both carried live coverage of the ceremonies over five days.
The Kiingitanga's own channel also broadcast live throughout on YouTube and Facebook as well. Another broadcaster who joined that epic broadcast on Friday, Matai Smith, reminded viewers that the notion of media is not what it was in 2006 either. "We know that we live in a world of TikTok and Instagram.
[We know] the relevance of the Kiingitanga to Waikato Tainui, but also to us here in Aotearoa - and many of us could be seen as quite ignorant of the significance of this kau.