Maiki's Starry Escape

Around me, the stars shone brightly. I could see them all as they shone in all their glory. I, Maiki, had been gifted with a telescope by my father when I was young. He had one too. I think it's what he used to find his way to New Zealand. In those days, we did not know that our island was indeed part of a larger landmass. We thought we were alone in the world, floating on the seas like driftwood.

I remember the first time I viewed the stars through my father’s telescope. It was an experience unlike any other. The stars looked so close! And yet… at the same time, there was something about them that seemed infinitely far away. The first time I saw Saturn through it, I thought it was a bird! It still is funny to think about now, but it made sense back then! My father had to explain to me how far away it really was and how small it looked because of distance. How we would say that things are ‘smaller than a penny’ if they were tiny, but ‘bigger than a breadbox’ if they were big!

But little did we know that day that our lives would change forever. There is no need for me to go into details anymore since you are reading this… but ever since then everything has changed so much. Our people have travelled across the seas and left our home behind to settle here on New Zealand - or Aotearoa as we now call it - and start new lives for themselves here. And now? Well, now… now we are just waiting for the settlers from across the seas to make their way here one day and find us living happily in peace!

It didn’t take long for word to spread of our island being made up of two separate islands. When they heard of this, many people started making plans to move over to the north island where the more fertile lands were found. That is why you cannot find anyone who knows how to navigate the stars well anymore anymore - particularly those who can calculate their positions above our island (though some elders do). In fact…my own son doesn’t even know how to read them properly! Although he does know which way north is…he just can’t always tell where they are in relation to us at any given moment!

That reminds me…it looks like a storm's brewing out there tonight again…must be heading this way from afar. That's weird though...normally you see clouds moving from east to west these days…not from west to east like this! But then again…maybe its nothing...maybe its just a regular storm after all...who knows? Oh well...I bet my son will be happy anyway as he won't have to go fishing when school gets out tomorrow morning if there's no wind blowing....he's always telling me how much he dislikes going out in bad weather!