The book follows Māui as he proposes the idea to catch the sun and slow it down because daylight time is not long enough causing working and eating to be cut short.

The harsh ropes on his body caused Te Ra to feel tired and weak so when the brother's released him, he slowly floated through the sky.

In the myth, Māui and his brothers decide to slow down Te Ra when they were making a hāngi for their evening meal and had just finished heating the stones, when the sun went down, and it quickly became too dark to see.

[9] Maunga Hikurangi is the highest peak in the Raukumara Range and is recognised as the first point on the New Zealand mainland to greet the morning sun.

[10] Māori legends from the tribe native to this region, Ngāti Porou, say that when Māui fished up the North Island of New Zealand, Mount Hikurangi was the first point to emerge from the sea.

Created in 1999, under the tutelage of Derek Lardelli, to celebrate the new millennium, the whakairo stand as a tribute to the cultural heritage of Ngāti Porou, and as a legacy for future generations.