As dusk falls in Wellington, a cast - or crew - of thousands will take part in a celebration of New Zealand's voyaging past to open the New Zealand Festival. A fleet of double-hulled Pacific vaka and Maori waka taua, or war canoes, will be the visual highlight of an event that will also include sounds of the Pacific, a mass choir, a thousand-strong haka and a musical score by Warren Maxwell (Trinity Roots, Little Bushman). On 24 February the vaka and waka will beach on the Petone foreshore, inviting people to come on board. (Photo shows a similar scene from Waitangi in February 2015). Maui's Ark will take you behind the scenes, talking with some of the crew conducting a scientific survey one of the vaka will make collecting waste plastic waste as it sails down the East Coast to the rendezvous in Te Upoko O Te Ika - the mouth of Maui's fish, ie Wellington Harbour.