Waitangi Day 2026 in pictures: the waka, kapa haka and crowds

This year’s Waitangi commemorations have provided a platform for many diverse voices, for togetherness and disagreement, and for culture, fun and getting out into the sun.
Photo: Mark Papalii

After the Waitangi Day Festival dawn service at Te Whare Rūnanga – the Treaty Grounds, in the Bay of Islands, people lined the beach in front of Te Tii Marae and the Waitangi Bridge to watch the arrival of the waka flotilla.

Organisers prepared for some 700 kaihoe (waka paddlers) to make their way under the Waitangi Bridge to Te Tii Marae, led by the massive Waka Ngātokimatawhaorua.

Waitangi Day is marked at Waitangi, in the Bay of Islands, 6 February, 2026.

Crowds awaiting the arrival of the parade of waka.
Photo: RNZ/ Mark Papalii

Waitangi Day 2026, at Waitangi in the Bay of Islands.

Photo: RNZ/ Kim Baker Wilson

Bosco - known famously in Paihia as the ‘surfer dog’ - has made an appearance at Waitangi in the Bay of Islands.

But first, a cameo by Bosco, known in Pahia as “the surfing dog”
Photo: RNZ/ Kim Baker Wilson

Photo: RNZ/ Kim Baker Wilson

Photo: RNZ/ Giles Dexter

Organisers prepared for some 700 paddlers (kaihoe) to paddle under the Waitangi Bridge to Te Tii Marae, led by the massive Waka Ngātokimatawhaorua.
Photo: Mark Papalii

The waka are welcomed at the beach
Photo: Kim Baker Wilson

A group representing Pacific, Māori and Aboriginal Australian peoples waited at Te Tii beach to welcome the estimated 700 waka paddlers arriving on Waitangi Morning.
Photo: RNZ/ Kim Baker Wilson

A multicultural welcome for the waka
Photo: RNZ/ Kim Baker Wilson

Photo: Mark Papalii

Kaihoe power their way through the moana during the annual waka parade at Te Tii beach.

Kaihoe (waka rowers) power their way through the moana during the annual waka parade at Te Tii beach.
Photo: Layla Bailey-McDowell / RNZ

Photo: RNZ/ Mark Papalii

Treaty Grounds officials said about 3000 people attended the dawn service and there were about 35,000 people at the grounds by midday Waitangi Day.

Waitangi 2026 dawn service: In pictures

Albert Cash, kaihautū of the waka parade, spoke to RNZ just before the waka were launched this morning: “It’s exciting, what a beautiful day we’re blessed with,” he said.

People had come from all corners of Aotearoa to share in the ambience, and honour what the tūpuna signed,” Cash said.

“Waka is what’s brought us together, waka is what brought us across the Pacific.”

Photo: RNZ/ Mark Papalii

Waka arriving at Te Tii Beach, at Waitangi, during commemorations on 6 February 2026.

The arrival of kaihoe at Te Tii Beach.
Photo: RNZ/ Kim Baker Wilson

Photo: RNZ/ Kim Baker Wilson

Many took a break from the official Waitangi Festival programme with a manu (divebomb) from the Waitangi Bridge.

“We’re popping some manus out here today at Waitangi,” said one of the people lined up to leap from the packed Waitangi Bridge. “Why? For the culture – I’ve got 20 years experience and I’m kind of used to it,” he said.

It was his first time jumping from Waitangi’s bridge, “but I’m used to the height”.

While popular with children, adults were taking a dive too.

But one adult jumper said they was steering clear of the famed manu slap: “I backslap – so I just do a coffin [instead]. It’s not my first time but it’s great, I love it,” she said.

Jumping was only painful when landing in the water with your thighs, she said.

Many children and some adults took a break from the official Waitangi Festival programme on 6 February 2026 with a manu from the Waitangi Bridge.

Photo: RNZ/ Giles Dexter

Photo: RNZ/ Kim Baker Wilson

Crowds on the Waitangi Bridge, during the Waitangi Day Festival, on 6 February 2026.

Crowds on the Waitangi Bridge, during the Waitangi Day Festival.
Photo: RNZ/ Kim Baker Wilson

“This year’s kaupapa or theme is manaakitanga (hospitality) and Mō tātou, mā tātou (by all of us, for all of us),” the organisers said ahead of the festival, in the programme.

“Manaakitanga reflects the importance of caring for others, extending warmth, respect and generosity to all.

“Mō tātou, mā tātou reminds us that the future of Aotearoa is something we shape together. It speaks to collective responsibility and shared benefit, a commitment to build a future designed, carried and upheld by all who call this place home.

“As we gather to celebrate Waitangi, we invite you to honour these values, fostering an atmosphere of unity, respect and shared purpose.”

Hīkoi at Waitangi Day
Photo: Mark Papalii

Photo: Mark Papalii

Photo: RNZ/ Craig McCulloch

Photo: Mark Papalii

The chair of the Waitangi National Trust said Waitangi is a place for all New Zealanders, not just a few.

Tania Simpson said this year’s theme, ‘Mō tātou, mā tātou’, was about the constructing a future together.

She said New Zealanders from all walks of life should be respected.

“Whoever is in the conversation about where we’re going, it needs to be a future for all of us, a future that we can all see ourselves in.

“And that doesn’t mean sameness or homogeneity, it means that we collectively construct something that everybody feels their identity can be respected within.”