Hinemoa was a Chieftainess of a tribe, who lived in a village of Owhata, located by the shores of lake Rotorua.

On lake Rotorua there is the Island of Mokoia, four kilometers across the water from Owhata. On this Island there lived another well born but unfortunately illegitimate young man named Tutanekai.

The tribes of the two young lovers would sometimes visit together for special occasions, so it was during these times that Hinemoa and Tutanekai would come to know one another and fall in love with each other.

The love of Hinemoa and Tutanekai would grow stronger and stronger with each passing day, and there were times in the evening when Tutanekai would declare his love for Hinemoa from the Island of Mokoia. Tutanekai would sit on the verandah of his house, which was on a hillside overlooking the Lake, and he would play his flute.

A gentle breeze in the evening would carry the sounds that Tutanekai played drifting across the waters of lake Rotorua.
Hinemoa as she stood on the shores of the lake would listen intently, embracing the music from Tutanekai as he declared his love for her.

However as often as it happens in life Hinemoa’s relatives suspected that she had fallen in love with Tutanekai and although he was considered a nice young man, it was not the wishes of the tribe that the two should unite together in marriage. Every night they would ensure that all the canoes were beached up so that Hinemoa would not be able to pull the canoe into the water and make her way across the lake to be with her lover Tutanekai.

One evening as Hinemoa stood on the shores of the lake with her heart so heavy and eyes full of tears, listening to the melody of Tutanekai’s flute, she felt she could bear it no longer. She lashed together six gourds in order to keep her afloat and waded herself out into the lake, being guided along by the music of Tutanekai,  she swam the long journey to Mokoia Island. When she finally reached the island after hours of exhaustion, she came across a hot pool and entered it.
She was trembling with cold from the journey but her heart was full of joy.