A gift and a challenge for vice-president
Joe Biden welcomed at Government House, Thursday, 9.55am.
Everything is silent except for the faint buzzing of a chopper overhead.
US Vice-President Joe Biden steps forward and crouches down – eyes firmly locked on those of a man before him wielding a taiaha.
Biden runs his hand through the damp grass until his fingers find a wooden koha laid on the ground. He picks up the intricately carved treasure and walks backwards until he reaches the reassuring presence of a kaumatua.
The kaumatua says something only Biden can hear before a kapa haka group bursts into song.
It is 9.55am on Thursday and Biden is being welcomed on to the grounds of Government House in Auckland.
After the singing of the StarSpangled Banner he and Prime Minister John Key go inside for a bilateral meeting which lasts about two hours.
Biden spent about 24 hours in New Zealand all up. He’s the most senior US politician to step foot on New Zealand soil since President Bill Clinton in 1999.