The Waitaha have been struggling to be recognised as an independent people, the first indigenous people of Aotearoa/New Zealand. They have been subsumed by later warrior tribes, but their philosophy and culture is peaceful and different from their conquerors. In 2004, an extremely rare gold-colored kea/parrot was sighted near their mountain Aoraki. In Waitaha mythology, such a bird would be thought to carry messages from the ancestors and it is understood to be a sign, or "tohu". "Tohu" seeks to explain the significance of its appearance and in so doing affirms man's role in nature as "kaitiaki", or caretaker of the environment. In Aotearoa/New Zealand as elsewhere, wildlife has suffered terribly from loss of habitat, the result of intensive farming practices. This film is a tribute to the beauty that still exists in the natural birdlife and landscape of this country.