Moana, the northern royal albatross met the girls who gave her her moniker during a visit by the Tainui School pupils to Taiaroa Head yesterday.
The chick which hatched at Taiaroa Head on Otago Peninsula in January, was named Moana (meaning ocean, sea, wide expanse of water) following a public naming process which drew 2400 name suggestions.
Tainui pupils Dakota McKenzie and Aleece Hosking (both 9) won a close encounter with the 9kg fluff ball after the name chosen by the pair was selected by public vote from a shortlist of five names selected by Department of Conservation and Pukekura Co-Management Trust judges.
The girls' Room 7 classmates were also given a tour of the colony as part of the prize.
Dakota said inspiration for the name came from a kapa haka class she and Aleece had just finished.
``We wanted to call it Ocean, but Ocean didn't sound right. We do kapa haka and we had just finished doing some so we decided to put it in Maori.''
The girls said they realised the name was ``perfect'' after learning the bird would spend up to 10 years of its life at a time at sea.
During a 10-minute meet and greet, Moana and Dakota and Aleece appeared equally impressed with one another.
The giant chick flapped her 2m-long wings occasionally during the encounter.
However, Aleece concluded there were ``a few'' similarities between herself and the chick.
``We probably make our mums do everything for us, getting the food and stuff.''
The meeting was ``really really cool'' Dakota said. She vowed to return to the colony with Aleece when Moana returned from her minimum four year jaunt around the Southern Ocean.
Department of Conservation threatened species ambassador Nicola Toki said Moana was likely to leave the colony next month.
She was ``thrilled to bits'' by the interest a web-cam trained on the chick's nest had received.
``Within three months we had 12 years' worth of views on YouTube.''
Although the girls and Moana shared developmental similarities, she did not think they would soon embark on a four-year OE like Moana.
``I would love to see them come back when Moana does come back, though,'' she said.
