booay; boohai noun a remote area NEWZEALAND Probably a corruption of the Maori placename, Puhoi.
“Out in the sticks”, “out in the backblock”, “out in the bush”, “out in the booay”, “out in the cactus”, all have the same basic meaning of “fifty miles from nowhere.” — R.L. Bacon, IntheSticks, p. 184, 1963