Walk #174, 18th October 2025
This white statue is a major landmark on the old SH1 road to Wellington. It’s been there all my life. We finally stopped to take a look after being at Queen Elizabeth 2 Park nearby. It was built in 1958. I think it’s New Zealand’s only religious shrine.
Walk: Kapiti 35
Links
There are two walks from the landing, the talk to the right takes you to the place where Green Lake flows into Lake Tarawera. The walk to the left takes you to Maori Rock paintings. The sign by the Tuhourangi iwi is very faded but this is what it says:
The rock art was restored by archeologist Trevor Hoskings. In 2009 Trevor Hosking, of Taupō, received the Queen’s Service Medal for services to the conservation of historic places. Mr Hosking had been actively involved in the restoration and protection of historic places in the Taupō area for more than 50 years. He worked to ensure the protection and restoration of local sites of significance, including the Armed Constabulary Hall, burial caves on Motutaiko Island, Rauhoata Cave, the Napier/Taupō Armed Constabulary Redoubts, the Te Porere Redoubt, the Tarawera rock drawings, and the Opepe Canoe. Source: Turangi Museum
The Tarawera rock art is mentioned in his book A Museum Underfoot, page 137-140.
Walk: Rotorua 28
Links
Rock Art
Rock art in New Zealand is generally associated with the limestone shelters of the South Island, but already the New Zealand Archaeological Association lists 140 rock art sites in the North Island, most in the central plateau region … There are differences. The North Island has more carvings, the South Island more drawings. Abstract motifs dominate in the North, more figurative forms in the South.
And there are regional variations. In Tokoroa and Rotorua, drawings and carvings of waka are common—the best known being the vivid armada drawn in red on the edge of Lake Tarawera—while in Taranaki, the spiral, circles and other “classic” Maori motifs predominate.
The Pink and White Terraces
The famed Pink and White Terraces, an eighth wonder of the world, were buried by the Tarawera eruption.
The Pink and White Terraces: Sound Archives: the Mt Tarawera Eruption
The Tarawera Eruption
Mount Tarawera in Eruption, June 10, 1886, from Wairoa
A phantom canoe was believed to have been seen by tourists at Lake Tarawera eleven days before Mount Tarawera erupted in 1886.
The Eruption of Tarawera (2000) Part 1
Te Wairoa
The village of Te Wairoa was established in 1848 by Christian missionaries as a model village. It was buried in the 1886 eruption.
This stone pataka was one of the first structures to be excavated. It was discovered by Vi Smith, the landowner while they were having a picnic by the Te Wairoa stream.
The pataka is much older than the village structures and was probably built by the first people to live in the lakes area. See my post on Lake Okataiana.
There’s another stone pataka on the south-east shore of Green Lake, near the former village of Epiha.
The Maori record that the original people, Ngati Ruatamore, were exterminated at Te Wairoa.
The carving below in the Buried Village museum is also much older. As you can see from the diorama, Lake Okataina is in the same area.
The last walk for 2019, and the most interesting yet. There’s so much to see.
Local residents banded together and formed a beautiful garden park interspered with sculpture, some of which can be “played” on. What they’ve created out of a disused quarry is amazing.
History: In 1864 the land was confiscated from the Maori in the land wars, and in 1911 it was turned into a quarry for the next 60+ years.
We met legendary local volunteer Jo Dawkins at work in the succulent garden. She explained that after hearing the council might reopen the quarry, the community decided they didn’t want the noise and heavy traffic and so they repurposed the land into a park and sculpture garden.
In 1993 the Te Puna Quarry Park Society was formed and in 2000 the park was officially opened.
Walk: Bay of Plenty 4
Links
Boosting butterflies at Te Puna Quarry Park
Te Puna Quarry Park celebrates 20th anniversary
I’m happy to see that they got their 20th celebration in the nick of time, just before the Covid-19 shutdown.
Every New Zealand town has it’s ‘thing’ and for the Bay of Plenty town of Katikati it is haiku.
A quiet walk alongside the Uretara River in Katikati, behind the main street, features thirty boulders engraved with haiku. It is the largest collection of “haiku stones” in English in the world.
There were some murals I liked as well. This one was my favourite as I’m a descendant of settlers who, in coming to New Zealand from Europe, Scotland and England, made the longest journey.
Finally, there’s a small scale replica of a kauri driving dam in the main street on the left as you’re heading for Tauranga. To see a working model, join us on our walk to the Kauaeranga Valley model dam near Thames.
Walk: Bay of Plenty 3
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