This old pa site at Aotea Harbour was right at the doorstep of the place where we stayed for two nights. The harbour in front of the pa was named after the Aotea canoe which is said to have arrived around 1300.
The Tainui canoe arrived about 50 years later and the people from that canoe settled at nearby Kawhia, just down the coast. The Tainui and Aotea tribes lived in harmony until the 1600s when battles started because the Kawhia people were expanding.
The two tribes united when their rohe (area) came under attack around 1800 from inland Tainui. The defeated people fled south to take refuge in pa still controlled by Te Rauparaha, trekking to Taranaki and then on to Horowhenua.
For a long time after their defeat this pa site was left empty, until the defeat of Waikato by Ngapuhi at Matakitahi in 1826 when survivors from that conflict settled here.
The book said it was an easy climb to the top – no it wasn’t. The long grass came half way up my body and it was impossible walking through it. Plus there was some dead gorse in the midst of the vegetation. I did not want to disappear into an old kumera pit so I called it a day and came back down.
The pa site is not a “wahi tapu,” a sacred locality like part of the foreshore – but when I gained the ridge I felt I shouldn’t be up there.
While it’s winter time I’m posting some walks we did years ago, this is one of them. It was a lovely summers day with a warm wind blowing when we crossed the coast to Muriwai from our place at Snells Beach. It was an easy walk and we were able to see the gannets up close.
There used to be two pa at Otakamiro Point where the gannets now are. There’s a seal colony at Oaia just off shore. The gannets began establishing nesting sites on Oaia, then in 1975 on they moved to Motutara Island, and from there they settled on Otakamiro Point, one of only two mainland nesting sites in NZ.
The white fronted terns occupied Motutara Island. Then came the gannets. The gannet invasion of Motutara Island caused the white fronted terns which formerly nested there to shift down to the small crevasses on the sheer cliffs.
To really top the walk off there was a sea cave on the beach. All in all it was a cracker day.
Walk: Auckland 11
History
The earliest known chief associated with the Motutara area was a renowned rangitira or chieftain known as Takamiro. He, like his famous contemporary Tiriwa, lived at a number of places between Motutara and Whatipu, although he generally occupied the headland that dominates Muriwai Regional Park. This landmark, and the pa which was constructed on it, are still referred to as ‘O-Takamiro’ or ‘the dwelling place of Takamiro.’
Both Tiriwa and Takamiro were Turehu leaders credited in tradition with great spiritual power, and with the ability to modify the landscape.
Korekore Panear Muriwai Beach
According to local tradition the area was subsequently settled by the ‘Tini o Maruiwi’ or the people of the Kahuitara canoe who migrated north from the Taranaki coastline. Some of this iwi settled on the coastline between the Manukau and Kaipara harbours where they intermarried with the Turehu people.
Ngati Te Kahupara, a sub tribe of both Te Kawerau a Maki and Ngati Whatua descent, lived at Korekore pa until the 1700s. The pa was abandoned before the coming of the European.
“The largest of the pa on the west coast is at Muriwai and is known as Korekore or Oneonenui and locally as Whare-kura. This pa has been fully described by Firth while Best also makes reference to it in his monograph on the Pa Maori.
This conspicuous headland pa jutting out into the sand dunes about 2½ miles to the north of Motutara was until 1938 one of the best preserved of pa sites. Its covering of pohutukawa and puriri trees has however been since removed and the whole area grassed. To prevent cattle and sheep being trapped, many of an extensive series of subterranean storage chambers have been blocked up, while the huge defensive earthwork 60 feet across and 27 feet deep has been partially infilled to provide tractor access to the western section of the pa.
The carvings on the side of the large storage pit situated on the ridge running south-west from the main pa are still in a good state of preservation, as are house sites and storage pits in this area in general. But much of interest on the main pa site has been obliterated. There was a kumera pit 28 x 21 x 7 foot deep.”
Source: Maori in the Waitakere Ranges, by J.T. Diamond, p 304-314/p1
Pillar, ancient Korekore pa siteA member of the Auckland Tramping Club exiting the mouth of a burial cave at Korekore Pa site with view down onto the dunes, beach and sea in the distance.View of dunes, Korekore Pa site and Muriwai Beach 1905, Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections JTD-01E-01240
The track to Orokawa Bay starts at the northern end of Waihi Beach. Orokawa Bay is a perfect, unspoilt beach overhung by ancient Pohutukawa trees. A side track leads up to the 28m high William Wright Falls (30 minutes return) which we didn’t have time for.
The coastal stretch from Orokawa Bay to Homunga Bay is worth doing but we didn’t have time for that either, it would have been four hours return. The walk there and back to Waihi Beach was about 90 minutes.
There are two old pa sites in the area. Neither pa is named nor is there any signage. The area was devastated by Ngapuhi raids in the Maori Musket Wars. By the time the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840, few Maori remained.
This is a small estuary, prolific with birds despite the close proximity of housing. The walk goes over a swing bridge and along the banks of the Waikanae River to the Waimanu Lagoons. There we were treated to a special sight, a white heron (kotuku) who lives at the lagoon. The bird is so rare that the Maori have a saying, “He Kotuku rerenga tahi,” “a Kotuku’s flight is seen but once.”
The beach is only a short walk from the lagoon, where we watched the sun set over Kapiti Island, 5 kms offshore.
Walk: Kapiti 33
History
Te Uruhi, a former pa site at Waikanae, was one of three ancient pa sites mentioned in the book ‘THE ART WORKMANSHIP OF THE MAORI RACE IN NEW ZEALAND,’ published in 1896. Elsdon Best wrote, “I have seen the remains of an old pa at Waikanae, called Te Uruhi, the fence of which has been a mile in circumference.”
Unfortunately the site would have been obliterated by developer’s bulldozers.
The Waitaha, first inhabitants
“Archaeological and ethnographical research suggests that Waikanae may have been first inhabited by the Waitaha moa-hunters as early as a thousand years ago.” The Waitaha people were replaced by successive waves of settlement of the Ngāti Apa, Rangitāne and Muaūpokoiwi (tribal groups).
In the 1820s the infamous Maori leader of Ngāti Toa, Te Rauparaha, moved into the area and based himself at Kapiti Island.
In this 1840s image of Te Rauparaha, he wears a feather in his hair and a pōhoi (feather-ball earring). Te Rauparaha is famous for the role he played during the musket wars.
In 1824, Waikanae Beach was the embarkation point for a force of 2,000 to 3,000 fighters from coastal iwi, who assembled with the intention of taking Kapiti Island from the Ngāti Toa led by Te Rauparaha. Crossing the strait in a fleet of waka canoes under shelter of darkness, the attackers were met and destroyed as they disembarked at the northern end of Kapiti Island.
…..
Te Āti Awa of Wellington
In the 1820s the Taranaki tribes iwi Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tama, Ngāti Mutunga and Ngāti Maru Wharanui began moving to the Kapiti area after being driven south by Waikato tribes in the Maori Musket Wars. The tribes moved back to Taranaki in 1848 but some Atiawa iwi remained in the Kapiti area. Source: Te Āti Awa of Wellington
…..
The Waikanae Estuary Scientific Reserve
The Waikanae Estuary Scientific Reserve is a nationally–significant reserve located at the mouth of the Waikanae River. The reserve was established in 1987 to protect the large number of bird species that use the area.
…..
Thomas the goose
Here’s something funny and sweet – a local story about a goose called Thomas who lived at the Waimanu Lagoons from 1970 to 2018.
“Thomas had a relationship with a male black-feathered swan, Henry, for approximately 18 to 24 years until a female swan, Henrietta, joined them. Thomas initially attacked the pair, which included breaking two of the five eggs that Henrietta had laid. But once the remaining eggs had hatched, he became friendly and helped raise them. Henry could not fly because he had an injured wing, so Thomas helped teach the cygnets to fly.
Thomas was left alone when Henry died in 2009 and Henrietta flew away with another swan. Thomas later met a female goose and had his own offspring, for the first time, in 2011. The offspring were then taken by another goose. After going blind and getting attacked by swans, he was moved in 2013 to the Wellington Bird Rehabilitation Trust in Ohariu, and stayed there until his death in 2018. A plaque was placed at the lagoon to remember him.” Source: Wikipedia
The locals even had a funeral for him
Links
We stopped at the Southward Car Museum on the road to the Waikanae Estuary walk. It’s well worth a visit.
Te Ātiawa ki Kāpiti History : The earliest accounts of Te Ātiawa ki Kāpiti go back to the Kāhui Mounga Collective that had spread itself from Taranaki and the Central Plateau region through to Te Ūpoko o te Ika. During this time, further waves of migrations occurred.
Two of these migrations began with the arrival of the following waka to Taranaki; Te Kahutara, Taikōria and Okoki.
The names of these iwi were Te Tini-a-Taitāwaro, Te Tini-a-Pananehu, Tamaki, and Te Tini-o-Pohokura, names after four brothers who led their people to Aotearoa.
This is our first South Island walk, an old pa site on a headland near Picton.
The pa was built by the Ngati Mamoe as a defensive pa as it was protected by cliffs, and they could see who was approaching from Queen Charlotte Sound. There’s now a fenced pathway down the once impregnable cliff-face.
The site is part of the Maori Musket Wars.
In 1829-30, Te Atiawa swept into the sound to attack the resident tribes who had never before met with muskets. As news of disastrous attacks elsewhere in the sounds (East Bay and Endeavour Inlet) was received from lucky escapees, large numbers of Rangitane and some of their Ngati Apa allies retreated to the pā at Karaka Point, believing it to be impregnable.
The attackers drew near in their canoes and started picking off the defending chiefs and warriors with their muskets. The defenders tried to escape up the hill but the hidden assailants in the scrub then joined in the attack, and the occupants of the pā were effectively ambushed and totally annihilated.
The pa was never again occupied. For some years the land on the deserted headland was cleared and farmed, but was later gifted to the nation and the site became a Scenic and Historic Reserve in 1953.
It was a place where terrible events occurred but the land overlooking the beautiful sound is peaceful now. The InterIsland ferry was cruising down the calm water of the Tory Channel just as we arrived at the reserve.
Walk: Marlborough, Picton 1
Notes
The Ngati Mamoe are an ancient tribe who were there before the explorer Kupe –
“Kupe and his people discovered people at various places. These people were the Mamoe, the Turehu, the Tahurangi, the Poke-pokewai, the Patupaiarehe, the Turepe and the Hamoamoa. They lived on the fronds and berries of the trees, and the roots of the earth.”
Source: Volume 28 1919 > Volume 28, No. 110 > The account of Kupe and Tainui, by George Graham, p 111-116
The Ngāti Māmoe were the original people on the Heretaunga Plains, Hawkes Bay but they were driven south by the Ngati Kahungunu.
Rangitāne: At first Rangitāne lived in the Heretaunga (Hastings) area. Later, they travelled south and occupied Dannevirke, Wairarapa, Wellington, and Wairau in the South Island. They also moved west to Manawatū and Horowhenua, the tribe’s main centres today.
Ngāti Apa: The people of Ngāti Apa live in the Rangitīkei region, towards the south-west of the North Island of New Zealand. Their traditional lands extend between the Mangawhero, Whangaehu, Turakina and Rangitīkei rivers. This area is bounded by Whanganui River in the north-west, and Manawatū River in the south-east.
This ancient pa was a familiar sight in my childhood, when every other week we’d go past, crossing the Tutaekuri River on our way to the Hawkes Bay Milk Co-op. I remember the pa being a bare hill with deep defensive scarps and a quarry at the bottom. The lower part was almost quarried away. The site became a reserve in 1972, the year after I left. The site looks different now with the trees and pallisading.
The Otatara Pa reserve encompasses two pa, the upper level is Hikurangi Pa, the lower one marked by the pallisades is Otatara Pa proper. The pallisades had been erected in 1990 by the Maoris at Waiohiki to make it look more like a pa from the 1800s, to provide “an interpretation of the defensive structure.” The Ngāti Paarau of Waiohiki Marae are now the site’s guardians.
The pa site from the road, 2006The back of the pa site, 2025Family visit 2006
Waiohiki Marae is just across the bridge over the Tutaekuri River. Otatara pa didn’t belong to that tribe as they were never able to take it, so their ancestors settled in Waiohiki Pa on the other side of the river instead.
A brief history of the area is on the boards as you enter Otatara Pa. The wave pattern on the entrance carving depicts the migration of groups to Otatara over a long period of time.
As a child I didn’t realise how how much land (33 hectares) the pa site covered. Now I’ve learned it was one of the largest and most significant archaeological landscapes in NZ. In keeping with today’s ‘right-think’, the timeline at the entrance only goes back to the 1500s with the descendants of Awanuiarangi, the eponymous ancestor of Te Ātiawa (see below).
Also mentioned on the timeline is “Te Tini” which would be the people of Toi. Toi (an explorer from around 1150 AD) is widely acknowledged as the principal ancestor of many North Island tribes.
There is more information on the board displaying these artifacts: “The people who lived in the pa were descendants of Awanuiarangi. They were known through the generations as Te Tini o Awa, Ngati Kouapari and Ngati Mamoe (or Whatumamoe). Ngati Ira also lived on this pa. Te Tini o Awa (descendants of Awanuiarangi) also lived at Heipipi Pa at Bayview.”
The Ngāti Māmoe were one of the original people groups on the Heretaunga Plains (see the links below) but they were driven south by the Ngati Kahungunu who are now the dominant tribe in Hawkes Bay.
Artifacts from the info board at the entrance
Number 2 and 3 of the above artifacts look pre-Maori. Ngati Mamoe from the info board were settled in the land before the explorer Kupe. (Note, there are two Kupes.) Before them were the Maruiwi.
Otatara Pa at Taradale and Heipipi Pa at Bayview, Napier were once on the shores of the Ahuriri lagoon until the land lifted after the Napier Earthquake in 1931. Our farm was once on the edge of this lagoon. The neighbouring farm was Park Island, so-called because it used to be an island, and beyond was the Napier Harbour Board Farm. The Harbour Board got the land from the sea after the Napier earthquake.
As well as being a historic site the views over Taradale and Hawkes Bay are just beautiful.
Walk: Hawkes Bay 31
Links
DOC, Otatara Pa Historic Reserve – A series of tribal groups (iwi) once occupied these sites: Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Whatumāmoa, Rangitāne, and (most recently) Ngāti Kahungunu. All have distinct perspectives on events. Elders say that a chief named Koaupari built the original Ōtātara Pā.
Ngati-ti-Koaupari were exterminated at Mohaka, Hawkes Bay. [See “the end of this people“ Journal Polynesian Society, Vol. XV., p. 25.]
Early Māori History of Napier
Tribal traditions, whakapapa and archaeological evidence all indicate many centuries of Māori occupation in Ahuriri (Napier), centrally located within the wider area of Te Matau-a-Māui (Hawke’s Bay). Te Matau-a-Māui translates to the ‘fish hook of Māui’ and is an allegorical reference to the legendary explorer and ancestor Māui who fished up Te Ika-a-Maui (the North Island).
Early Māori tribes in the region descended from Māui and down through Toi-kai-rākau, and included Ngāti Hotu, Ngāti Mahu and Whatumamoa. When Ngāti Kahungunu arrived in the region in the sixteenth century, Whatumamoa, Rangitāne, Ngāti Awa and elements of Ngāti Tara were living in Pētane, Te Whanganui-a-Orotū (the Napier Inner Harbour, also known as Ahuriri Harbour) and Waiohiki. These groups are all ancestors of the current hapū within Te Matau-a-Māui.
Ngāti Kahungunu became the dominant tribal group in the region through both warfare and strategic marriage though large numbers left the area in the 1820s due to armed raids from both the west and north, and most sought refuge at Māhia. They started ‘filtering back’ to Ahuriri-Heretaunga in the 1830s and 1840s with the Treaty of Waitangi providing the prospect of ‘being able to return to their ancestral lands in peace’.
Te Awanuiarangi is recognised as the founding ancestor of Te Āti Awa. According to Te Āti Awa traditions, he was the product of a union between Rongoueroa and Tamarau, a spirit ancestor. Awanuiarangi is also an ancestor of Ngāti Awa in the Bay of Plenty. However, while Ngāti Awa trace their ancestry to the Mataatuacanoe, some Te Āti Awa trace their origins to the Tokomaru canoe whilst others remember the connection to the Kaahui people or the people that walked here before the floods (?)
Kupe and his people discovered people at various places. These people were the Mamoe, the Turehu, the Tahurangi, the Poke-pokewai, the Patupaiarehe, the Turepe and the Hamoamoa. They lived on the fronds and berries of the trees, and the roots of the earth.
Source: Volume 28 1919 > Volume 28, No. 110 > The account of Kupe and Tainui, by George Graham, p 111-116
Kāti Māmoe (also spelled Ngāti Māmoe) were originally from the Heretaunga Plains of Hawke’s Bay. Early migration stories say the Ngāti Mamoe were forced out of their home in the Heretaunga, and took refuge in Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington) with the permission of Ngāi Tara‘s ancestor and namesake, Tara. Later after they had moved down to the South Island, they defeated Waitaha along the east coast of the South Island.
The pa is described in page 393 of The art workmanship of the Maori race in New Zealand as “an ancient pa of great size, the earthworks covering many acres, and extending over three of four spurs of the hill.”
Section of a large pa at Taradale, Hawke’s Bay. The sketch section of the ditches and banks show the strength of the defensive works ; such was the extent of the pa that a very large number of men must have been required to repel a large attacking force. This pa is only one of many visible from this place. It is situated on a high spur above the river, and covers several acres.
Heipipi Pa at Bayview, Napier is described in page 303 of The art workmanship of the Maori race in New Zealand as, “A celebrated pa of the autochthonous people overlooking the outlet of the Petane Valley, near Napier.” Autochthonous means “native to the place where found; indigenous.” In 1896 it would have meant the pre-Maori people, Ngati Mamoe or Maruiwi.
The Ngati Kahungunu then moved south into Hawke Bay, first overcoming the Maruiwi in the Heipipi Pa on a hill at today’s Bayview, and in the Otatara Pa above Taradale. Tawhao settled by the Ahuriri estuary (at Napier) and Taraia settled along the Tukituki (near Hastings). Full story
According to T.M.R. (Boy) Tomoana, a Waipatu elder who was interviewed in 1971, the original inhabitants of the Otatara area were the Ngati Hotu and Ngati Apa tribes. The former tribe is now non-existent and the Ngati Apa is reduced to a very small number.
Paku Peak offers fine views over Tairua, Pauanui, the Slipper and Shoe Islands and beyond to the Alderman Islands.
There’s a short rocky scramble near the top of the peak but nothing too hard. Shell middens lining the path show the site was heavily occupied in its time.
Walk: Coromandel 16
History of the area
The known history is it was a Ngati Hei stronghold, then it succumbed to Ngati Maru invaders in the 17th century, who occupied it until heavily armed Ngapuhi with muskets swept down the coast in the 1820s.
In European times Tairua began as a timber milling town where vast amounts of kauri and other native timber was shipped out from the small port on the Tairua River.
in 1964 the only known artifact linking these shores to Eastern Polynesia, a fish lure, was found in the sand dune behind Tairua Beach. It’s identical to examples from the Marquesas.
Here’s the picture I took at Auckland Museum.
Here’s information from a report commissioned by the Waitangi Tribunal from 1996 for the claim Wai 406:
Wai 686, THE ISLANDS LYING BETWEEN SLIPPER ISLAND IN THE SOUTH-EAST, GREAT BARRIER ISLAND IN THE NORTH AND TIRITIRI-MATANGI·IN THE NORTH-WEST Paul Monin
1.4 The pearl shell lure
“Archeology is a source of infomation on these first migrants. The pearl shell lure found at Tairua, which is identical to examples ..from the Marquesas, is impressive evidence of migration from Eastern Polynesia.”
1.3 The strategic location of the Gulf Coromandel Islands
The Gulf islands lay alongside surely the busiest waterways of pre-European Aotearoa, those connecting Northland with the Waitemata, the Waikato and the Bay of Plenty (and beyond to the East Cape). All canoe traffic between the Bay of Islands and the Bay of Plenty passed close by Great Barrier,Little Barrierand the Mercury and Aldermen’ Islands.
Meanwhile, all canoe traffic .. utilising the porgtges of the Tamaki River, which granted straightforward passage across the isthmus between the Waitemata and·Manukau Harbours and between northern Aotearoa and theWaikato River system, passed close by the inner Gulf islands: Waiheke, Ponui etc. Of this canoe ‘traffic, inevitably all was not friendly. Hence these islands were not places. where inhabitants could expect to be left undisturbed to enjoy long and unchallenged tenure. At times, they would have felt as vulnerable as.the occupants of a motor vehicle, caught stalled on the shoulder of a modem motorway. It was a location that was in no way conducive to a sense of security.
1.4 The pre – ‘waka’ Peoples
Another source of information on these first migrants are the very early traditional stories associated with the Hauraki Gulf, comprehensively compiled recently by Graeme Murdoch, the current Auckland Regional Council historian,.
Perhaps the first people to inhabit the inner Gulf islands were the Tutumaio, so named by Wiripo Potene of the Kawerau hapu of Ngati Kahu. They were displaced by later arrivals, the Turehu, who occupied Motutapu, Motuihe and the adjourning mainland where they were known as Maewao.
“The Maewao people travelled around the islands of the inner Hauraki Gulf between sunset and sunrise in their canoe ‘Te Rehu O te Tai’, gathering kai moana and such foods as seaweed of which they were particularly fond”, Murdoch elaborates. (perhaps these peoples were the Maruiwi, much referred to in local traditions.)
At about this time the Polynesian explorer Toi Te Huatahi visited the islands of the Hauraki Gulf naming them collectively, ‘Nga poito 0 te Kupenga 0 Toi Te Huatahl,’ or ‘the floats of the fishing net of Toi Te Huatahi’. He named Little Barrier, ‘Hauturu 0 Toi’; and the entrance to the Waitemata Harbour, ‘Te Whanganuio Toi’, or ‘the Great Harbour of Toi’.
This is a nice walk on a hill above the town of Coromandel.
This historic pa site is so old even the name is forgotten. There are good 360 degree views over the town. Few signs of the old pa remain.
At one time Coromandel town was a major port serving the region’s gold mining and kauri industries. Now the main industries appear to be mussel farms and tourism. It’s a charming little town.
This headland pa site is at the southern end of Opito Bay, defended by steep bluffs and cliffs. It has good views in every direction. The pa site is accessed by a long flight of stairs. Opito Beach is lovely too, it’s a short stroll along the beach to the stairs.
Walk: Coromandel 11
Links
Ngāti Hei is recognised as the dominant tribe of the Mercury Bay area and can trace its roots to the arrival of the Arawa canoe at Maketu around 1350AD.
Sarah’s Gully remains an important archaeological site with many excavations carried out starting from 1956-60. Discoveries include evidence of prolonged early settlement with abundant moa bones, human skeletons and evidence of at least six periods of habitation, only the top four of which Sue mentions have been reliably linked to early Maori.
OPITO BAY, COROMANDEL PENINSULA, MOA-HUNTER COMMUNITY CONTEMPORANEOUS WITH WAIRAU BAR: Adzes, in differing styles, were produced in high numbers for many years and found their way to New Zealand’s most ancient sites.
Whitianga Pa is just a short ferry ride across the channel from the main shopping centre. At one time the pa was ringed with stone terraces and strongly fortified. The historic wharf which is still in use was built in 1837 from the stones.
The pa was once occupied by Ngati Hei but in the mid eighteenth century it was ransacked by a war party of Ngai te Rangi. It was long burnt and abandoned when Captain Cook visited Whitianga Rock in November 1769.
Cook was greatly impressed by the pa, he said, “the Situation is such that the best Engineer in Europe could not have choose’d a better for a small number of men to defend themselves against a greater, it is strong by nature and made more so by Art”
You can still see a defensive ditch, the post holes in the rock and the middens.
Walk: Coromandel 12
Notes
Ngati Hei date back to the arrival of the arrival of the Arawa waka in 1350 but this site may be older than that. From the placenames people of Maui and Kupe were there before them …
The Māori names of Hauraki places tell the story of discovery and settlement, beginning with the exploits of the mythical Māui.
Coromandel Peninsula: Te Tara-o-te-Ika a Māui (the jagged barb of Māui’s fish), or Te Paeroa-a-Toi (Toi’s long mountain range)
There is a petroglyph at a ritual site in nearby Flaxmill Bay. I didn’t see it but I know it was there from the archaeologist’s report AINZ32.4.182-192Furey.pdf, T11/109. Flaxmill Bay is situated between Cooks Beach and Ferry Landing.
It consists of a face in relief on the edge of a small pool within a stream bed. Together with another small pool, these were cut off from the main water flow by a diversion channel.
▼
Image below: Is this Maori? This ivory reel necklace from Whitianga is at Auckland Museum. Similar necklaces, consisting of cotton reel shaped pieces held together by cord, were found at Wairau Bar near Blenheim in the South Island.
Links
Incised stone at the high tide level of a nearby beach at Whitianga. The question remains… Ancient??? or contemporary?
NZShortWalks 