Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
( 07-308 4271;
www.mataatua.com
; 105 Muriwai Dr; 9am-4pm Dec-Feb, reduced hours Mar-Nov)
The centrepiece of this recently opened Ngati Awa
marae
isn't new:
Mataatua Wharenui
(The
House That Came Home) is a fantastically carved 1875 meeting house. In 1879 it was dis-
mantled and shipped to Sydney, before spending 71 years in the Otago Museum from
1925. It was returned to the Ngati Awa in 1996. You can check out Mataatua Wharenui
from the outside for free (behave respectfully), or book an excellent 90-minute cultural
tour (adult/child $49/15).
Whakatane District Museum
MAP
MUSEUM, GALLERY
GOOGLE MAP
( 07-306 0509;
www.whakatanemuseum.org.nz
;
Esplanade Mall, Kakahoroa Dr; admission by donation;
9am-5pm Mon-Fri, 10am-2pm Sat & Sun)
This impressive new museum-gallery in the library build-
ing has artfully presented displays on early Maori and European settlement in the area:
Maori
taonga
(treasures) trace a lineage back to the
Mataatua
canoe. Other displays focus
on Whakaari (White Island) and Motuhora (Whale Island). The gallery section presents a
varied program of NZ and international exhibitions.
Wairere Falls
(Toroa St)
Tumbling down the cliffs behind the town, picture-perfect Te Wairere (Wairere
Falls) occupies a deliciously damp nook, and once powered flax and flour mills and sup-
plied Whakatane's drinking water. It's a gorgeous spot, and goes almost completely unher-
alded: in any other country there'd be a ticket booth, interpretive audiovisual displays and
a hotdog van!
WATERFALL
Pohaturoa
(cnr The Strand & Commerce St)
Beside a roundabout on the Strand is Pohaturoa, a large
tapu
(sacred) rock outcrop, where baptism, death, war and
moko
(tattoo) rites were performed.
The Treaty of Waitangi was signed here by Ngati Awa chiefs in 1840; there's a monument
to the Ngati Awa chief Te Hurinui Apanui here too.
LANDMARK, MONUMENT
Muriwai's Cave
MAP
CAVE
GOOGLE MAP
