Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Te Manuka Tutahi Marae
MARAE
( 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 meet-
ing house. In 1879 it was dismantled 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 excel-
lent 90-minute cultural tour (adult/child $49/15).
Whakatane District
Museum
MUSEUM, GALLERY
( 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 building has artfully presented displays on early Maori and European settle-
ment 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 gal-
lery section presents a varied program of NZ and international exhibitions.
Wairere Falls
WATERFALL
(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 un-
heralded: in any other country there'd be a ticket booth, interpretive audiovisual displays
and a hotdog van!
Pohaturoa
LANDMARK, MONUMENT
(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 per-
formed. 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.
Muriwai's Cave
CAVE
OFFLINE MAP
GOOGLE MAP
