Te Puia was about an hour’s drive from Huka Falls. Leaving Huka Falls we drove through some of the first evidence we’d seen of the damages from Cyclone Gabrielle. Trees up to a half meter through were snapped off like twigs. Larger trees were pulled out roots and all.
We soon reached Te Puia.
Te Puia is the home of the Maori Arts and Crafts Institute.
An enclosed facility, Te Puia has large art pieces as elements in it’s perimeter wall.
It also includes a kiwi rearing facility, geothermal pools, displays of large traditional Maori meeting and storage buildings, as well as a large war canoe and pre-contact style Maori buildings. There were also beautiful gardens and grounds complete with a variety of food and beverage service areas.
Here I am at the entranceway to the Te Puia grounds.
Prior to taking you through the facility, a little history is appropriate.
Te Wananga Whakairo Rakau, the first National School of Carving, was established in Rotorua in 1967 but it’s origins date back to the 1920s. Maori scholar and politician Sir Apirana Ngata (1874-1950) was instrumental in getting the Rotorua Arts and Crafts Bill passed in 1926.
Knighted in 1927, he served as a cabinet minister and was a lifelong advocate for Maori self-determination.
He negotiated an agreement with the Te Awara tribe to host and teach carvers, and include students from outside the tribe’s boundaries.
The school closed during WW II, but in the 1960s the 1926 bill was given new life with the passing of the New Zealand Arts and Crafts Institute Act 1967. Since 1967 it has trained carving in wood, jade, bone and stone and the weaving of traditional Maori textiles.
Once inside Te Puia, you are greeted by this entranceway to the Maori Arts and Crafts Institute.
Our guide, Kahu, was very knowledgeable, informative, engaging and used her sense of humour to keep us in line.
We learned a lot about the facilities, their purpose and how they function. We first learned about the carving program and then moved to the weaving and textiles area. As well as applications of textiles in garments, we saw traditional applications of textiles in making fishing apparatus.
This photo from the carving studio shows a student on the right in a grey t-shirt being instructed by a mentor in the black t-shirt. The black t-shirt with the white crest is the dress of the mentors.
Zooming out a little, you can see a variety of wall plaques behind the carvers.
This shows the area in the studio where larger carvings are prepared. Again you can see Mentors assisting students.
This is Mikeree, who seemed to be the mentor in our group. He explained the significance of facial tattooing. The tattoos identify the wearer, representing the bearers family, place of origin and trade or role within the local community.
A knowledgeable Maori meeting a facially tattooed individual can read their story.
We now moved to the textiles area. Here are a few examples of Maori baskets.
Here Kahu is presenting an example of a hand woven skirt (very small child size). This style of skirt uses hanging tassels which move as the wearer moves. Each tassel is hand made, a time consuming effort. These are then sewn into the waist band to assemble the skirt.
These are examples of adult size skirts. With each tassel individually hand-crafted, a great deal of effort goes into creating each of these distinctive and culturally important garments.
These show some very creative and beautiful styles achieved using traditional Maori methods.
They also reflect the accomplishments of the Institute in developing young Maori tradespeople and artists.
This shows a number of pieces of traditional fishing gear made using historical methods and native flax as the source of fibre. A fishing net is on the left. A bell shaped trap in front of the middle mirror may have been a lobster trap. The cone shaped object in front of the nearer mirror is likely some type of fish trap.
We then visited the kiwi habitat. This was in a low light environment as kiwis are nocturnal, and no photography was possible. Nonetheless, Te Puia plays an important role in kiwi conservation.
On to the geysers.
Whakarewarewa Geyser Terrace
During the 1800s there were 5 major geyser fields on the North Island. One was destroyed by a volcanic eruption in 1986. The others have been impacted by human interference, particularly the taking of steam or hot water to heat homes. Of 200 geysers active in the 19th century, less than 60 survive.
Whakarewarewa is the one major geyser field on the North Island that remains protected.
This is Pohutu Geyser, the largest geyser in the southern hemisphere (Pohutu means “constant splashing” in Maori). She erupts about once or twice an hour and can shoot up to 30 metres.
Here we have walked around the terrace and are looking back across the terrace at Pohutu from the other side. Pohutu is surrounded by other geysers, as reflected in the three steam vents. Two of it’s nearby geysers erupt regularly and two more erupt occasionally. A further pair of geysers that used to be part of the fame of Whakarewarewa are long since dormant.
This is the Nga mokai-a-Koko mud pool. Kahu said the locals use the hot muds for facials.
This is known as Blueys pool due to it’s cobalt blue colour. Kahu told us that Te Puia is part of her home village, and that after the facility closes for the day, people come out to Bluey and bathe in the warm waters.
Marae – The Meeting Place
A marae is a fenced-in complex of carved buildings and grounds that belongs to a particular tribe (iwi), sub-tribe (hapū) or family (whānau). Marae are used for meetings (hui), celebrations (āhuareka), funerals (tangi), educational workshops and other important events.
A marae incorporates a carved meeting house (wharenui), an open space in front (marae ātea), a dining hall and cooking area (wharekai).
This photo shows the stage at the front of the beautifully carved and decorated meeting house (wharenui).
Te Puia’s cultural events are held on this stage.
This shows an area inside the wharekai (dining and cooking area). Photos of revered elders and ancestors decorate the end wall.
Te Arawai – the carved waka taua (war canoe)
Waka taua are symbols of prestige (mana) for tribes and can be up to 30 m long and carry up to 100 warriors.
Te Arawai – meaning ‘pathway through the water’ was carved to commemorate the centenary of Rotorua in 1980. It’s 19 m long and can carry 30. It was carved from a single totara log, which would have come from a tree 1500 – 2000 years old.
Pre-contact style Maori buildings
While in somewhat poor repair, this communal sleeping house (wharepuni) is the type of structure slept in hundreds of years ago. They were small, compact buildings with small openings to preserve heat.
These are the other structures on display in the pre-contact building area. While there was no explanatory signage, they are presumably a cooking area on the left and a raised storage building on the right
With that, our tour of Te Puia ended and we were off to camp at Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday Park for an evening by the sea.