Maori Place Names - 58

Tarukenga Marae,

Rotorua Outskirts

May 2009, Ajr

Visiting Tarukenga

I was on my way to Rotorua – not far from it in fact – when I spotted the sign pointing to Tarukenga Marae, just off State Highway 5, northwest of Rotorua, near Ngongotaha. I didn’t have far to go. Just a few hundred metres down the short side road I came to the cluster of houses that makes up Tarukenga and there, sitting on the brow of hill, against a backdrop of flax bushes, was Tarukenga Marae.

As usual, there was no one about, although I did get the very distinct feeling that I was being watched as I got out of my car to take a couple of exterior photographs of the marae setting. It’s home to the Ngati Te Ngakau/Ngati Tura hapu of Te Arawa iwi and the beautifully embellished wharenui (meeting house) is Te Ngakau, the whare kai, Hinetai. www.tearawa.iwi.nz