Whitianga Bay, 51.2km north east of Opotiki on the North Island’s East Cape, is one of the prettiest beaches you’ll find. I arrived there, on my recent North Island travels, on May 8th. It was a sunny afternoon at 1pm and when I saw
the sign pointing to Whitianga Marae, I turned right and drove up a short, steep, gravel road and found myself directly in front of the marae.
It sits on a grassy knoll overlooking the beautiful expanse of ocean and the pretty horseshoe bay, with a thicket of pine forest rearing up behind the buildings. I felt at ease there. I
felt a strong sense of peace and calm for reasons I couldn’t explain and I stayed for some time, sitting out the front of the marae, thinking about all the people who might have walked under its divine, ornately carved
waharoa (gateway).
I loved its lively painted fence. I admired the lush
pa harakeke (flax grown for weaving) that grew to one side of the car park. I wondered about the
war memorial commemorating the lives of all those lost in both world wars, the Korean war, the Malaysian and Indonesian conflicts and the Vietnam war; and I thought about the statue commemorating the life and bravery of
Te Moananui-A-Kiwa Ngarimu (1918-1943), who at 24 was a second lieutenant in the 28th Maori Battalion in Tunisia in World War II.
Of Ngati Porou and Te Whanau-a-Apanui descent, Ngarimu grew up in Rotorua. He was awarded the VC posthumously.
One of the most striking things about the
Whitianga Marae is the beautifully-carved
waharoa and as the afternoon shifted, I took great delight in photographing the marvellous shadows it cast across the marae lawn. They seemed to have a life of their own and as they stalked across the grass, it was almost
as if the carving was coming to life. All up it was a beautiful little stopover that I still think about frequently.
I've featured the Whitianga Marae on East Cape here before (click on the name in the label line below to see previous post), but it was one of my favourite stops on last year's East Cape trip, so I'm highlighting one of the carvings again. I particularly like the juxtaposition of this top carving against the corrugated iron backdrop. It's something of a statement about the coming together of two cultures in bicultural New Zealand. I spent a lot of time outside this marae. Perched on a hill overlooking Whitianga Bay, 51km from Opotiki, it had a prime spot - close to fishing resources, yet unseen from the road. I took dozens of photographs of their magnificent carved waharoa (gateway), which you can see in my previous post, etched in shadow across their grassy forecourt. Like most East Cape marae, it is heavily embellished with carving and painted detail - old and contemporary.
