When I took these two photographs, I was testing my new camera as much as anything and, in a remiss moment,
I forgot to note down the origins and history of this particularly beautiful carving. However, because it was situated between two large exhibits of
Ngati Porou meeting house carvings, made near Napier in the late 1870s, I am guessing this piece may be part of the same group - although I could be wrong. I won't prattle on - just in case, leaving you instead, just to enjoy the exquisite craftsmanship of traditional carvers.
www.otagomuseum.govt.nz
I almost sailed right by Maniaroa Marae on my drive from New Plymouth to Hamilton a couple of weeks ago. It was a cold, wet Sunday morning just after 9am and I was deep in thought - thinking about the little village of Mokau that I had passed through a few minutes before.
But just as I was about to swerve around a corner, I caught a glimpse of the deep red-brown carvings on the hillside to my right. I ground to a stop, reversed and took these photographs from the roadside. They're not as clear as I would have liked because they were taken long-distance, but they do give an idea of what a handsome set of buildings they are.
Maniaroa sits within the Ngati Maniapoto Rohe, just north of Mokau and just south of Awakino in the Waitomo District. It's a wild, windswept coastline with big seas that reminded me very much of the South Island's West Coast. I have read since, that some of the Tainui crew disembarked at Mokau and found shelter in a cave. Just south of that point, at Maniaroa Marae, the canoe's anchor stone is now embedded in concrete.
