New Zealand Walking Tours
Waka, Wars, Wines and Walks Phillip Donnell explores dition a taniwha called Tuhirangi took the 2014 Te Tau Ihu settlement the attractions of Marvellous (probably a dolphin) guided him. for the Maori names of more than 30 The remains of early Polynesian set- landmarks to be officially recognised. Marlborough. Captain James Cook was the first
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n Karaka Point, Marlborough, an isolated pa overlooking the sea, stands a carved wooden pouwhenua of Kupe, the mythical tupuna, or ancestor figure, locked in battle with the giant octopus Te Wheke o Muturangi, which he fought in Tory Channel. Local place names and traditions suggest that Kupe discovered what is now Marlborough. In Māori traAbove top: Peaceful Anakiwa. Below left: Picton Harbour at dawn. Below right: Davies Bay, Queen Charlotte Sound.
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tlers were found at Wairau Bar. Māori made adzes from argillite rock, found on Rangitoto ki te Tonga (D’Urville Island). The northeast corner of Te Waipounamu (the South Island) is part of Te Tau Ihu o te Waka-a-Māui (the prow of Māui’s canoe). Marlborough as a whole, however, did not have a Māori name, as some eight separate iwi occupied different parts and simply gave names to their own jurisdictions. The largest such area was Wairau. Nine local chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi on 17 June, 1840, but it
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European to visit, arriving in 1770 in his waka the Endeavour. Subsequent European names in this region focus on British war heroes, in particular the 1st Duke of Marlborough, an English general and statesman. Blenheim (Waiharakeke – “flax stream”) recalls the Battle of Blenheim (1704), where troops led by this general defeated a combined French and Bavarian force. Picton (Waitohi – a baptismal rite) is named after Sir Thomas Picton, the Welsh military associate of the Duke
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