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Outdoor Education…Character development through the outdoors
The First Visitors Ngāi Tai are the Tangata Whenua, the Tainui Canoe moored in the shelter of the Peninsula from a storm while it was travelling up east coast of Aotearoa, having arrived from Hawaiiki in the 1300's.
The crew went ashore and ate fruit from the forest on the Peninsula. This is the origin of the name Whakakaiwhara, which means to eat (kai) the edible flowers (whara) of the kiekie vine.
The place where the canoe moored is known as ‘Te Tauranga ö Tainui’ or ‘The Anchorage of Tainui’ (see Duder Regional Park map). While the Tainui canoe was moored there, a crew member called Täne Whakatia planted a karaka berry on the point of the Peninsula. It grew into a tree known as ‘Huna ā Tāne’ or the ‘Tree of Tāne’ (see Duder Regional Park map).
Though this tree no longer exists, its descendants today are the impressive karaka trees on the Peninsula.
After leaving the Whakakaiwhara Peninsula, the Tainui canoe travelled west to the Tāmaki River. It was then carried across the portage from the Waitemata to the Manukau Harbour and eventually continued down to Kawhia.
According to Ngāti Tai tradition, there were already people in the Maraetai - Wairoa area when the Tainui canoe arrived. They were known as the ‘Tūrehu’ (those who arose from the earth). One of them was Hinerangi, who now stands on Maraetai Beach in the form of a rock known as ‘Ōhinerangi’.
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