Anyone who has driven between Christchurch and the West Coast has driven past the spectacular limestone battlements of Castle Hill – Kura Tāwhiti. For those of you who have never stopped – you should.
Sculptures of stone bridges and overhangs
Tomorrow, Waitangi Day, we are taking some friends to visit Kura Tawhiti for their first time. To them, Waitangi Day is just another public holiday, a chance to get out of town. I’m hoping that a day at Kura Tāwhiti will change that for them.
Anyone who has visited Kura Tāwhiti will get a sense that this is a special place. It has drawn people in since people first walked these lands. Early Māori left their stories here, marked on the stone and in the memories of their descendants. Māori believe that all things have their own life force (mauri). Wandering through Kura Tāwhiti I can believe that too.
“Kura Tāwhiti literally means “the treasure from a distant land”, referring to the kumara that was once cultivated in this region. Kura Tāwhiti was claimed by the Ngāi Tahu ancestor Tane Tiki, son of celebrated chief Tūāhuriri. The nearby mountains were famed for kakapo, and Tane Tiki wanted their soft skins and glowing green feathers for clothing to be worn by his daughter Hine Mihi. Stories like these link the landscape to the people – tangata whenua (people of the land).” (From DOC website)
The centre of Kura Tawhiti is like nature's ampitheatre
Under the Ngāi Tahu Treaty Settlement Act, Kura Tawhiti was given Tōpuni status, which is a legal recognition of the site’s importance to the Ngāi Tahu tribe. Tōpuni comes from the traditional custom of chiefs extending power and authority over areas or people by placing a cloak over them.
For some, Waitangi Day – the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 – is a day of protest and debate about its place and meaning in Aotearoa today. I prefer to celebrate it by sharing our beautiful country and all its many intricate layers of culture and meaning with friends. To share in a sense of pride and belonging. Like the limestone rock that makes up the battlements of Kura Tawhiti, Aotearoa has a rich and varied history, pressed together by time to create something magical.
Kura Tawhiti; photo Stuart Webb.
From Christchurch take highway 73 towards the West Coast. Kura Tawhiti is beside the highway in the Waimakariri Basin, about 80 minutes from Christchurch.
Adventure is crawling through a hole!
Coming up…
12 February – Darwin Day
http://darwinday.org/
Conservation Calendar 