This large Pohutukawa tree which produces a red crop of flowers in summer is called
Te Tuni a Manawatere by the Ngai Tai people, referring to the legend of one of
their ancestors, Manawatere. Manawatere was a voyager and explorer who is said
to have arrived in the Hauraki Gulf on the back of a taniwha. When he landed on
the beach at Owairoa (Howick), he made his tuhi (mark) on a Pohutukawa tree, not
far from Owairoa, using red ochre as a sign to those following, that he had found
a place to settle
(Taniwha - pronounced tuhn-i-fuh - can be a tribal guardian or monster
which lives in the ocean and inland waters, hiding in deep pools,
rivers, lakes and dark caves)
Pied Oystercatcher or Torea - the most common oystercatcher in New Zealand
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