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Nōti Raureka – path to pounamu
Image: Map showing Nōti Raureka (‘Pass’), drawn from information provided by a Ngāi Tahu kaumatua, 1860s.
Image courtesy of Julius von Haast collection. Alexander Turnbull Library (MapColl-q834.44cdc)
Exhausted and starving, Raureka met and was cared for by a group of Ngāi Tahu men from Arowhenua, near Temuka. She showed them her pounamu toki (adze) and revealed the route she had taken through the mountains. With this knowledge, Ngāi Tahu parties crossed to the West Coast and eventually gained control of the valuable pounamu sources.
Image: Painting of Nōti Raureka Browning Pass from the Waitāwhiri Wilberforce Valley on the east side of the Alps, 1866. This trail is still walked as an advanced tramping track.
Image courtesy of the Julius von Haast Collection, Alexander Turnbull Library (A-149-006)
Nōti Raureka became one of several mid-alpine passes used by Ngāi Tahu on annual journeys to collect pounamu, and part of an extensive network of ara tawhito (traditional travel routes) across what is now the Selwyn District. Whakamatau Lake Coleridge was an important mahika kai site on this trail, for stocking up on tuna (eels), weka, and waterfowl before tackling the mountain pass.
Māori were well-equipped for the hazardous alpine environment. They wore protective clothing, such as pāraerae (sandals) and parekareka (gaiters) woven from cabbage tree leaves and tussock grass, and fine woven flax pākē (rain capes). They also carried flax ropes, and tools and fire lighting materials in woven kawe (packs). Preserved food such as tuna, ika (fish) and aruhe (fern root) were carried in pōhā (kelp and tōtara bark bags) or gathered along the way.
Īnaka – pearly, pale grey-green, varying from strongly translucent to opaque. In nature, īnaka are whitebait.
Kawakawa – rich green to intense dark green, almost black, with small dark inclusions. It gets its name from the kawakawa leaf.
Takiwai/kōkō-takiwai (a deep sorrow that is never completely healed) – olive, browny, yellowish to bluish green. It is translucent, sometimes almost transparent.
Kōkopu – from light to dark browns, creamy whites, light blues, olive greens to yellow. Its distinctive brown spots are similar to the native trout, kōkopu.
On display




