A beautful part of Hawkes Bay that is well worth a drive to just take in the views. You are searching for a small tim so please BYOP. While here you may like to find Home Sweet Home.
Looking up you will see The Sleepnig Giant of Te Mata Peak. The Te Mata Peak legend is a tale of true love.
A Maori chief called Heretaunga once ruled this land. His rival, a fearsome giant of a man named Te Mata O Rongokaka waged war on Heretaunga for many years until one day he caught sight of Heretaunga’s daughter, Hinerakau. He was so struck by the young maiden’s beauty, he fell instantly in love with her. He knew that in order to make her his own, he must stop his warmongering ways and instead, woo her. Although reluctant at first to even consider him, Hinerakau set him seemingly impossible tasks, convinced he would fail. He completed them all, except one. She’d told him he must eat his way through the mountain. He flung his huge bulk into the side of the hill and begun crushing the rock with his teeth. Desperately he chewed, but in his haste he choked on a large boulder and fell dead to the ground.
And so Te Mata Peak was formed in the shape of the sleeping giant, lying unrequited by love for all eternity.