The Tuia Mātauranga GeoTour is about having fun discovering the history of Aotearoa New Zealand by finding sites of significance in local communities from early Pacific voyaging and migration, European settlement to present day. The interaction between people, and people and the land have provided a rich history that the GeoTour invites you to explore.
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Tauranga Historic Village
In 1973 the area where this Historic Village now stands was a jungle of scrub, blackberry, willow and swamp. The main complex was built in 1977 as a replica of the early shop fronts that formed The Strand in the heart of Tauranga. Gradually a collection of original and replica buildings taken from early Tauranga have been brought in to the site and incorporated into the complex. They have been brought to life by local organisations, community groups and retailers. The visitor’s impression today is of a small, thriving, early colonial village with cobblestoned streets framed by period shops. Amongst these attractions are shops named for businesses of early Tauranga —Gilmore’s General Store, once standing near the City centre, and Guiness Brothers Replica Store, and Blacksmith. For history enthusiasts, you can see heritage displays in Faulkner House and the Village Chapel.
The Durham Barracks and Colonel Greer’s cottage are reminders of Tauranga’s turbulent past and major conflict the Battle of Gate Pā. These two buildings, associated with the early days of the Durham Regiment, have been relocated at the Historic Village.
Entry is free and the gates are open between 8am -10pm. Retailers are open Tuesday to Saturday 10am – 3pm.
Please do not enter the grounds outside of opening hours.
As with normal geocaching etiquette each person must sign the log. This can be a high muggle area, so care please. You will require a pen.
We read every log so please tell us about your adventure in more than three or four words. Copy and paste logs do not reflect the time and effort required to design and set up these caches….please enjoy and if you really like it a fav is always appreciated.
To be able to complete this Geotour and receive your special geocoin, remember to take a note of the codeword on the log book of the cache. This will need to be recorded in your passport which can be downloaded from here. If the passport is unavailable for any reason just keep a note of the codeword and try again later.
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