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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Welcome to Omana and Maraetai - the name means "Meeting Place by the Sea". Maraetai was the original name for the smooth, calm tidal passage now known as Tamaki Strait, which is sheltered by Te Motu Arai-roa ("The Long Sheltering Island") now called Waiheke Island. Maraetai was a very early European settlement dating back to 1838 and, like Beachlands, was subdivided in the 1920s.
Omana's major housing developments followed after a large subdivision in the late 1950s. The name "Omana" has been shortened from O-Manawatere, (meaning "the dwelling place of Manawatere") from the name given to the Ngai Tai pa site, now part of Omana Regional Park.
This geocache is about ngā rīwai or taewa - Māori potatoes. Before European settlement, taewa was a staple food crop for Māori. By the 1800s, it had also become an important commercial crop, playing a key role in the introduction of Māori to European economics. Māori acknowledge that some potato varieties arrived with early explorers, sealers, and whalers during the 18th century. They also have traditions that relate the existence of taewa well before this period. Taewa are a taonga or treasure and you may not know it, but close to Maraetai are some sites of great significance to the introduction of potatoes to New Zealand.
According to some accounts, Cook gave the first rīwai (Māori potatoes) to the tino kaumatua (seniormost elders) of Te Uri ō Pou, who then returned and planted them at Te Hūnua. Hauraki tradition records that these were the first potatoes to be grown in Aotearoa. Three years after Cook’s visit (1772), says Te Horeta Te Taniwhā, the first feast of the rīwai planted at Te Hūnua was held, after which seedlings were then apportioned out to all the tribes of Hauraki and Waikato. Descendants of these first rīwai of Hauraki are still grown at Umupuia today. Umupuia is a marae a short drive along the Pohutukawa Coast from the park.
You are looking for an ammo can hidden in a harakeke bush. Many cachers dread these hides but this cache is big enough that it should not be hard to find.
Sources:
https://www.pohutukawacoast.co.nz/our-coast/maraetai-beach
https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/discover-collections/read-watch-play/maori/maori-potatoes
http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/council/documents/districtplanmanukau/changes/10Cultural.pdf
To be able to complete this Geotour and receive your special geocoin, remember to take a note of the codeword on the cache container. 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.