The Tuia Mātauranga - Pōkai Whenua GeoTour: Rua follows the footsteps of early explorers of Aotearoa New Zealand taking you to places where leaders of the past searched for food, resources and ways to adapt and survive in this new land.
Use the Pōkai Whenua GeoTour as your classroom to you explore the stories of the past, in the present, to preserve what is unique in Aotearoa New Zealand for the future.
Collect the codewords to get the Geocoin puzzle pieces
To be able to complete this GeoTour and receive your special Geocoin collectable, remember to take a note of the codeword placed in the cache. This will need to be recorded in your passport which can be downloaded here.
"63 of the 150 Pōkai Whenua GeoTour caches will contain a randomly placed special FTF token (a replica of the Tuia Mātauranga GeoTour commemorative coin). This is yours to keep! If you find more than one, you might consider leaving it for the next person who finds the cache."
Have you wondered where the mighty Manawatū River begins?
The Manawatū's total length is 180 kilometres (110 mi), making it only the 12th-longest in the country, but at 102 cubic metres per second (3,600 cu ft/s) it is one of New Zealand's greatest rivers in terms of flow, and second only to the Waikato River among North Island rivers. It is crossed by 18 road, 3 rail bridges, and the He Ara Kotahi walk/cycleway.
The name of the river was given by the tohunga Haupipi-a-Nanaia, a descendant of Haunui-a-paparangi. Haupipi-a-Nanaia or Hau, travelled down the west coast in pursuit of his wife Wairaka, who had eloped. When Hau reached what is now known as the Manawatū River, he is said to have stopped and clutched his chest, horrified at the prospect of crossing so mighty an expanse of water. Therefore, the river's name comes from the Māori words manawa (heart) and tū (stand still). However, this might be hard to imagine when you are standing here, at the closest public access to the headwaters, where it appears like one of many mountain streams emerging from the Ruahine foothills.
Getting here:
Drive inland from Norsewood and turn right at Ngamoko road onto the Manawatū River road. The last 2.9km is a gravel road, but it is flat, and even. Quite surprisingly, I found I had some mobile coverage here (Spark), but I would recommend that you download the cache as a precaution before setting out.
Shelter is provided by Ngamoko Whare - one of eight whare installed at significant sites along the river as part of the Tū Te Manawa project; an iwi led project managed by Rangitaane o Tamaki nui a Rua and co-funded by Horizons and the Ministry for the Environment through the Te Mana o te Wai project. The Tū Te Manawa project aims to bring whānau, hapū, iwi and community back to the awa.
Take the time to read the information on the boards contained in this whare – you’ll need it to answer the questions and find where the final of the Geocache is located.
The cache is located at…
S40 0 A.BCD E176 0 W.XYZ
Where:
A = Number this whare is in the series.
B = The town was founded in 18B2
C = Matinee sessions were attended in the 19C0’s
D = Approximately 5000 plants were planted in 201D
W = Number of letters in the name of the first cousin of Tūtaua and Ruatо̄tara -1
X = The number of letters in the name of Tarawhata’s dog -1
Y = The number of letters in the name given to the area where Tarawhata caught up to his dog again (means ‘trees standing apart’) – less 3.
Z = The Norsewood Settlers’ photo was taken in 192Z
Checksum (A + B + C + D + W + X+ Y+ Z) = 41
To access the cache, please use the stile to cross the fence. Then follow the fence along until just before you reach a small gully which drains into the river, before heading towards the cache. You should be able to access the cache easily without damaging the planting. You are looking for an ammo can, placed away from the edge of the river, but watch small children just in case.
Reference:
https://www.manawaturiver.co.nz/2019/08/02/ever-wondered-where-the-mighty-manawatu-river-begins/