The Tuia Mātauranga Pōkai Whenua GeoTour 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 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.
Aparima/Riverton is one of the oldest permanent settlements in New Zealand and the oldest European settlement in the Southland/Otago area believed to be nearly 200 years old.
Prior to the arrival of Europeans the Maori lived on the coast at the Aparima river mouth (around the area where the Secondary school sports grounds are) and leading a mainly nomadic hunting and gathering lifestyle. It would have been a tough existence and it is thought that there would have been no more than 200 people along the coastline of Southland at the time. It would have been too cold to grow Kumara, but with the seasonal changes those living in the area would have hunted seals along the coast, moa until they became extinct, hunted birds in the forests and fished the rivers. The area possibly could have been a stopping place for those travelling the pounamu trail from Te Anau down the Waiau River and around the coast to other trading and processing sites.
In the 1790’s sealers arrived and within 30 years the seal population had been wiped out and the industry collapsed. Whaling then took over as the main industry. On the western side of the river mouth a whaling station had been set up by John Howell. He and his men were welcomed by the local iwi, with both cultures sharing their knowledge, skills and work opportunities. The Europeans by 1820’s had become familiar with the coastline of Fiordland and Foveaux straight and the Maori living along its shoreline. Intermarriage between the Maori women and the European strengthened the bonds developed between the different cultures and nowadays many local families proudly trace their whakapapa and genealogy to the early tribes and whaler settlers.
For a time Riverton was called Jacob’s River after a well tattooed Maori who the whalers called Jacob, the story told was that this man took to the bush after some Americans arrived as he had been told that a tattooed head brought a good price on the European market.
With the demise of the whaling stations and the Murihiku Sale in the early 1850’s people moved from depending on the sea for their living to developing the surrounding land and runholders moved inland to develop pastoral leases. As the years have passed by industries such as farming, dairy farming, fishing, goldmining, flax and timber milling have all had an influence on the economy of the area.
Today Riverton/Aparima is an eclectic and quirky town surrounded by stunning natural beauty from the coastlines to the inland picturesque landscapes. It is well known for its environmental and arty groups, for its relaxing riviera holiday vibe, and safe swimming and surf beaches.