|
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."
In 1863, a young adventurer, Richard Sherrin, saw the remains of whare (Māori housing) on the seaside of Totara Lagoon. The lagoon is named Paieri in Māori, meaning to noose or snare. The abundant wild fowl and fish of these brackish waters probably supplied food to Māori on long journeys from Mawhero Pā and Okarito.
It was recorded that Māori showed the European settlers of 1864 where the gold deposits were in the Totara River Valley. Gold was found nearby in Ross in 1865, which was then known as the Totara District. In just one month, the population of Ross went from nil to over 4000 miners.
Once the shallow deposits of gold had been depleted, dredges were brought in and used in the early 19th century. These were owned by bigger mining companies as it was too hard for individual miners to extract the gold. Occasionally the remnants of the gold dredges can be seen below in the lower reaches of the river below the rail bridge and in the tidal lagoon. Rail was established to Ross in 1909. The rail terminus here was a loading spot for timber, beef and sheep, and passengers travelling.
Today part of the West Coast Wilderness trail, known in Māori as Ngā Haerenga ('The Journeys'), incorporates the old rail corridor from Hokitika to Ross. The railway closed in 1980 and the bridge fell into disrepair but fortunately for walkers and cyclists the rail bridge has been restored. The wooden bridge was constructed in 1908 prior to the line opening. Ngā Haerenga is a partnership project between the Government and the Green Party. One of the ambitions for the New Zealand Cycle Trail is that it will generate economic, social and environmental benefits for communities around New Zealand. "Breathing new life into dying towns". The trail opened in 2016 and is proving hugely popular.
Bring your own pen.