Nov 20, 2025 Around Town
We explored various venues around town the last few days.
The Museum: ‘Puke Ariki’ (The Hill of the Chief) is a museum standing on what was a great Pā site (fortified Māori village). It displays several permanent exhibits from natural history and colonial history to a trove of Māori Taonga (a Māori term that means a treasured possession, which can include both tangible items like artifacts and intangible concepts such as language and cultural practices. It represents significant cultural, spiritual, and historical value within Māori culture).
A colossal shark hanging from the ceiling, and photos of a glow-worm cave (which we haven’t visited). Out of cultural respect we are requested not to photograph the Maori taonga, most of which were retrieved from swamps in the area when they were drained for agriculture.
The Bridge: On the coastal walk outside of New Plymouth a new bridge “Te Rewa Rewa” crosses a river. According to its designer it should “evoke a sense of wind as a metaphor for the enduring spirit of the dead buried around the Rewa Rewa Pā site at the north end of the bridge.
Many think it looks like a whale skeleton.
The Park: Back at Pukepura Park, we took another trail and found an ancient puripuri tree estimated to be 2,000 years old! It is hollow at the base, but still alive!
The left picture is the trunk, with a hole visible on the right side. From the back of the tree you can look through the interior of the trunk!