Te Pariomahu, also known as Blackhead Beach, Hawkes Bay. Photo / Kirsten Simcox
Te Pariomahu, also known as Blackhead Beach, Hawkes Bay. Photo / Kirsten Simcox
"It'll take half the day to get there on foot in his heat," tour guide Ahuriri Houkamau warns. "We'll go in my four-wheel-drive instead." There are four of us milling around the hotel bar waiting on Ahuriri as he grabs the keys.
It's cool and dark inside Pōrangahau's 140-year-old DukeHotel. On the mantelpiece sits a black and white photo of Ahuriri's parents and long-time locals, Flo and Baby Houkamau, cigarettes in hand. Outside, the unblinking Hawke's Bay sun has turned rolling farmland from green to gold. A brown and white pony is wandering the streets tearing threads of grass from the road edge. Two young girls are playing hopscotch on the footpath. Next to the dairy, Ahuriri's nephew, Orlando, is selling espresso coffee and bagged plums from a converted horse float. Te Paerahi beach, where you can camp for free, is about 7km from where we stand.
Pōrangahau, southern Hawke's Bay
I'd driven north to Pōrangahau, in southern Hawke's Bay, from Wellington a few days before to stay in a bach with friends. On the commute from Whangaehu Beach to Orlando's coffee cart, we noticed a sign outside the pub saying: "Pōrangahau tours".
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For $50 a head, we sign up for a two-hour tour that'll take us to the major points within this historic village and explain the story behind New Zealand's longest place name. To start, Ahuriri, whose Ngāti Kere ancestors have lived here for generations, "1000-plus years," drives us to Taumata Hill, the highest point in Pōrangahau.
We access the grassy peak through Scott whānau land. Driving the steep, rutted path, Ahuriri winds down the window and yells out to farmers Rossie and Polly Scott that we'll stop in on our way back down shortly. They smile, nod and shoo us on.
A lesson in whakapapa and whenua
"When I bring people up here, I tell them this tour is about understanding the people and the land – whakapapa and whenua," says Ahuriri, a Māori studies teacher at Eastern Institute of Technology for 23 years.
Today he's hosting a group of Kiwis: me, Fleur, Richard, Kelly and pub dog, Lego. Next week, it'll be 15 te reo Māori students and their teachers. Before Covid-19, it was commonly US cruise-ship tourists on an off-boat adventure.
New Zealand's longest place name
We reach the peak after 10 minutes and jump out into the long, yellow grass, making our way towards a wooden sign etched with 85 letters. "Wanna have a go at it?" encourages Ahuriri. "My advice is to break it up into parts."
The sign reads: Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronuku pokaiwhenuakitanatahu. It's a lot to get the mouth around. I stumble my way through it. In contrast, it slips lyrically off Ahuriri's tongue. Translated, he says, it means: "the summit where Tamatea, the man with big knees, conqueror of mountains, the land-swallower, traveller over land and sea, played his Māori nose flute, or kōauau, to his loved one."
Tamatea Pokai Whenua, he explains, was a famous chief and warrior. Descendant of the legendary Māui and father of Kahungunu, founder of the Ngāti Kahungunu iwi, Tamatea came to New Zealand from Hawaiki in the Tākitimu waka.
"This site is part of an ancient story of battle, grief and love," says Ahuriri. "To me, this maunga is my ancestor. It's a place that connects all descendants of our shared eponymous ancestor – people from Gisborne to Cape Palliser all the way out to the Pacific."
New Zealand's longest place name tell the story of a Maori chief and warrior. Photo / Hawkes Bay
Other landmarks on the tour
Next, Ahuriri points out Te Awaputahi, the spiritual ancestral mountain of his hapū, Ngāti Kere, in the distance. Then he gestures towards the distinctive shape of Cook's Tooth or Tokatea, which references European explorer James Cook's voyage down the coast in 1769.
Further east is Te Pariomahu or Blackhead Beach, as Cook distastefully named it after seeing crowds of Māori gathered to watch the curious-looking Endeavour sail by. Next, we bring our focus inland to Pōrangahau's original pā site, Waipuna, now a reserve and urupa down in the valley. Finally, Ahuriri points out Rongomaraeroa Marae, our last stop on the tour.
As we turn towards the ute and make our way back down the hill, Ahuriri says: "To me, the fact this place has the longest name in New Zealand isn't the main thing. The main thing is the story it represents. You won't get that story from pulling off the highway and standing next to the official road sign – although that's a bit of fun. You will get it from visiting Taumata with someone like me, a living descendant of Tamatea, whose story is embedded in the land of this small but historic town."
How to get there
· The original site on Taumata Hill is 6km from Pōrangahau village on privately owned farmland.
· Get access to the site on a tour of Pōrangahau village with local guides. Drop in to the Duke Hotel on Abercromby St, Pōrangahau, to sign up.
· You can also see The Longest Sign (10m long) for the Longest Place Name on Wimbledon Rd before heading into Pōrangahau Village.
