Te Mata Peak

Te Mata Peak lies above the fertile Heretaunga plains of Hawke’s Bay, standing 399 metres above sea level. From the lookout, the Ruahine, Kaweka and Maungaharuru ranges form the western horizon, with the volcano Ruapehu visible in the distance. Beyond the sweep of mountains and across the curve of Hawke’s Bay, Mahia Peninsula and Portland Island jut into the Pacific. Southwards lie the coastal hills, while meandering across the plains flow the Tutaekuri and Ngaruroro rivers, and around the base of the Peak, the Tukituki valley.

The Legend of Te Mata
Legend has it that the hill is the body of Maori Chief, Te Mata 0 Rongokako (the face of Rongokako). Looking from Hastings, the gargantuan bite can be seen, as can the body of the powerful Chief forming the skyline.

Many centuries ago the people living in pa (fortified villages) on the Heretaunga Plains were under constant threat of war from the coastal tribes of Waimarama. At a gathering at Pakipaki, a wise old woman (kuia) sought permission to speak in the marae. "He ai na te wahine, ka horahia te po, " she said. (The ways of a woman can sometimes overcome the effects of darkness). Hinerakau, the beautiful daughter of a Pakipaki chief, would get the leader of the Waimarama tribes, a giant named Te Mata, to fall in love with her, turning his thoughts from war into peace. The plan succeeded, but she too fell in love.

The people of Heretaunga, however, had not forgotten the past, and demanded that Hinerakau make Te Mata prove his devotion by accomplishing seemingly impossible tasks. The last task was to bite his way through the hills between the coast and the plains so that people could come and go with greater ease. Te Mata died proving his love and today his half-accomplished work can be seen in the hills in what is known as The Gap or Pari Karangaranga (echoing cliffs).

His prostrate body forms Te Mata Peak. At sunset one can see, in the mists which stretch from the crown of Kahuranaki, the beautiful blue cloak with which the grieving Hinerakau covered the body of her husband before leaping to her own death from the precipice on the Waimarama side of the peak.

 
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