Rugby World Cup: Te Waka Maori supposedly swamped

Te Waka Maori. Photo / Richard Robinson

Te Waka Maori on the waterfront has supposedly been swamped by visitors at a rate of one person every second during every hour it has been open to the public.

Organisers yesterday announced 240,000 visits had been made to Te Waka Maori during its first week.

The $2 million boat-shaped pavilion has a capacity of 600 people. For 240,000 to have passed through in seven days - when it was open to the public for a total of 59 hours - 1.1 people would have had to enter the waka every second from opening to closing. On the peak day of Sunday, almost two people a second would have had to enter.

Technically, this appears possible. The visiting rate - which equates to more than 60 people a minute - would have visitors pass through a completely filled waka in 10 minutes.

Turning over the whole waka every 10 minutes for a week sounds a challenge, but it is more than possible for a visitor to get through the small space in that time.

The queues into the waka can accommodate at least five people abreast, meaning a row of five people passing through every five seconds is enough.

Yesterday, 1015 people entered the waka in the half-hour between 12.48pm and 1.18pm, a rate of 0.6 people a second. At a busy time on a brilliantly sunny day, the waka saw only a fraction the required number of people.

However, the figure is more plausible in the context of the entire Maori showcase on the waterfront.

Organisers said the figure was for "visits to Waka Maori", but earlier in the week Maori Affairs Minister Dr Pita Sharples announced 170,000 visits in the first four days to "Te Waka Maori... and its associated artisan village".

The artisan village is part of the walkway between the Viaduct Harbour and the Wynyard Quarter, and experiences heavy foot traffic passing between the two areas.