New waka taking shape at Kerikeri Basin

Te Ahurea kaitiaki Kipa Munro (Ngāti Rēhia) welcomes the new waka to Kerikeri Basin, where the side panels will be added in coming months. Photo / Peter de Graaf

A new waka — the first to have its hull carved in the forest since the great waka Ngātokimatawhaorua more than 80 years ago — is taking shape at Kerikeri Basin.

The hull was delivered last Friday afternoon and carefully placed in the new whare waka across the river from the Stone Store and next to Te Ahurea, the revamped and rebranded Rewa's Village.

The hull was carved in Omahuta Forest by a team led by Heemi Eruera, successor of the renowned tohunga waka Hekenukumai Busby.

Te Ahurea kaitiaki Kipa Munro said he believed it was the first time since Ngatokimatawhaorua was built for the 1940 Treaty centennial commemorations that a waka had been shaped in the forest.

The kauri fell during a storm about eight years ago.

Kipa Munro (Ngāti Rēhia, left) and Pouri Harris (Ngāti Toro, Ngāti Hao) welcome the new waka to Kerikeri Basin. Photo / Peter de Graaf

A team of carvers led by Renata Tane was now working on the side panels, tauihu (prow) and taurapa (sternpost) at the former NorthTec workshop in Hone Heke Rd.

They would be lashed in place in the whare waka so the community could follow the progress, Kipa said.

''In the same way that people saw the whare being built, they will be able to see the waka transformed from a hull to its completed state.''

The waka and whare will be named during the launching ceremony.

The waka's arrival was greeted on Friday by representatives of Ngāti Rēhia, Ngāti Toro and Ngāti Hao (mana whenua of Omahuta Forest who gifted the tree), Department of Conservation staff, schoolchildren and local residents.

The new waka is expected to be one of the top attractions at Te Ahurea, a ''living cultural centre'' at the former Rewa's Village site.

Rewa's Village, a replica Māori fishing settlement, was built in the 1970s to raise money for a legal battle to stop the area around the Stone Store and Kororipo Pā being bulldozed for a subdivision.

Ngāti Rēhia was granted $1.25 million from the Provincial Growth Fund in 2020 to turn the tired tourist attraction into a living cultural showcase.