Visiting Tieke Kainga: The Authenticity of a Maori Welcome (Report‪)‬

New Zealand tourism markets the country as an outdoors paradise, particularly known for its 'great walks'. There are officially eight great walks in New Zealand one of which, the Whanganui River Journey, is mostly done sitting down. Here is part of the description of the Whanganui journey provided to visitors to the National Park by the Department of Conservation (Government 2009). The purpose of the pamphlet is to set out the rules and regulations of the journey along with useful data about making a safe and enjoyable trip downriver. The paragraph that mentions Tieke Kainga appears on page 3. It's a fairly minimal description of what is in fact a very complicated situation. Te Whanau o Tieke (the Tieke family also referred to as Tamahaki--the name of their common ancestor) has been occupying the site since 1993 as part of a protest against the alienation of 267 acres included in the National Park. Although relations with the Department are currently cordial, Te Whanau o Tieke has made it very clear that they expect to regain their ownership of Tieke.