At Okains Bay we visited the Maori and Colonial Museum, and I have never seen so much tack in all my life.  The worrying thing was that Paul and I remembered some of it.  This is the jail house.  This building is encased in metal between the wood.  Paul starts out smiling and by the time I’ve set my shot is grimacing!

He insisted that I tried on the manacle – shame it was too big.

The Maori collection includes war clubs, canoes, flax cloaks, musical instruments (a lot of flutes type objects) and fishing tackle (hooks and nets and baskets).  Lots of eels in the lakes.  Apparently, when the Maori (then Polynesians) first arrived 800 years ago – so not as old as aborigines who arrived 40,000 years ago – there were lots of the Moa (big bird) wandering around.  Is this where Maori get there name from?  Anyway, they killed them all, so their easy food source ran out.  That’s when they started building villages that could be easily protected and started warring with each other for resources.  This is a Waka tete – fishing canoe, 27.5 feet (8.38m) overall and made from totara wood. 

Any likeness to the figurehead?

Not sure what this building was about but it had a man with a big willie positioned above the doorway, so maybe the men’s house.

Certainly some not very nice carvings on the supports

The Whakaata, meeting house.  Usually you have to take off your shoes but I guess this was a bit of a bind here so we were allowed in with our shoes on.

Inside a pregnant woman.  Whilst this was being built it was tabu for a woman to enter the building.

Lots of carved figures with tongues out.  Beautiful painted beams

Intricate woven reed (?) patterns on the wall, repeated either side