Story: Te Arawa

Mt Tongariro (the flat-topped mountain in the left foreground of this photograph) marks the southern boundary of the Te Arawa peoples. In Te Arawa tradition the explorer Ngātororoirangi climbed Tongariro as a storm was raging. When he finally reached the summit, Ngātororoirangi cried out for his sisters Kuiwai and Haungaroa in Hawaiki to send him some fire. With this fire he created a volcano and named it after his sacrificed slave, Ngāuruhoe. In this view Mt Ngāuruhoe can be seen in the middle ground, and Mt Ruapehu on the right.