PETEREHEMA MARAE
TE RERE I ŌTURU
PETEREHEMA MARAE
The Ōpuiaki River flows from the rugged bush-covered hill country of Hautere, over a waterfall called Te Rere i Ōturu, in the land owned by the Ngamarama Incorporation. The Opuiaki flows into the Mangapapa and eventually into the Wairoa and to Tauranga Moana. At Ruahihi, on the hillside above the Wairoa, stood a pā where a man called Ōturu and his wife and children once lived. He had been born there and had been on many trips up the river and its tributaries into the bush to snare birds and catch eels. Sometimes he went alone and stayed away for several days at a time. When he returned he brought with him only a few small pigeons and skinny eels.
Ōturu made many more trips away, and often stayed away for long periods. Each time he returned, the amount of food he brought back for his family was very small and not enough to keep them healthy. Ōturu’s wife grew thin and his children were sick because they did not have enough good food, and yet Ōturu still looked healthy and fit. This seemed odd; everyone knew that there were big, fat pigeons in the forests of Hautere and plenty of big, fat eels in the streams above Ruahihi. Ōturu’s wife had two brothers who were especially worried that Ōturu was not looking after his family properly, even though he seemed to be looking after himself pretty well. The brothers decided to follow Ōturu on his next trip upstream into the forest to see what he got up to.