Te Taumutu runanga is a marae located on the shores of Te Waihora or Lake Ellesmere just south of Christchurch. On Wednesday, I went there for an overnight visit with a class I'm in on sense of place and maori and pakeha variations on the theme. Below are some photographs I took while there. It's a beautiful spot just 500m from the ocean and 1km from the shores of the lake which is the home of Tuterakihaunoa, who serves as the guardian of the lake and all the creatures that live there. You could hear him breathing when you were out on the beach with the coming and going of each wave tumbling the flat cobbles against eachother as they were pushed in shore and then pulled back out. The church is built on the location of an old pa (marae site) and is the resting place of some of the Taumutu marae's most prominent ancestors.
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