Sights in Taupo
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Taupo Museum & Art Gallery
The Taupo Museum & Art Gallery has historical displays covering the local forestry, nautical and trout-fishing industries, a mock-up of a 19th-century shop and a moa skeleton. There are regular visiting art exhibitions, too. The centrepiece of the collection is a Maori meeting house, Te Aroha o Rongoheikume, adorned with elaborate carvings. Situated in a courtyard, the Ora Garden of Wellbeing is a re-creation of NZ’s gold-medal-winning entry into the 2004 Chelsea Flower Show. It’s quite small, but features more than 1000 native plants and a steamy lizard scene.
reviewed
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Maori Carvings
There are 10m-high Maori Carvings, accessible only by boat, at the lake’s Mine Bay. They were carved by master carver Matahi Whakataka-Brightwell in the late 1970s, and depict Ngatoro-i-rangi, the visionary Maori navigator who guided the Tuwharetoa and Te Arawa tribes to the Taupo area over a thousand years ago. There are also two smaller Matahi figures here, both of Celtic design, which depict the south wind and a mermaid.
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