It's a long way to Te Porere

Just back from a weeks holiday in the snow - time for some holiday blogs. The first up is the family visit to Te Porere redoubt. This was the last battle that Te Kooti in his guerilla war against Crown forces. It is located in the middle of nowhere - the crossroads between the East Coast where he came from and the king Country where he was heading to.

The information sign at the car park

The information sign at the lower redoubt with a bird's eye view. This is just a couple of minutes walk from the car park.

The redoubt from the viewing platform beside it. 

Me and the gremlins looking around. I'm not surprised that the battle here didn't go well for Te Kooti's forces - it was poorly sited with a large hill overlooking it.

Another picture to give some indication of the size of the redoubt walls.

The upper, main redoubt - built in the style of the Colonial forces. It was better placed on a hill - which I hadn't expected. It was a pretty steep climb with 5 kids in tow.

The view from the platform.

The memorial stone to the followers of Te Kooti buried here.

The view from the redoubt looking towards the mountains. There's a peek of snow, but cloud obscured what is a pretty spectacular sight on a clear day (if you've seen the lord of the Rings you'll understand).

My three year old wandering the outer ditch to give an indication of the height of the walls.

Te Porere is really well preserved and a very interesting visit. The siting of the pa has been criticised for not providing an easy escape option and the layout is more a Colonial redoubt than a modern Maori gunfighter's pa. Although a very good guerilla leader, Te Kooti was out of his depth when it came to defensive battles from earthworks.
The visit has made me think about the New Zealand Wars again, although at the moment there aren't really any nice figures for the this phase of the war. Empress are too early; Eureka are wooden and the Maori figures are not dressed appropriately; Old Glory need some shoes and the hats aren't great.
Oh well, I didn't need another project at the moment anyway...

Nate