Daily Photo – Te Aka Ōtākou

I recently read (not that it’s new news!)that the shared pathway that snakes its way around the Otago Harbour from Portobello to Port Chalmers is called: “Te Aka Ōtākou” (The Otago Vine). It is a fitting title for a route that unwinds gracefully along the water’s edge and is well worth exploring. From certain angles the pathway looks like the spine of a taniwha, twisting its way from the place where the city of Dunedin now stands to the harbour mouth at Taiaroa Head.

In fact, a Māori legend tells of a great taniwha that once lived in the long harbour. As the story goes, this mighty creature carved the deep channel while thrashing its tail, creating the bends and curves we see today. The taniwha guarded the waters and the people who travelled across them, watching over the harbour until it finally came to rest at the entrance near Taiaroa Head. Some say the distinctive shape of the harbour still follows the line of its body, a reminder that the landscape carries the memory of the taniwha within it.