Auckland Maori Culture Tour with Hangi Lunch

What's Included

Meeting and pickup

Itinerary

• 1
  Bastion Point

  Takaparawhau / Bastion Point is one of the most significant cultural and historical locations on the tour. The site is closely connected with Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, their relationship with the whenua, and the history of Māori land rights in Tāmaki Makaurau. From this elevated coastal position, guests can look across the Waitematā Harbour, Ōrākei, Rangitoto, and central Auckland while learning how the landscape has shaped the lives and stories of the people who have lived here. A key part of the interpretation is the 1977–78 occupation of Bastion Point, a significant moment in the wider history of Māori land rights and protest in Aotearoa. Rather than presenting this simply as a historical event, guides should help guests understand the deeper themes of whenua, identity, belonging, justice, and whakapapa. This stop is an opportunity to demonstrate that Māori history is not separate from Auckland's modern story—it remains an important part of the city's identity today.

  30 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 2
  Auckland Museum

  Auckland Museum – Tāmaki Paenga Hira provides an opportunity to explore Māori culture through taonga, waka, carvings, storytelling, performance, and traditional knowledge. The tour includes a Māori cultural performance, where guests can experience forms such as haka and waiata and gain an appreciation for Māori performing arts and storytelling. The museum also provides context through collections that include waka, carvings, and other significant taonga. For the guide, the focus should be on helping guests understand that these objects are not simply museum displays. They can represent whakapapa, knowledge, craftsmanship, relationships, journeys, and identity. The performance also provides an opportunity to explain how Māori knowledge and traditions continue to be practised and shared today.

  30 minutes • Admission ticket included
• 3
  Maungawhau / Mount Eden

  Maungawhau / Mt Eden is one of Auckland's most recognisable volcanic maunga and an important ancestral landscape. The maunga contains evidence of extensive Māori occupation, including the remains of a significant pā. As guests walk towards the summit, introduce Auckland's volcanic origins while also explaining that these volcanic landscapes have been important to Māori communities for generations. The terraces and earthworks visible around the maunga provide an opportunity to discuss how people adapted to and lived within this landscape. The summit provides expansive views across Tāmaki Makaurau, the Waitematā Harbour, and the surrounding volcanic field. This makes it an ideal location to bring together the different themes of the tour—geology, whenua, whakapapa, settlement, and identity.

  30 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 4

  The hāngī provides an opportunity to experience Māori culture through food and hospitality. Traditionally, hāngī involves cooking food using heated stones in an earth oven, creating a slow-cooking method that produces tender meat and vegetables. The lunch may include Māori-style favourites such as slow-cooked meats, vegetables, kūmara, and rewena bread. For the guide, the hāngī should be presented as more than simply a meal. Food, hospitality, gathering, and sharing are important parts of creating connections between people. This is an ideal opportunity to reflect on the themes explored throughout the tour and encourage guests to consider how food, whenua, community, tradition, and identity are connected. The meal also allows the tour to finish with manaakitanga—sharing food and creating a welcoming environment where guests can reflect on what they have experienced.

  30 minutes • Admission ticket free

Additional info

• Public transportation options are available nearby
• Suitable for all physical fitness levels

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