Nga Hua o Morere

Nga Hua o Mōrere (Mōrere Hot Springs) is an unusual saline hot-spring system on the East Coast of the North Island, between Wairoa and Gisborne, where mineral-rich hot seawater rises from a fault line in the Mangakawa valley, producing an estimated 250,000 litres a day. The water is piped to a series of public and private pools, including the Nikau Pools, set within native rainforest in the Mōrere Springs Scenic Reserve. The springs were traditionally valued by local iwi for healing and restoration, and were first documented by Europeans in 1884, when government surveyor George Walker and Edward Bendall recorded them. The site's official name reflects a renewed partnership in stewardship between local iwi — Ngāti Rakaipaaka and Rongomaiwahine — and the Department of Conservation.