Sledging river

This the sledging river, we returned to it the next day so we could get pictures of the area. You hike down to the river on an extremely steep path,, climb over the fence area, climb down the rock and then jump in the river. The area is full of caves that they used to lower the women and children over the tops of the ravine to these caves where they would hide and live for periods of time when the different tribes were at war. The war-time philosophy was that if they could kill the women and children, the enemy would naturally die out. By the time white settlers landed on the south end of the island, many of the Maori's had killed each other off. The original settlers were up at the Bay of Islands because of whaling. It was very interesting too, though our guides were not pure Maori's, they did speak the language. They also said a rather lengthy and heart felt prayer before we got in to invoke the good will of the Gods so we could have a great visit to the river. It really was a good experience.