Pariwhero/Red Rocks

Pariwhero/Red rocks is located in on the southern coast of Wellington, 3 kilometres west of the Ōwhiro Bay beach

The name Pariwhero comes from the distinctive red-stained rocks, coloured by iron-rich volcanic material formed millions of years ago.

For Māori, the area was an important travel route and food-gathering site, rich in pāua and other kai moana, and it features in local pūrākau (stories), including those linked to the taniwha Whataitai.

In the 19th century, European settlers quarried stone from the area for building materials, and today Pariwhero is protected as a reserve, valued for its natural beauty, wildlife, and layered history.

Pariwhero

Kupe and the Giant Wheke

Māui and the Giant Fish

Scientific explanation

A book, written by Rachael King called 'Red Rocks', (later republished as 'Secrets at Red Rocks') was shortlisted for the Junior Fiction category in the 2013 New Zealand Post Children's Book Awards and won the LIANZA Esther Glen Award.

Later, in 2025 a TV series was released. Directed by David Stubbs, this movie changed the name from the book to 'Secrets at Red Rocks'

The book (and film) follows 12-year-old Jake, who finds a magical selkie (seal-person) skin on Wellington’s coast, triggering a supernatural adventure involving Celtic and Māori mythology to protect his family.

You can view the trailer of Secrets at Red Rocks here, via Sky NZ

Cover of Red Rocks by Rachael King, now Secrets at Red Rocks

Secrets at Red Rocks 2025 Movie poster

Pariwhero

Fred Holden

Southern Bays History - Pariwhero | Google Doc / PDF

Red rocks is located on the southern coast roughly three kilometres west of Õwhiro Bay beach. Currently, the area is used as a four-wheel driving track, and a short and easy walking and mountain biking trail.

There are multiple māori stories revolving around the colouring of the rocks, you can read summaries of them below.

Kupe and the Giant Wheke

The story of Kupe and Te Wheke o Muturangi describes events that are closely associated with the coastline of Wellington’s southern bays. According to the story, Kupe, a chief and skilled fisherman from Hawaiki, became aware of an unusual presence at sea when established fishing grounds failed. Bait was repeatedly removed from hooks, and no fish were caught. Kupe later identified the cause as Te Wheke o Muturangi, a giant octopus belonging to the chief Muturangi. After Muturangi refused to intervene, Kupe organised the construction of the waka Matahorua and set out with a crew to pursue the wheke.

Kupe Battleing the Giant Wheke, Ai Generated 2025

The chase followed a route that aligns with known coastal features of Aotearoa. The wheke was pursued across open ocean and into Te Whanganui-a-Tara before moving south into the rough waters of the Cook Strait that Island Bay fishermen know well.

There are multiple endings to this story. Depending on which version you read, you might hear any of these;

One version goes that Kupe was gathering paua, and one clamped his hand; he bled, staining the rocks red.

Evidence of this is from Journal of the Polynesia Society (1927:275)

Nā, kei Pariwhero kei reira te wāhi i karapititia ai te ringa e te pāua ki te toka, ka pakaru te toto o te ringa o Kupe, whero tonu atu ngā pāua, ngā ngākihi, ngā pūpū o tērā wāhi, me ngā kōwhatu hoki tae mai ki tēnei rā e kīia ana.

“It was at Red Rocks, Sinclair Head, that his hand was pinched against a rock by a pāua, and the blood gushed forth from Kupe's hand and rendered red all the pāua, limpets and pūpū shellfish of that place, as well as the stones, and it is said that they are still red”.

One version of the story is that Kupe dropped his whānau off somewhere in Whanganui-a-Tara so they could rest after the month-long chase. Kupe’s granddaughters, Matiu and Makaro, believed he had been killed. During their mourning, they cut their breasts with shells, and their blood fell onto the rocks along the coast, staining them red.
The last version is very similar to the one above, where Matiu and Makaro cut their breasts with shells. However, in this one it was Kupe's daughter, either called Matiu or Mokohuia and in some versions, her brother too.

Māui and the Giant Fish

The story Māui and the giant fish describes how the two New Zealand Islands were made. According to the story, Māui the demigod and his brothers went fishing. Because Māui was so young they made fun of him, calling him too young and they left him behind. Little did they know that Māui had snuck into the hull, they eventually let him cast his line, one story says that he used blood from his nose as bait. However, instead of catching a fish he caught the North Island - Te Ika a Māui ‘The Fish of Māui.’ It is believed that it was Māui’s blood that stained Pariwhero red.

Māui goes back to Hawaikii, trusting his brothers to take care of the fish, however they don’t respect his catch, and slash at it, tearing great hunks of flesh from it. The gashes formed the hills and valleys that we in the southern bays reside in.

Scientific explanation

Although not as theatrical as the Māori stories, the scientific explanation is still almost as interesting. Pariwhero is made of an unusual mix of Greywake and red siltstone. Greywake is the most common stone found in New Zealand, Graywacke is deposited in deep ocean water near volcanic mountain ranges, where underwater landslides and currents quickly transport sediment short distances into a subduction zone or ocean trench. The red stone is called Red siltstone, it is colored red by iron oxides (like hematite) from prolonged exposure to oxygen in ancient, well-drained environments. The rock’s presence is important as it signifies past terrestrial, oxidizing environments which are hot, seasonally arid climates.