Hawera travel guide, south Taranaki

Hāwera Travel Guide: Tawhiti Museum, a Heritage Water Tower and South Taranaki's Hidden Stories

Sarah-Jane Lee

4 days ago

4 min read

Most Taranaki trips stop at New Plymouth and the Goblin Forest. Head an hour south and you reach Hāwera, South Taranaki's main town and dairy capital. It looks like a working farm town, and it is, but it also hides one of the best museums in the country and a skyline landmark you can see for miles.

Hāwera at a glance

Where: 75 km south of New Plymouth on State Highway 3, about an hour's drive. It's also where Surf Highway 45 ends.
Nearby: Pātea is 27 km south-east, and Whanganui about 90 km.
The name: Hāwera means "burnt place", after an attack that set Tītahi pā at Whareroa alight. The name proved fitting: the town burned in 1884, 1888 and 1912.
Allow: a full day if Tawhiti Museum is open, or a night with Pātea the next morning.

Tawhiti Museum

If you only do one thing in Hāwera, make it Tawhiti Museum. Former art teacher Nigel Ogle opened it in an old cheese factory in 1975, and it's widely called the best private museum in New Zealand. Thousands of hand-made figures, many cast from real local people, fill life-sized scenes and detailed dioramas of South Taranaki's past, from pā life and the Musket Wars to farming and the dairy factories.

Don't miss Traders and Whalers, a boat ride through a recreated 1820s coastal settlement (ticketed separately). The bush railway runs on selected Sundays, and Mr Badger's Café is themed on The Wind in the Willows. It's on Ohangai Road, about 3 km from the town centre.

Check before you go: it opens daily in the summer holidays but only on limited days, often Sundays and public holidays, the rest of the year.

The Hāwera Water Tower

After the 1912 fire, insurers told Hāwera to improve its water supply for firefighting or else. The answer, finished in 1914, was a 54-metre concrete water tower that still dominates High Street. Not long after it was built an earthquake tilted it, and a local architect worked out how to straighten it. It's now a Category 1 heritage building.

Visitors used to climb its 215 steps for views to the coast and the maunga, but the tower is closed for safety repairs for the foreseeable future. Admire it from the base, and ask at the i-SITE next door for the latest.

Turuturu-mōkai Pā

On Turuturu Road, on the edge of town, the earthworks of Turuturu-mōkai Pā date back up to 400 years. Next to it is the site of an Armed Constabulary redoubt that Tītokowaru's fighters attacked before dawn on 12 July 1868, one of the turning points of the Taranaki wars. A 1929 memorial stands on the old bastion.

The pā is in the care of Ngāti Tupaia, who welcome visitors. Walk up quietly and treat it as the wāhi tapu it is. See Heritage New Zealand's listing for the full history.

A house full of Elvis

Only in a small New Zealand town: KD's Elvis Presley Museum at 51 Argyle Street is a private collection gathered by local fan KD Wasley since 1959, with Elvis covering the walls and the ceiling. Visits are by appointment, so ring ahead. KD loves sharing the stories.

Around town

Heritage High Street: the rebuilt town centre has handsome post-fire buildings and some Art Deco touches. Look for the glass sculpture of the ancestress Ruapūtahanga outside Te Ramanui o Ruapūtahanga on the corner of High and Regent Streets.
King Edward Park: roses, a small lake and a good picnic spot, just off High Street.
Lysaght Watt Gallery: a community gallery on Union Street with changing shows by Taranaki artists.
Local hero: golfer Michael Campbell, the 2005 US Open champion, was born in Hāwera.

Beaches, lakes and walks nearby

Ohawe Beach: a black-sand beach and small seaside settlement about 8 km from town, good for a wild coastal walk.
Nowell's Lakes Walkway: an easy 20-minute walk past two spring-fed lakes in the dunes, off Rifle Range Road.
Lake Rotorangi: New Zealand's longest man-made lake, inland from SH3 towards Pātea, with a 40-minute hydro walkway through nīkau and tawa forest. Allow about an hour's drive from Hāwera; the last stretch is unsealed.

Where to stay

Browse places to stay on Booking.com in Hāwera.

This post includes affiliate links. If you book through them, Best Bits Travel may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Plan your trip

When: the summer holidays, when Tawhiti Museum opens every day.
Pair with: drive Surf Highway 45 down from New Plymouth, stay the night, then carry on to Pātea and Whanganui.
Check before you go: Tawhiti Museum opening days, and book the Elvis museum ahead.

FAQs

Can you climb the Hāwera water tower?

Not at the moment. The tower is closed while the council works out funding for safety repairs. You can still see it from High Street, and the i-SITE next door has the latest news.

When is Tawhiti Museum open?

Every day over the summer holidays, and on limited days (often Sundays and public holidays) the rest of the year. Check the museum's website before you go.

How far is Hāwera from New Plymouth?

About 75 km, or an hour, on State Highway 3. Take Surf Highway 45 around the coast instead and it's closer to an hour and a half without stops.

What does Hāwera mean?

"Burnt place", from an attack that set Tītahi pā at Whareroa on fire. The town itself later burned three times, which is why the water tower was built.