Te Mata Peak is a peak south of

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

rising up to 399m in the Te Mata Hills in the

Hawke's Bay Hawke's Bay ( mi, Te Matau-a-Māui) is a local government region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region's name derives from Hawke Bay, which was named by Captain James Cook in honour of Admiral Edward Hawke. The region i ...

region of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. A sealed road leads to the popular lookout at the summit, as well as many trails for hikers and mountain bikers. The Hastings suburb of

Havelock North Havelock North ( mi, Te Hemo-a-Te Atonga) is a town in the Hawke's Bay region of the North Island of New Zealand, situated less than 2 km south-east of the city of Hastings. It was a borough for many years until the 1989 reorganisation of loca ...

is situated at the base of the peak. Te Mata peak and the surrounding range runs in a North-East to South-West direction. The slopes on the North-Western side build up gradually. Havelock North is built upon the rolling hills at the lower extent of the ranges. The topography of the South-Eastern side has been heavily influenced by the

Tukituki River The Tukituki River is found in the eastern North Island of New Zealand. It flows from the Ruahine Ranges to the Pacific Ocean at the southern end of Hawke's Bay. The river flows for , east and then northeast, passing through the town of Waip ...

, forming the Tukituki Valley. From Te Mata Peak, cliffs on the South-Eastern side drop 140 meters before extending into the rolling hills of the Tukituki Valley, making these cliffs some of the highest in the North Island of New Zealand. Their height is subject to erosion, with multiple instances of rockfall into the valley below. From the peak, large boulders can be witnessed in the valley as evidence of previous rockfall. As the highest peak in the area, it offers views over the

Heretaunga Plains :''There are two places in New Zealand called Heretaunga. For the suburb of Upper Hutt, see Heretaunga, Wellington.'' The Heretaunga Plains is a alluvial plain at the southern end of Hawke Bay on the east coast of the North Island of New Zeala ...

, and Hawke's Bay, including Napier. On a clear day, the view stretches as far as

Mount Ruapehu Mount Ruapehu (; ) is an active stratovolcano at the southern end of the Taupō Volcanic Zone and North Island volcanic plateau in New Zealand. It is northeast of Ohakune and southwest of the southern shore of Lake Taupō, within the Tongari ...

and

Māhia Peninsula Māhia Peninsula (Maori: or ) is located on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island, in the Hawke's Bay region, between the towns of Wairoa and Gisborne. Rocket Lab has set up its Launch Complex 1 close to Ahuriri Point at the south ...

. Beneath Te Mata Peak rests the Craggy Range vineyard and the

. The name originates from the name of the hillscape in

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

, Te Mata-o-Rongokako, or "the face of Rongokako". Rongokako was an ancestor of the

Ngāti Kahungunu Ngāti Kahungunu is a Māori iwi located along the eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The iwi is traditionally centred in the Hawke's Bay and Wairārapa regions. The tribe is organised into six geographical and administrative di ...

and the area is believed to be his final resting place. When looking at the peak from the north, it appears to be the silhouette of a person lying down, which is said to be Rongokako. European settlers called the peak the "Sleeping Giant", a name which is still in use today. The government bought the land from the local

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, ...

in 1850, and it was subsequently purchased by John Chambers in the 1850s for use as a farming station. The land was gifted to the public as a park in perpetuity in 1927 by his descendants. In October 2019 the Hastings District Council began work on filling in 1.3 km of a controversial walking track. The track had been cut by Craggy Range Winery in 2017, the local council having granted consent without informing the local

References

Hastings District Mountains of the Hawke's Bay Region {{HawkesBay-geo-stub