For the Rotorua tourist attraction branded as 'Te Puia' see New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute

New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute

The New Zealand Māori Arts and Crafts Institute opened in 1967 in Rotorua, New Zealand due to the impending threat of the loss of traditional Māori arts. In 1926 a Māori Arts and Crafts school had been established in Rotorua by Sir Apirana Ngata, and the new school continued the tradition in a...

Te Puia Springs is a small town on the east coast of the North Island

North Island

The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...

 of New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, located 103 km north of Gisborne

Gisborne, New Zealand

-Economy:The harbour was host to many ships in the past and had developed as a river port to provide a more secure location for shipping compared with the open roadstead of Poverty Bay which can be exposed to southerly swells. A meat works was sited beside the harbour and meat and wool was shipped...

. Its population is estimated to be 3 to 4 hundred people. It consists of one hospital and one shop. It has natural springs flowing throughout it, the reason being is that it is in the hills of the Ngāti Porou

Ngati Porou

Ngāti Porou is a Māori iwi traditionally located in the East Cape and Gisborne regions of the North Island of New Zealand. Ngāti Porou has the second-largest affiliation of any iwi in New Zealand, with 71,910 registered members in 2006...

 area. The local people like to bathe in these springs claiming that they have healing properties.

Wild life

Much of the land around this area has not been developed and still remains bush land. As a result of this there remains a lot of native wild life in this area such as the Tirairaka

Fantail

Fantails are small insectivorous birds of southern Asia and Australasia belonging to the genus Rhipidura in the family Rhipiduridae...

, the Kereru

Kereru

The New Zealand Pigeon or kererū is a bird endemic to New Zealand. Māori call it Kererū in most of the country but kūkupa and kūkū in some parts of the North Island, particularly in Northland...

 and the Tui

Tui (bird)

The tui is an endemic passerine bird of New Zealand. It is one of the largest members of the diverse honeyeater family....

. These are only a few of the native wild life in the area.