Pilgrimage Aotearoa | Haerenga Tapu Aotearoa - Print.

Pilgrimage Aotearoa | Haerenga Tapu Aotearoa:
Your Guide to 100 New Zealand Sites

By Jenny Boyack and John Hornblow

Aotearoa’s hidden sacred paths and stories unfold as you journey through 100 sites imbued with history, hope, reconciliation, and spiritual reflection.

This book will help you:

• Discover and connect with 100 meaningful sites across Aotearoa
• Uncover deeper layers of New Zealand’s spiritual, cultural, and national story
• Plan pilgrimage journeys – solo, local, or group – with confidence
• Engage your inner life through reflection rooted in place
• Grow in empathy for bicultural and post‑colonial narratives
• Explore how faith and justice intertwine in Aotearoa
• Transform your sense of belonging and sacred awareness in your own neighbourhood

Features

• Richly researched vignettes on 100 sites from Northland to Rēkohu / Chatham Islands
• Historical, cultural, and spiritual context for each place
• Practical guidance: maps, directions, logistics, further reading
• Thoughtful reflection questions designed for Christian or broader spiritual use
• Poetry, prayers, Māori terms, and artwork to deepen engagement
• Suggested local pilgrimages and a framework for crafting your own.

 

Soft cover 232pp A5
ISBN 9781991027535
Colour photos throughout
Spiral bound for ease of use
Compact: Fits in your glove box, backpack or hand bag
Philip Garside Publishing Ltd (2024)

[In stock 2 October 2025]

Click to order the PDF eBook edition

Description

Step into a pilgrimage of place, story, and soul in Pilgrimage Aotearoa / Haerenga Tapu Aotearoa.

This first-of-its-kind nationwide guide invites readers to engage the land and its tales as a living map of spiritual discovery. Far more than a travel manual, it is a companion for inner journeying – where roads, rivers, monuments, and marae hold threads of the sacred, waiting to speak.

In region-by-region chapters spanning the length and breadth of Aotearoa, the authors offer 100 carefully selected sites – some well-known, others quietly waiting in plain sight.

Each entry is a doorway into multiple layers: the lives of Māori and Pākehā, the intersections of mission, colonisation, and resistance, and the ongoing work of reconciliation.

Figures such as Ruatara and Henry Williams emerge not as distant saints, but as characters in the unfolding national narrative. Places like Parihaka become living mirrors for justice, peace, and restorative imagination.

Beyond history, the book is designed for transformation. At every stop you’ll find reflection questions, prompts for prayer or contemplation, and guidance to help you weave personal meaning into the sites you visit.

The final entry – “Your Place!” – turns the lens inward, offering a structured approach to create meaningful pilgrimages in your own region or neighbourhood.

Whether you are a curious traveller, a student of history, a seeker of spiritual depth, or someone longing for rooted belonging in Aotearoa, this guide meets you where you are.

It emboldens you to walk with awareness, converse with place, and carry forward the healing stories embedded in land and memory.

• • •

Praise for Pilgrimage Aoteaoroa

See full reviews texts here:
https://philipgarsidebooks.com/pages/praise-for-pilgrimage-aotearoa

 

Review in Tui Motu InterIslands March 2025
by Thomas and William Hassan Walker

"Pilgrimage Aotearoa is about visiting places in New Zealand and looking at them in a new way. For each place, the authors include a story, directions and a reflection. The places in the book are not necessarily “holy” places — some are churches but there are also memorials, monuments and places in nature.

To try the book out, over the school holidays we walked into Dunedin city and visited three of the places: the Thomas Bracken Memorial, First Church (Presbyterian) and St Paul’s Cathedral (Anglican). We found the “story” sections really helpful — we’ve lived in Dunedin all our lives but we never knew the national anthem was written in Dunedin or that St Paul’s was built because one priest and the community campaigned for it.

We used to think going on a pilgrimage meant travelling a long way to holy places. Now we know  that you can go on a pilgrimage in your hometown — you just have to think about the place you’re going to and why you’re going. 

This book would appeal to people who love to walk, who are curious about Aotearoa, and who might not be keen or able to go on an overseas pilgrimage but still want the experience."

• • •

Review in Touchstone February 2025
By Rev Tony Franklin-Ross

“Many of us have appreciated the concept of pilgrimages, and may even have undertaken pilgrimages ourselves.

We might associate pilgrimages with overseas locations, often being a multi-day physical walk covering long distances – such as the famous Camino in Spain or St Cuthbert’s Way in England. Or even a day walking a ‘pilgrimage’ in central London in the footsteps of John Wesley, comprehending something of the context of his life and ministry. 

Might we miss the opportunities for pilgrimage within our own Aotearoa, unexpected gems? Admittedly there are not many multi-day walking pilgrimage routes in Aotearoa New Zealand (excluding national park hiking tracks). But there are many sites that the warrant a stop while touring by road, or knitting together a series of visits while driving in a region. There are even possibilities of urban day-walk pilgrimages in our major cities.

To aid this discovery, Pilgrimage Aotearoa / Haerenga Tapu Aotearoa offers readers a unique guide to 100 sites in Aotearoa New Zealand, blending history, culture and spirituality. It invites you on an inspiring journey of reflection and discovery, uncovering rich stories that make these places significant to our country’s identity and soul…" 

About the Authors

Contents

Introduction
Pilgrimage in Aotearoa New Zealand
Christian pilgrimage
Engaging with a site
A poem On the Road by Joy Cowley

1 — Northland

• Oihi Bay, Rangihoua
• Ruatara - A story
• Wesleydale, Kaeo
• Kerikeri Mission Sites
• Waitangi Treaty Grounds
• Henry Williams - A story
• St Paul’s Anglican Church, Paihia
• Christ Church, Russell
• Pompallier Printery Russell
• Te Waimate Mission and St John the Baptist Church
• Holy Trinity Church, Pakaraka
• St Michael’s Anglican Church, Ngawha
• Māngungu Mission House, South Hokianga
• Manea, Opononi
• Totara Point, North Hokianga
• Hāta Maria/St Mary’s Church, North Hokianga
• Statue of Dame Whina Cooper, Panguru, North Hokianga

2 — Auckland

• Rotoroa Island, Hauraki Golf
• Vaughan Park Anglican Retreat Centre, Long Bay
• Patuone’s Grave, Devonport
• Understanding Colonisation
• Studio of St John the Baptist, Takapuna
• Holy Trinity Cathedral, Parnell
• St Stephen’s Chapel, Taurarua (Judges Bay)

Auckland Inner City Walking Pilgrimage

• St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church
• St Paul’s Anglican Church
• Auckland Baptist Tabernacle
• Pitt Street Methodist Church
• St Matthew-in-the-City Anglican Church
• St Patricks Catholic Cathedral

3 — Waikato

Te Awamutu Driving Pilgrimage

• Pirongia Heritage and Information Centre
• Alexandra Redoubt, Pirongia
• Old St John’s Church, Te Awamutu
• Rangiaowhia Catholic Mission
• St Paul’s Anglican Church, Rangiaowhia
• Monument for Burned Whare, Rangiaowhia

Matamata/Waharoa Driving Pilgrimage

• Wairere Falls
• Tārore’s Grave, Waharoa
• Peria

4 — Bay of Plenty

• Te Papa Tauranga/The Elms
• St George’s Church, Gate Pā, Tauranga
• St Faith’s Church, Ōhinemutu, Rotorua
• Spencer Mausoleum, Lake Tarawera
• Te Kai Whakaora/St Saviour’s Anglican Church, Rūātoki
• Historic Presbyterian Sites, Ruatāhuna

5 — East Coast / Hawke’s Bay

• Padre Hēnare Wepiha Te Wainohu Memorial, Wairoa
• Toiroa’s Vision, Māhia Peninsula
• Eskdale War Memorial Church, Esk Valley, Napier

6 — Taupo

• St Paul’s Anglican Church, Tokaanu

7 — Taranaki

• Mere Tapu/St Mary’s Cathedral, New Plymouth
• Parihaka - A story

8 — Whanganui

• Jerusalem/Hiruhārama, Whanganui River
• St Paul’s Memorial Church, Pūtiki
• Rātana Temple, Rātana

9 — Rangitikei

• Hadfield’s Grave, Tutu Totara

10 — Manawatu

• Te Marae o Hine/The Square, Palmerston North
• Te Rangimarie Marae, Rangiotū

11 — Horowhenua

• Sacred Monastery of the Holy Archangels, Levin
• Rangiātea Church, Ōtaki
• St Mary’s Catholic Church/Pukekaraka, Ōtaki

12 — Wairarapa

• Greek Orthodox Church, Masterton
• ANZAC Walkway and site of the first ANZAC service, Tinui

13 — Wellington

• Christ Church, Taitā, Lower Hutt

Wellington City Walking Pilgrimage

• Te Aro Pā Visitor Centre
• Te Aro Park
• Wesley Methodist Church

• St Mary of the Angels Catholic Church
• National Parihaka Memorial
• Home of Compassion, Island Bay

14 — Malborough

• Wairau Affray Monuments, Tuamarina

15 – Nelson / Tasman

Nelson Walking Pilgrimage

• Christ Church Cathedral
• The cottage of Tohu and Te Whiti
• The Bishop’s School

• A poem - My House by Ana Lisa de Jong
• St Paul’s Lutheran Church, Upper Moutere
• St John’s Anglican Church, Wakefield
• Chapel of Christ by the Lake, St Arnaud

16 — Canterbury

Christchurch Earthquake Walking Pilgrimage

• Christ Church Cathedral
• CTV Earthquake Memorial Park
• Transitional (Cardboard) Cathedral
• Oxford Terrace Baptist Church
• Durham Street Methodist Church
• Canterbury Earthquake National Memorial

• Te Whare Waiutuutu Kate Sheppard House, Christchurch
• Rāpaki Church, Lyttelton Harbour
• St Luke’s Anglican Church, Little Akaloa
• Ōnuku Church, Akaroa
• Church of the Holy Innocents, Peel Forest

17 — Mackenzie District

• St Patrick’s Church, Burkes Pass
• Church of the Good Shepherd, Lake Tekapo

18 — West Coast

• St James Anglican Church, Franz Josef

19 — Otago

• St Patrick’s Church and Mary MacKillop Cottage, Arrowtown
• St John’s Presbyterian Church, Arrowtown
• St Patrick’s Basilica, Oamaru
• Kotahitanga Church, Moeraki
• Watkin Memorial, Karitāne

Dunedin City Walking Pilgrimage

• Knox Presbyterian Church
• First Church of Otago
• St Paul’s Anglican Cathedral
• Thomas Bracken Plaque
• Salvation Army Plaque
• A prayer
• Rongo Stone Memorial, Dunedin

20 — Rakiura / Stewart Island

• St Andrew’s Anglican Church, Oban

21 — Rēkohu / Chatham Islands

• Maunganui Stone Cottage

Your Place!