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Description
A lake approximately 70km² east of Remutaka Range, approximately 5km southwest of Featherston. Feature shown on: NZTopo50-BQ33 874346; 'Lit. wai: water; rarapa: glistening. This was the last of the place names given by the muchtravelled tohunga Hau, a memento not only of the beauty of the lake, but of the glistening of his eyes on finding his wife Wairaka (or Hinerakahanga). A different account ascribes the naming to Tara. In Old Wairarapa, A.G. Bagnall attributes the name to Kupe who, while still at sea, looked over his shoulder, an action described by the word rarapa. On Bagnall’s account, Kupe’s daughter suggested, ‘Me waiho to moana ko te rarapatanga o ou whatu’ (Let us remain here at this lake you have descried, your anchor stone). Kupe replied, ‘E pai ana. Me waiho ko Wairarapa’ (Good. Let it remain Wairarapa). There is also a tradition that Kupe trekked overland to Wairarapa and as far as Te Matau-a-Maui. A range of hills to the east of Greytown bearing the name Nga Waka-o-Kupe (The canoes of Kupe) may be a reminder of this traverse; some of the hills are supposed to resemble a canoe.' Source: Reed, A.W. & Peter Dowling, Place Names of New Zealand, 2010.
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