Wainui Bay

Bordering the Abel Tasman National Park, it is approximately 24 kilometres (15 mi) north-east of Tākaka, the nearest town.

[7] The umbrella entity for the three local iwi gives a meaning of "where the tidal flow leaves a big expanse of bay empty".

[7] Underground rumbles from falling rock and cascading water continue today, and it is a dangerous area to traverse owing to many sinkholes.

[15][6] Researchers into history debate whether or not waka landing sites at Taupō Point are the oldest maritime structures in New Zealand.

[16] At the time of Tasman’s bloody visit to Aotearoa, the Ngāti Tūmatakōkiri iwi maintained a pā and settlement on the eastern side of Wainui Bay at Taupō Point and nearby Whariwharangi Beach.

[15][6][17] A drawing by Tasman's artist, Isaack Gilsemans, depicts ten men rowing a double-hulled waka, with another man standing on the prow.

[6] A sign at Taupō Point, depicts the scene from 1844, with pā, palisades and waka landed on the beach, as drawn by surveyor John Barnicoat.

In 2015, historical researcher, Rosanne Hawarden, claimed that a high-resolution image of the Gilsemans's 1642 drawing reveals waka landing sites on the shore by Taupō Point.

[22] On the other hand, a group of historians led by Abel Tasman expert Grahame Anderson, debunked Hawarden’s research, and called it "wishful thinking".