Kura Tawhiti

Castle Hill Station (Kura Tawhiti) which translates in Te Reo Māori to ‘the treasure from a distant land’ is a site of significant historical and cultural importance to Ngāi Tahu. In the novel the guide abandons Butler during the journey, just after they encounter the ‘circle of gigantic forms, many times higher than myself….a sort of Stonehenge’. One of Butler’s inspirations for this scene may have been Castle Hill.