Red Manuka

The name RedManuka grows from our environment here at Parapara in Golden Bay.

The local river can run red with the dye from the dissolving ochre which occurs alongside the ironstone. Kokowai, prized by early Maori for its protective quality was made from this ochre, mixed with fish oils, giving Parapara its name, 'mud that dyes flax red'.

The hills at Parapara are covered in Manuka. It is an early stage of the forest trying to regenerate, to claim back its territory. The Manuka  grow to form a low canopy and from under the canopy the new forest will emerge. Around the longest day when the Manuka flower, the hill turns white with small flowers. Looking like a dusting of fresh snow  it is our white christmas.

So this is where the  RedManuka story originates.