By 1830 the old threat of the invasion of the South Island by the warlike tribes of the north again appeared menacing when Te Rauparaha, chief of the Ngāti Toa, invaded the South and stormed the kāinga (unfortified village) of Takapūneke at Akaroa Harbour and took the paramount chief, Tama-i-hara-nui, hostage. A year later he organised a grand attack on Kaiapoi, the chief centre of the Kai Tahu in Canterbury, and laid siege to it. A strong relieving force of Otago warriors, led by Taiaroa, marched hurriedly into the beleaguered pa, slipped past Te Rauparaha and entered it by night. After a long defence in which he played a leading part, Taiaroa, seeing the hopelessness of the position, escaped with his men to Otago harbour, now the tribal stronghold of Kai Tahu, to prepare a counter-stroke.