"I love the architecture and, in town, the coffee shops," he said this week.
He also enjoyed the lifestyle, people and "small town" feel.
"I usually walk from home in Pine Hill to work in the mornings.
"You can’t do that in Auckland," he said.
The University of Otago had played a big part in his educational and spiritual journey, and there was a “pleasing symmetry” about his recent appointment as a lecturer in Maori theology there.
He was a "very proud product" of Otago, where he had gained three degrees in theology.
Dr Te Kaawa, who is of Tuwharetoa ki Kawerau, Ngai Tuhoe and Ngati Awa ancestry, grew up in the eastern Bay of Plenty.
He is an ordained priest, and previously served for six years as leader of the Presbyterian Maori Synod.
He said he felt he had three homes: the eastern Bay of Plenty, Dunedin and the Pacific.
After completing an Otago bachelor of theology degree in 2001, he worked as a minister in Te Teko, Auckland, Rotorua and Opotiki for 16 years before heading back south for PhD study in 2017.
His PhD was conferred in August this year, his thesis titled “Re-visioning Christology through a Maori lens”.
He helps with ministry work in Pine Hill and is also a Te Roopu Tautoko ki te Tonga Hauora Maori social service provider in the city.
In July last year, he returned to his family’s church marae, in Ohope, near Whakatane, to help teach a week-long Maori religion and theology block course with Otago theology professor Murray Rae.
The marae means a great deal to Dr Te Kaawa — and as an 11-year-old he helped his family make tukutuku panels for it.
Life was particularly busy in July this year — the day after his PhD oral examination he was interviewed for the Otago post, and began work the next Monday.
"I hit the ground running.
"I absolutely love the job."
