A video of a Bay of Plenty teen doing an impromptu wero (challenge) to tourists who got stuck down his street has gone viral.

Rikawerohia Kereopa was videoed by his aunty Lani Kereopa over the weekend running out with a taiaha and issuing the wero to a van loaded with tourists in Ohinemutu – Rotorua's oldest suburb.

Rikawerohia Kereopa with his taiaha. Photo: Amy Childs.

The 15-year-old says he was having a laugh when he approached the van.

Rikawerohia's antics have caused a stir on Facebook, with the video stacking up more than 45,000 views and 500 shares.

The Rotorua Boys High School student was on the deck at his nan's house when a tourist van drove down to the end of the street – a dead end with no proper space to turn around.

'We usually have tourists come and drive past my nan's house even though up the road there is a sign that says ‘no exit',” he says.

'I just happened to have a taiaha in my hand. I've never done this before, I just thought it was funny cause all my family was up on the deck.

'So I had a bit of a spiel with the taiaha following their van as they were reversing back down the street.”

Rikawerohia says the driver and tourists were having a good laugh.

'I had a smirk on my face. It was all for fun,” he says.

'My aunty Lani posted the video to her Facebook page and first it was only hitting the hundreds, now it's in the thousands.

'It's pretty funny it went viral. It was just a bit of fun. I didn't expect it to go that far, it's funny, but not that funny.”

Lani says she had seen some negative comments online about the video, with people saying this type of thing was bad for the tourism industry.

'What the video didn't show was as the van came up to the end of our road, my nephew was already on the deck practicing his taiaha,” she explains.

'The tourists could see him and seemed entertained, so he went on to the street and continued what he was doing as the van backed out. This is what is on the video.

'Any negative comments that have been made have been done so without context.

'Rikawerohia works in the tourism industry along with his mother and father. We love and look after out tourists down here and that was just a typical day with our family having a laugh in Ohinemutu.”

Lani says she believes the ‘no exit' signage on the street needs to be bigger because it was really difficult to turn around at the end of the street and they have had fences hit a number of times.

Additional reporting Stuff.co.nz