Tokaanu on the southwestern side of Lake Taupo, is near the small town of Turangi.
This short walk is next to the Tokaanu Hot pools, which I’ve found are well worth the visit after a day skiing on Mount Ruapehu. The path at Tokaanu wends its way past steaming pools and boiling mud.
Walk: Turangi / Taupo 39
History of Tokaanu
Wikipedia: Before the development of Turangi in the 1960s, Tokaanu was the main settlement at the southern end of Lake Taupo. It had been known to Māori for centuries for its natural thermal pools. The pools became a major stopover on the Grand Tour stage coach run from Wanganui to Taupo in the 1800s. Passengers arrived by stage coach from Waiouru, and departed by steam launch from the historic Tokaanu wharf onwards to Taupo.
Trevor Hosking, archaeologist for the Tongariro Power Development 1966
In the 1960s the country needed more power and numerous schemes had been mooted. The Tongariro Power Development was to be an important one which would involve thousands of acres of land as well as many rivers and tributaries in the area around the new town of Turangi and as far south as Waiouru. The Ministry of Works was in charge of the scheme and wanted things to be done correctly, and it was decided that the Historic Places Trust would have the responsibility of making sure the development progressed without destroying areas of historic or archaeological interest.
The Trust wrote letters to the Tuwharetoa Board asking for permission to undertake the work and recommended archaeologist Trevor Hosking for the job.
A Museum Underfoot
The book ‘A Museum Underfoot’ was published on Hosking’s work. On page 100, Hosking writes about his discovery of Ngati Hotu skulls:
Bones had turned up near the Tokaanu Stream. Some eight feet of pumice had been removed before the bones were discovered. The skull shapes were quite different and Trevor Hosking had access to the late Lesley G Adkins who provided him with his research papers on the Horowhenua burials and the types of skulls found in that area.
Adkin’s information tied in exactly with what Hosking had been turning up while working throughout the Turangi area. The loader driver had unearthed the skulls of a very early, pre-Polynesian people.
In Taupo these early people are known as Ngati Hotu and Korako. In Horowhenua they are Waitaha, down south Ngati Mamoe and so on. In most cases their history is lost in the mists of time. They didn’t survive the onslaught of the more warlike arrivals from the Eastern Pacific.
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