Walk 47, 10th October 2020
The park contains a historic house, a lovely patch of bush on the headland, an old pa site and a beach lined with old Pohutukawa trees.
There’s a choice of three walks, we chose the perimeter walk. It’s not flat but there are great coastal views of the Hauraki Gulf when you climb the hill to the old pa site.
The pa was called Kakaha Pa. All that can be seen is an overgrown defensive ditch. Like so many Maori settlements and pa in this area, it was raided by the better armed Ngapuhi of Northland and the local tribe was decimated.
The head of the pou represents rangitira (chiefs) who have stood on this land. The outer shell represents the many waka (canoes) that have landed on these shores. The two embracing and intertwining figures on the other side represent husband and wife, and arranged marriages to form alliances or settle differences. The natural splits in the log represent two awa (rivers) that run either side of Wenderholm – the Waiwera and Puhoi Rivers.
A toka (rock) has been places in the mouth of Waiwera representing the motu (island) named Mahurangi.
This is another walk not far from where I live.
Walk: Auckland 1
History
For centuries two small iwi, Ngati Rongo and Te Kawerau a Maki, occupied Maungatauhoro and its environs. Te Kawerau a Maki eventually migrated south, into the Waitakere Ranges; Ngati Rongo remained. In 1825 Hongi Hika brought his army of muskets down into Tamaki Makarau, through the rohe of Ngati Rongo. The local rangatira Murupaenga confronted Hika’s men with only a stone patu. Murupaenga died skirmishing in the Mahurangi River, which flows into the sea a few kilometres north of Maungatauhoro. He is buried on the hill, along with many other tupuna. Source: Waiting in the wood
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