Horoure Pa, Aotea, Waikato

Walk #176, 17th November 2025

This old pa site at Aotea Harbour was right at the doorstep of the place where we stayed for two nights. The harbour in front of the pa was named after the Aotea canoe which is said to have arrived around 1300.

The Tainui canoe arrived about 50 years later and the people from that canoe settled at nearby Kawhia, just down the coast. The Tainui and Aotea tribes lived in harmony until the 1600s when battles started because the Kawhia people were expanding.

The two tribes united when their rohe (area) came under attack around 1800 from inland Tainui. The defeated people fled south to take refuge in pa still controlled by Te Rauparaha, trekking to Taranaki and then on to Horowhenua.

For a long time after their defeat this pa site was left empty, until the defeat of Waikato by Ngapuhi at Matakitahi in 1826 when survivors from that conflict settled here.

The book said it was an easy climb to the top – no it wasn’t. The long grass came half way up my body and it was impossible walking through it. Plus there was some dead gorse in the midst of the vegetation. I did not want to disappear into an old kumera pit so I called it a day and came back down.

The pa site is not a “wahi tapu,” a sacred locality like part of the foreshore – but when I gained the ridge I felt I shouldn’t be up there.

Walk: 26 Waikato and King Country

Links

King Country places

Patea River

Walk #77, Patea River, South Taranaki, 2nd Jan 2022

The walk begins on the bank of the Patea River opposite the derelict freezing works. It’s not the most beautiful walk we’ve been on but it is rich in history. The walk ends at Mana Bay where the ruins of the wharf and breakwater form a good surf spot.

Walk: Taranaki 15

Links / Notes

The Meat Industry : The Patea Freezing works closed in the early 1980’s after constant strike action. I lived in nearby Wanganui and watched it happen.

Wai O Turi, these are the three tribes mentioned on the sign :-

Auckland Museum: whale tooth form found at Waitotara.

Ngā Rauru : The traditional lands of the south Taranaki tribe Ngā Rauru Kītahi extend between the Wanganui and Pātea rivers. Ngā Rauru descend from an early tribe called Te Kāhui Rere (the flying people), who lived around Waitōtara.

Members of Te Kāhui Rere intermarried with the people who arrived in south Taranaki aboard the Aotea canoe.

Ngā Rauru take their name from the ancestor Rauru Kītahi. Rauru was a grandson of the early Polynesian explorer Toitehuatahi who in some traditions comes from Hawaiki, while in others he is indigenous to New Zealand.
These early people came from the East Coast of the North Island; travelling by sea, they landed at Pātea and Waitōtara.

Ngati Ruanui : The Ngati Ruanui descend from Rangiātea, about 200 kilometres from Tahiti. Their ancestor Turi came from there about 30 generations ago.

Te Pakakohi : Early Maori

An ancient race of people living at Patea

A people named Te Kahui-toka were found living at Patea when Turi, captain of the ‘Aotea’ arrived there.” Note again the word kahui as a name for a tribe. Their names were:—Tokanui, Tokaroa, Toka-whareroa, Toka-kahura and Toka-potiki, probably all brethren.

Note:- Tokoroa was a chief of the Ngati Kahupungapunga people, a tribe that was a division of Ruatamore.

Taikehu was the chief of the tribe living at Patea Heads when the Aotea arrived. The Patea river was named ‘Te Awa nui a Taikehu,’ – the big river of Taikehu.

Source: Tangata Whenua: The ancient inhabitants of Taranaki

Papers Past – the story of Aotea

Wairenga, Bridal Veil Falls

Walk 63, 1st April 2021

The Bridal Veil Falls is a 55 metre high waterfall where the Pakoka River tumbles over a basalt cliff. It’s not far from Raglan. There are three viewing platforms. I recommend going down to the bottom of the waterfall.

Here’s a signboard on the track about the reserve. The local iwi (tribes) affiliate to Aotea. Muriwhenua Kaitangata was the Aotea chief in the 1840’s. The iwi believes the Patupairehe are Maori fairies and are kaitiaki (guardians) of the area.