The beach at Opera Point is really beautiful and I’m glad to see the bird life is being respected.
The walk to the beach is interesting. Following an old tramway, we walked through the site of a old sawmill, Craig’s Sawmill built in 1862. All that’s left is long grass and an old concrete drain.
There was a headland pa but not much remains. According to Doc it was originally the domain of Ngati Huarere, the pa and surrounding area appear to have been abandoned following seaborne raids in 1818 by Ngapuhi, from Northland.
This headland pa site is at the southern end of Opito Bay, defended by steep bluffs and cliffs. It has good views in every direction. The pa site is accessed by a long flight of stairs. Opito Beach is lovely too, it’s a short stroll along the beach to the stairs.
Walk: Coromandel 11
Links
Ngāti Hei is recognised as the dominant tribe of the Mercury Bay area and can trace its roots to the arrival of the Arawa canoe at Maketu around 1350AD.
Sarah’s Gully remains an important archaeological site with many excavations carried out starting from 1956-60. Discoveries include evidence of prolonged early settlement with abundant moa bones, human skeletons and evidence of at least six periods of habitation, only the top four of which Sue mentions have been reliably linked to early Maori.
OPITO BAY, COROMANDEL PENINSULA, MOA-HUNTER COMMUNITY CONTEMPORANEOUS WITH WAIRAU BAR: Adzes, in differing styles, were produced in high numbers for many years and found their way to New Zealand’s most ancient sites.
The beach looks out over the Mercury Islands where Captain Cook observed the transit of Mercury on his voyage around New Zealand. The unspoilt beach is protected from development, backed by sand dunes which is now a nature reserve. Our endangered North Island Dotterill birds have a haven here, unlike so many other beaches around the coast.
Cathedral Cove on the Coromandel Peninsula is possibly the most beautiful beach I’ve ever been to, with it’s limestone rocks, overhanging pohutukawa trees, golden sand and clear water. The two sides of the cove are linked through a sea cave. The cove was busy but not too crowded, considering it’s mid-summer and a popular spot. We walked to the cove from the village of Hahei.
Walk: Coromandel 14
The cove is famous for being the location for the opening scene in the Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.
Hahei
Hahei is a stunning area. As well as Cathedral Cove there’s Hot Water Beach, which we didn’t have time to visit. Bring your spade for that beach. You have to go at low tide.
The area was explored by Kupe around 950 AD. As in the Maori legend of Maui, like a giant fish the land rose up out of the sea before them, the peak they first saw became known was Moehau Mountain, on the Mountain Ridge of Toi, which centuries later would be called the Coromandel Range.
Hahei was named, Te 0 A Hei, by Hei, the chief of the Ngāti Hei Iwi. Oral history tells us that Hei came to Aotearoa/New Zealand in the Te Arawa Canoe, which was lead by Tama Te Kapua, who was his grandfather. This was around 1350 AD.
The Ngāti Hei lived along this section of the East Coast of the Coromandel Peninsula for twenty-six generations. Their largest settlements being in the Whitianga and Wharekaho, now also known as Simpson’s Beach. The headland at the southern end of Hahei beach served as the site for a pa, known as Hereheretaura Pa. The one to the right on the same headland is only referenced as The Hahei Pa, but may be one in the same. At the north end of the beach was another smaller pa, named Te Mautohe Pa, this was situated above “the cathedral” between Cathedral Cove and Mare’s Leg Beach. These locations offered the advantage of being able to see and ward off approaching enemy canoes.
Canoes from Hahei are claimed to have intercepted Captain Cook’s H.M.S. Endeavour, when it sailed into this region in November 1769 and were warned off by musket fire, an event recorded in Cook’s diary.
Inter tribal warfare
By the end of the nineteenth century Ngāti Hei’s territory had been reduced to the coastline from Kuaotonu in the North, to Tairua in the South. They suffered from prolonged warfare with Tainui Tribes, and the Ngāti Tamatera from Hauraki.
The Musket Wars
In 1818 the group at Hahei were attacked by Ngāpuhi, led by Hongi Hika and his nephew Te Morenga. They were unable to defend themselves against the invader’s musket fire and a massacre ensued. A few Ngāti Hei escaped by entering the sea and swimming close against the cliff. Today the Ngāti Hei continue to live in Whitianga and Wharekaho.
Hahei was deserted following this event and the land was declared vacant, according to the Wastelands Act.
This was the first real day of spring after NZ and Australia experienced a polar blast from a storm in Antartica. It was a good afternoon for the walk between Milford and Takapuna with lots of people and dogs enjoying the beach.
We started on the sand at Milford Beach and further on we hopped onto a raised footpath which we followed around to Thornes Beach. After that we had to do a bit of rock hopping. The walk ended at the Takapuna Boat ramp.
Sections of this walk traverse private property, owners have allowed this. See the link below for information from the Auckland City Council.
It’s an interesting area geologically. There are petrified logs along the beach from the eruption of the Pupuke volcano 140,000 years ago.
On our way back we walked past Lake Pupuke, Auckland’s only remaining freshwater crater. The lake is only 200m from the sea.
Walk: Auckland 7
Lake Pupuke from the air, photo by Marianna HaworthThe remains of a large kauri tree, with Rangitoto island in the background
History
In the Maori tradition of the Auckland Mahurangi and Gulf Islands Districts the earliest people was “a race of giants”, known as Tipua, or Kahui Tipua, who occupied both sides of Tamaki Isthmus, at Mangere, Waitakere, and the North Shore of the Waitemata.
Mataaho, a deity associated with volcanoes, unleashed his powers, causing the home of the Tipua to sink into a chasm, which filled with water forming what is now known as Lake Pupuke. At the same time, the island of Rangitoto emerged from the sea offshore.
The Tipua fled, but Mahuika, a goddess with “fingers of fire” pursued them and cast them into subterranean regions. The places where they sank are the volcanic craters on the shores of Shoal Bay called respectively Te Kapua-o-Matakamokamo at Awataha, and Te Kapua-o-Matakerepo near Northcote.
The Maewao, Patupaiarehe people
“Onemaewao”, the traditional name for Milford Beach on the mainland shore opposite Rangitoto commemorates the Maewao, who, according to George Graham, were a group of fairies who used to gather shellfish there, but later perished when “caught in the sunlight.” Local traditions state that the Patupaiarehe people occupied the Gulf Islands including Hauturu and Motutapu and travelled around the islands of the inner Hauraki Gulf between sunset and sunrise in their canoe Te Rehu o te Tai.
The Kahui Tipua: Wi Pokuku, a Ngai Tahu leader and teacher at the Moeraki Whare Wananga said Te Kahui Tipua (a race of giants) and Te Kahui Roko were brought to NZ with the Waitaha. That the Kahui Tipua came out with the Waitaha is also maintained by the South Island Wairewa tribe.
This is a beautiful walk but you have to time it either side of low-tide. It’s a black sand beach at Tongaporutu, just off SH 3. There are three rocks called “the Three Sisters” and another rock called “Elephant Rock,” which lost it’s trunk in 2016.
There was also a cave with ancient rock petroglyphs, but sadly the cave has been lost to the surf. Note the big foot with six toes.
“They are the last signs of what we know as Te Kahui Potama,which are the ancient people and they were known as the Maeroa,” says Ngati Wai spokesperson Haumoana White. Source: Transparency NZ
After the beach walk, we went to the Three Sisters Lookout on Pilot Road near the Tongaporutu Cemetery to get another view of the beach.
The Haigh Access Road entrance to the walk at was closed because of Kauri Dieback, so we began the walk at Stillwater. The tide was still going when we reached the beach and we had to remove our shoes and wade through the water – but the day was hot and our feet dried quickly.
We climbed through regenerating bush to a headland before dropping quite steeply to Karepiro Bay, to a restored historic cottage. Dacre Cottage was built in the 1850s by Henry Dacre, son of the retired sea captain Ranulf Dacre, who bought the Weiti block in 1848.
Unfortunately you can’t see inside the cottage because of vandals but there’s a photo of the interior in the link below.
The beach outside the cottage is a nesting site for endangered dotterills. Unfortunately the land next to Karepiro Bay is under development. We could hear the diggers from the cottage. I really fear for these birds, I know from experience from where I live at Snells Beach that the Auckland City council won’t stop development because of our shorebirds. I hope these new home owners don’t have cats. I love cats but not in fragile areas where endangered birds are nesting.
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