Walk #4, 23rd April 2025
The waterfall is small but pretty. There’s also a stunning four metre moss waterfall halfway down the track where glow worms can be seen at night.
Walk: Havelock 16
Waterfall Track, Havelock
Category: Hills
Whites Bay, Rarangi, Marlborough
Walk #2 , 22nd April 2025
The walk began at Rarangi Beach, where the Monkey Bay track is. It climbed steeply through regenerating coastal forest where the trees had recovered from a fire. We came out on the Port Underwood road for a short distance, then descended through an area of pine forest to Whites Bay.
Whites Bay is named after a negro American whaler, Black Jack White.
In 1866 the first Cook Strait telegraph link between the North and South Islands began operating with the southern end coming ashore at Whites Bay. The telegraph operator’s cottage is preserved as a historic building. Source: Marlborough Online, Pukatea / Whites Bay
It’s a solid grind back up to Port Underwood road from the beach. We saw a black fantail while climbing back up the pine needle covered zig-zag track.
Walk: Blenheim #9
Otatara Pa, Taradale, Hawkes Bay
Walk #164, 21st Feb 2025
This ancient pa was a familiar sight in my childhood, when every other week we’d go past, crossing the Tutaekuri River on our way to the Hawkes Bay Milk Co-op. I remember the pa being a bare hill with deep defensive scarps and a quarry at the bottom. The lower part was almost quarried away. The site became a reserve in 1972, the year after I left. The site looks different now with the trees and pallisading.
The Otatara Pa reserve encompasses two pa, the upper level is Hikurangi Pa, the lower one marked by the pallisades is Otatara Pa proper. The pallisades had been erected in 1990 by the Maoris at Waiohiki to make it look more like a pa from the 1800s, to provide “an interpretation of the defensive structure.” The Ngāti Paarau of Waiohiki Marae are now the site’s guardians.
Waiohiki Marae is just across the bridge over the Tutaekuri River. Otatara pa didn’t belong to that tribe as they were never able to take it, so their ancestors settled in Waiohiki Pa on the other side of the river instead.
A brief history of the area is on the boards as you enter Otatara Pa. The wave pattern on the entrance carving depicts the migration of groups to Otatara over a long period of time.
As a child I didn’t realise how how much land (33 hectares) the pa site covered. Now I’ve learned it was one of the largest and most significant archaeological landscapes in NZ. In keeping with today’s ‘right-think’, the timeline at the entrance only goes back to the 1500s with the descendants of Awanuiarangi, the eponymous ancestor of Te Ātiawa (see below).
Also mentioned on the timeline is “Te Tini” which would be the people of Toi. Toi (an explorer from around 1150 AD) is widely acknowledged as the principal ancestor of many North Island tribes.
There is more information on the board displaying these artifacts: “The people who lived in the pa were descendants of Awanuiarangi. They were known through the generations as Te Tini o Awa, Ngati Kouapari and Ngati Mamoe (or Whatumamoe). Ngati Ira also lived on this pa. Te Tini o Awa (descendants of Awanuiarangi) also lived at Heipipi Pa at Bayview.”
The Ngāti Māmoe were one of the original people groups on the Heretaunga Plains (see the links below) but they were driven south by the Ngati Kahungunu who are now the dominant tribe in Hawkes Bay.
Number 2 and 3 of the above artifacts look pre-Maori. Ngati Mamoe from the info board were settled in the land before the explorer Kupe. (Note, there are two Kupes.) Before them were the Maruiwi.
Otatara Pa at Taradale and Heipipi Pa at Bayview, Napier were once on the shores of the Ahuriri lagoon until the land lifted after the Napier Earthquake in 1931. Our farm was once on the edge of this lagoon. The neighbouring farm was Park Island, so-called because it used to be an island, and beyond was the Napier Harbour Board Farm. The Harbour Board got the land from the sea after the Napier earthquake.
As well as being a historic site the views over Taradale and Hawkes Bay are just beautiful.
Walk: Hawkes Bay 31
Links
DOC, Otatara Pa Historic Reserve – A series of tribal groups (iwi) once occupied these sites:
Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Whatumāmoa, Rangitāne, and (most recently) Ngāti Kahungunu. All have distinct perspectives on events. Elders say that a chief named Koaupari built the original Ōtātara Pā.
NZ History, Otatara Pa Historic Reserve
(Related page: Maruiwi)
Ngati-ti-Koaupari were exterminated at Mohaka, Hawkes Bay. [See “the end of this people“ Journal Polynesian Society, Vol. XV., p. 25.]
Early Māori History of Napier
Tribal traditions, whakapapa and archaeological evidence all indicate many centuries of Māori occupation in Ahuriri (Napier), centrally located within the wider area of Te Matau-a-Māui (Hawke’s Bay). Te Matau-a-Māui translates to the ‘fish hook of Māui’ and is an allegorical reference to the legendary explorer and ancestor Māui who fished up Te Ika-a-Maui (the North Island).
Early Māori tribes in the region descended from Māui and down through Toi-kai-rākau, and included Ngāti Hotu, Ngāti Mahu and Whatumamoa. When Ngāti Kahungunu arrived in the region in the sixteenth century, Whatumamoa, Rangitāne, Ngāti Awa and elements of Ngāti Tara were living in Pētane, Te Whanganui-a-Orotū (the Napier Inner Harbour, also known as Ahuriri Harbour) and Waiohiki. These groups are all ancestors of the current hapū within Te Matau-a-Māui.
Ngāti Kahungunu became the dominant tribal group in the region through both warfare and strategic marriage though large numbers left the area in the 1820s due to armed raids from both the west and north, and most sought refuge at Māhia. They started ‘filtering back’ to Ahuriri-Heretaunga in the 1830s and 1840s with the Treaty of Waitangi providing the prospect of ‘being able to return to their ancestral lands in peace’.
Source: Drill Hall, 56 Coote Road and Breakwater Road, Bluff Hill, NAPIER
Ngati Awa
Te Awanuiarangi is recognised as the founding ancestor of Te Āti Awa. According to Te Āti Awa traditions, he was the product of a union between Rongoueroa and Tamarau, a spirit ancestor. Awanuiarangi is also an ancestor of Ngāti Awa in the Bay of Plenty. However, while Ngāti Awa trace their ancestry to the Mataatua canoe, some Te Āti Awa trace their origins to the Tokomaru canoe whilst others remember the connection to the Kaahui people or the people that walked here before the floods (?)
Ngati Mamoe
Kupe and his people discovered people at various places. These people were the Mamoe, the Turehu, the Tahurangi, the Poke-pokewai, the Patupaiarehe, the Turepe and the Hamoamoa. They lived on the fronds and berries of the trees, and the roots of the earth.
Source: Volume 28 1919 > Volume 28, No. 110 > The account of Kupe and Tainui, by George Graham, p 111-116
Kāti Māmoe (also spelled Ngāti Māmoe) were originally from the Heretaunga Plains of Hawke’s Bay. Early migration stories say the Ngāti Mamoe were forced out of their home in the Heretaunga, and took refuge in Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington) with the permission of Ngāi Tara‘s ancestor and namesake, Tara. Later after they had moved down to the South Island, they defeated Waitaha along the east coast of the South Island.
Source: Wikipedia
Here’s another pa built by the Ngati Mamoe after they migrated to the South Island: Karaka Point Walk, Picton, Marlborough Sounds
Taradale Pa
The pa is described in page 393 of The art workmanship of the Maori race in New Zealand as “an ancient pa of great size, the earthworks covering many acres, and extending over three of four spurs of the hill.”
Section of a large pa at Taradale, Hawke’s Bay. The sketch section of the ditches and banks show the strength of the defensive works ; such was the extent of the pa that a very large number of men must have been required to repel a large attacking force. This pa is only one of many visible from this place. It is situated on a high spur above the river, and covers several acres.
https://archive.org/details/cu31924029890153/page/n173/mode/2up?q=Taradale
Heipipi Pa at Bayview, Napier is described in page 303 of The art workmanship of the Maori race in New Zealand as, “A celebrated pa of the autochthonous people overlooking the outlet of the Petane Valley, near Napier.” Autochthonous means “native to the place where found; indigenous.” In 1896 it would have meant the pre-Maori people, Ngati Mamoe or Maruiwi.
Source: The art workmanship of the Maori race in New Zealand
An article from 1904 in the Wairarapa Daily Times states Heipipi Pa was the home of the extinct Maruiwi tribe.
Source: Papers Past
Maruiwi
The Ngati Kahungunu then moved south into Hawke Bay, first overcoming the Maruiwi in the Heipipi Pa on a hill at today’s Bayview, and in the Otatara Pa above Taradale. Tawhao settled by the Ahuriri estuary (at Napier) and Taraia settled along the Tukituki (near Hastings). Full story
Source: folksong.org.nz
Ngati Hotu
According to T.M.R. (Boy) Tomoana, a Waipatu elder who was interviewed in 1971, the original inhabitants of the Otatara area were the Ngati Hotu and Ngati Apa tribes. The former tribe is now non-existent and the Ngati Apa is reduced to a very small number.
Source: DOC, ASSESSMENT OF HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE
OTATARA PA HISTORIC RESERVE JUNE 1997
Te Mata Peak, Hawkes Bay
Walk #162, 21st February 2025
Te Mata peak rises up from the rugged Te Mata Range to the right of Cape Kidnappers. There are sweeping view of Hawkes Bay in every direction. The cape, the range and the 399 metre high peak dominated the skyline of my childhood but I never visited Te Mata peak as a child.
September 2017
I finally got to visit the park on holiday in the spring of 2017, but we didn’t do a walk that time.
History of Te Mata Peak
John Chambers was a sheepfarmer who by 1863 owned 14,793 acres of land at Te Mata. As a memorial to their pioneer father, in 1927 Bernard and two of his brothers, John and Mason, gave the public of Hawke’s Bay a 242-acre reserve on the upper Havelock North hills, including Te Mata Peak.
Mason Chambers
Here’s some history of a Hawkes Bay family and a car. Mason Chambers owned a 1920 Arrol Johnson. Forty-five years later the car was a dilaphidated wreck carting apples in a Hastings orchard. My father took it from the orchard and restored it.
Here’s my family sitting on the Arrol in the 1960s, on a hill above Taradale, with Te Mata peak in the distance.
Walk: Hawkes Bay 32
Links
The park: “Gifted in perpetuity to the community in 1927 and managed by a small group of volunteer trustees, with appreciated help from local councils and the community, the 107.5 hectare Park is a recreational, historical and cultural treasure.”
Te Mata Peak, the Giant Among Us, Visit the Beauty
Te Mata Peak, Hawke’s Bay giant – Roadside Stories
The Craggy Range track controversy
The track: In 2017 a track costing $300,000 was cut up the eastern face of Te Mata peak by Craggy Range Winery, which iwi objected to, despite it being on privately owned land. The track was removed at the ratepayer’s expense.
Disagreement among Hawke’s Bay hapū has meant tangata whenua will not be part of the trust set up to administer a regional park on Te Mata peak as planned.
The trust was formed as a means of resolving a furore sparked by a track cut up the eastern face of Te Mata peak by Craggy Range Winery in late 2017.
The track split the Hawke’s Bay community. Some wanted it to stay; others questioned how the winery could be granted consent without public notification or consultation. It led to a major review by Hastings District Council into whether it should have been granted resource consent without informing local iwi.
Ultimately the council removed the limestone track at ratepayers’ cost. The zig-zag cut remains visible, but is less obvious as time goes on.
A key development in assuaging public concern was the offer by three local businessmen (Mike Wilding, Andy Lowe and Jonathan McHardy) to purchase the land containing the track to gift it to the public.
Ngāti Kahungunu iwi were then invited to be part of a trust (the Te Rongo Charitable Trust) formed as a means of resolving the furore sparked by the creation of the track.
Opinion split over Te Mata Peak track, alternative path under discussion
The iwi couldn’t agree among themselves about what they wanted out of the trust, so now they’re not part of it.
Disagreement means hapū and iwi will not be on trust to run Te Mata peak park
It doesn’t bode well. How can two walk together unless they are agreed?
Mt Pirongia
Walk #139, 30th Sept 2024
This bush clad mountain is a familiar site when I’m travelling, but I’ve never stopped to explore this intriguing area until now. The book I had with me recommended a climb to the Ruapane lookout, but I decided to skip it in favour of two introductory walks, the Mangakara Nature walk and the Corcoran Road lookout leading to the Ruapane lookout.
I was fortunate to hear a Kokako at the Corcoran Road lookout. The birds have been reintroduced to the area by the Pirongia Te Aroaro o Kahu Restoration Society Inc in partnership with DOC. The pest control area is shown in the bottom right of the picture.
Also this mountain range has the tallest native tree in NZ.
I find this area intriguing as Mt Pirongia and Wairenga Reserve near Raglan are associated with the patupaiarehe, a white tribe the Maori saw as fairies because of their pale skin. They were said to have lived on Hihikiwi peak, a pyramid shaped peak on Mount Pirongia. The patupaiarehe also lived on Mount Ngongotaha in Rotorua, but moved west after they were accidentally or deliberately burned out by the Maori.
We stopped for lunch in a park at Pirongia and there in front of us were three pou dedicated to the patupaiarehe. There was also a large polished stone sculpture representing Pirongia Maunga (mountain) and the patupaiarehe children of the mist.
Pirongia Maunga (mountain) and the patupaiarehe children of the mist.
Links
Here’s an interesting video taken at Purekireki marae near Pirongia, where an elder of the Ngaati Taramatau hapu speaks of the patupaiarehe.
Patupaiarehe – Waka Huia explores the existence of the Mist people
He says (18.38) “there was speculation they were our ancestors.” I wouldn’t be surprised given their appearance, there are a few freckled faces and redheads surrounding him.
The true meaning of the name Pirongia-te-aroaro-o-Kahu is “the odour from Kahu’s nether regions.” It is explained between 10:39 and 11:46 of the video. Puawhea was the name given for Mt Pirongia by the Patupaiarehe.
The name of their god was Io Matuakore but his name was never mentioned. Uenuku was used instead. Uenuku is associated with the rainbow. Interestingly, for those who say the Moriori never were in NZ, the Moriori also have a god called Ouenuku.
Whanawhana
In 1894 Hoani Nahe, an elder of the Ngāti Maru people, recalled three sub-tribes of patupaiarehe: Ngāti Kura, Ngāti Korakorako, and Ngāti Tūrehu. Tahurangi, Whanawhana, and Nukupori were important chiefs. Source: TeAra.govt.nz
“It was Whanawhana’s ambition to want a relationship with Maori that he connected with Tawhaitu, the wife of Ruarangi. There was no negativity about these people …” (28.52)
Walk: Waikato 23
Related walks
Links
MOUNT PIRONGIA (959 METRES) IS AN ANCIENT VOLCANO CENTRAL TO THE 17,000 HECTARE PIRONGIA FOREST PARK THAT, WITH ITS DRAMATIC SKYLINE, IS ONE OF THE MOST DISTINCTIVE FEATURES IN THE WAIKATO DISTRICT. Explore the Mountain
St Pauls Rock, Whangaroa, Northland
Walk #126 1st May 2024
We walked up an old volcanic plug above the village of Whangaroa. A chain is needed near the top and we had to forego that part because of a shoulder injury. As you can see the view over Whangaroa harbour was still good.
Walk: Northland 6
Links:
Giants at Whangaroa
Here’s an interesting article from 13th October 1934 where the bones of giant men were found in a large cave at Whangaroa.
Hongi Hika invaded Whangaroa in 1827. If you want to learn more about Hongi Hika and the start of the Musket Wars, I recommend these videos by Kiwi Codger.
Mount Ngongotaha, Rotorua
Walk #86, 16th April 2022
There are two tracks, I recommend the nature trail.
The Jubilee track is straight up for an hour with no views. It was a nice walk with friends, great for my friend who wanted exercise, meh for me.
This walk had the most fungi I’ve seen anywhere.
At the start of the walk is a large rata, the only one in the reserve.
The Patupaiarahe
This mountain used to be the home of the ancient patupaiarehe. They weren’t fairies, some looked like Maori, some like Europeans.
The name Ngongotaha is derived from an encounter with them. It means to drink water from the calabash, which was offered to Ihenga (the grandson of Tamatekapua) by a patupaiarehe maiden when he was exploring the country around Rotorua. There’s no water up the top of the mountain and Ihenga was thirsty.
Normally the elusive patupaiarehe had no truck with Maori but Ihenga made friends with them and he eventually lived near the mountain on the banks of the Waitete Stream.
The patupaiarehe left the mountain and moved west after the Maori accidentally or deliberately burned them out.
Walk: Rotorua #23
Links
The Fairy Folk of Ngongotaha Mountain
“The name of that tribe of Patu-paiarehe was Ngati-Rua, and the chiefs of that tribe in the days of my ancestor Ihenga were Tuehu, Te Rangitamai, Tongakohu, and Rotokohu. The people were very numerous; there were a thousand or perhaps many more on Ngongotaha.
They were an iwi atua (a god-like race, a people of supernatural powers). In appearance some of them were very much like the Maori people of today; others resembled the pakeha race. The colour of most of them was kiri puwhero (reddish skins), and their hair had the red or golden tinge which we call uru-kehu.
Some had black eyes, some blue like fair-skinned Europeans. They were about the same height as ourselves. Some of their women were very beautiful, very fair of complexion, with shining fair hair.
They wore chiefly the flax garments called pakerangi, dyed a red colour; they also wore the rough mats pora and pureke. In disposition they were peaceful; they were not a war-loving, angry people.
Their food consisted of the products of the forest, and they also came down to this Lake Rotorua to catch inanga (whitebait.)
There was one curious characteristic of these Patu-paiarehe; they had a great dread of the steam that rose from cooked food. In the evenings, when the Maori people living at Te Raho-o-te-Rangipiere and other places near the fairy abodes opened their cooking-ovens, all the Patu-paiarehe retired to their houses immediately they saw the clouds of vapour rising, and shut themselves up; they were afraid of the mamaoa—the steam.
Chapter II, The Fairy Folk of Ngongotaha Mountain
Source: Victoria University Library, Title: Fairy Folk Tales of the Maori, Author: James Cowan
Story: Patupaiarehe : Mt Ngongotaha
Fairy Springs: so named because the Patupaiarehe would descend the slopes of Mount Ngongotaha to visit the springs at night and to drink from the waters.
Nearby Rainbow Springs: A rainbow would appear over the spring, therefore Rainbow Springs is another name given to this location.
Unfortunately the wildlife park that was here has been closed after 90 years of business – because of the Covid lockdowns.
Maungaraho Rock
Walk 32, Maungaraho Rock, 2nd May 2020
This is the rock I saw on my last climb in the area at Tokatoka Peak. It’s difficult to get to the top as you have to pull yourself up the rocks with a chain. Climbing boots are needed which we didn’t have. Despite that, we made it to the main ridge.
— ◊♦◊♦◊♦ —
Walk 42, 26 September 2020
On the 26th September 2020, we returned with proper boots …
— ◊♦◊♦◊♦ —
Maungaraho Rock, Northland
Walk: Northland 30
Related post: Tokatoka Peak
Tokatoka Peak
Walk 21, Tokatoka Peak, 23/11/2019
I did this walk on my own. Tokatoka Peak is a volcanic plug, 354 metres high. It’s a short but steep climb to the top. The last bit is particularly steep. There’s not a lot of room up there and I didn’t have the peak to myself. At the top there’s a great view of the Wairoa River and west, the country looking out to Dargaville. Not far off to the north-east, there’s Maugaraho Rock.
Walk: Northland 29
Links
Kaipara: Where traditions run deep
Papamoa Hills Regional Park
Walk 20, 28 Oct 2019
We walked uphill through grassland to a pa site at the summit of the Papamoa Hills Regional Park, a climb of 224 metres. There are sweeping views of the hills and coast from Te Puke and Papamoa to Mount Maunganui.
We saw a very tame quail sitting on a fence post, he was obviously used to walkers.
“Papamoa Hills Cultural Heritage Regional Park (Te Rae o Papamoa) includes a number of important pre-European archaeological features. The sites have significance to three iwi (Maori tribal groups) – Ngaiterangi, Ngati Pukenga (of Mataatua) and Waitaha A Hei (of Te Arawa). There are at least seven pa sites (forts) in the park, and others can be seen in the surrounding landscape.” Source: 100% Pure NZ
Links
This bowl was found 1.5m underground in Tauranga in the 1890’s on a slope of Maungatawa. Yes, 1.5m underground in fern country. Discovered when someone was digging a post hole. Why that far down? It wasn’t buried under a tree like Maori often did with something they feared or didn’t know… ie the Korotangi. Many odd and non-Maori items have been found buried way down below any 800-100 year old Maori occupation layer.
Source: Tangata Whenua – Raivavae
NZShortWalks 