Walk #154, 29th January 2025
This magnificent Kauri escaped the axe because of its unusually square shaped trunk. It’s a short but steep climb to the tree. There’s a good view of the Coromandel mountain ranges from the platform.
Walk: Coromandel 3
Links
Walk #153, 29th January 2025
This is a small grove of tall Kauri that escaped the axe. There’s also an unusual double-trunked Kauri, from two seedlings fused together. And if that isn’t enough beauty, there’s a small waterfall and pool about 500m down the gravel road. You have to drive past it to get to the grove.
Walk: Coromandel 3
Links
Walk #135
This reserve is said to have the largest kauri on Auckland’s North Shore. The walk begins after you pass the playground and it follows a pleasant little stream through the bush.
This wood pigeon (kereru) was in the reserve feasting on Nikau berries.
Walk: Auckland 6
Walk #134 12th September 2024
Hakarimata Reserve is in the hills between Ngaruawahia and Huntly. The range of hills, Haakari-kai-mata (shortened to Hakarimata) was named after an abundance of food from a feast held between the Waikato people and nearby Ngāti Maniapoto.
The reserve has one of the largest kauri trees in the Waikato which somehow escaped the axe and a beautiful kauri grove. The trees are on the Kauri Loop track.
According to local lore Ngāti Kahupungapunga were said to be the people that populated the area around Ngāruawāhia/Karakariki. The original name of the Hākarimata is a denotion to these people, it originally was called whāwhāpunga – or pungapunga whāwhā – this was one of the many caverns of the Kahupungapunga people. There were remnants of these people who lived in caverns out west towards Te Pahu also.
Walk: Waikato 14
Links
Walk #125, 30th April 2024
The Manginangina Kauri walk is a short walk in a big forest with towering Kauri trees along the boardwalk. The Puketi-Omahuta forest is the second largest in Northland, situated 14 kilometres west of Kerikeri.
The forest is undergoing extensive pest control so they can bring back birds like the kokako.
In early 2000 there were only seven male kokako left. In 2013/2014 kokako were finally brought back to Puketi. Kokako have their own dialect which the female birds had to learn prior to release. It’s not clear whether the population has increased since 2020. I hope so.
2017 Puketi Forest Trust’s battle for kokako leads to breeding success
Walk: Northland 7
Links
Turehu Voices ‘Heard’ in the Puketi Bush, Northern Advocate, 1948
Walk #75, 26th December 2021
This is a bush remnant growing on an old river terrace next to the Rangitikei River. The bush had been preserved by E O Pryce and the land was gifted by him to the Rangitikei Scenery Preservation and Tree Planting Society in 1941, on threat of the forest being milled under War Regulations. The Society was dissolved and formed the Rangitikei section of Forest & Bird in 1961.
The reserve is not well frequented and we had the place all to ourselves.
There are some noteable trees in the reserve, including Kauri, which are growing well out of their range. There’s also an enormous Kowhai tree on the red track and Matai on the yellow track.
Walk: Manawatu 23
Links
The A H Reed Memorial Park in Whangerei is a beautiful remnant of the original Northland kauri forest.
From the Carpark there’s a track to the Canopy Walk and the Pukenui Waterfall. The canopy walkway takes you over the Koromiko Stream and right through the trees. You can even touch a mature Kauri.
The site received recreational reserve staus in 1889 and was named in 1956 after A H Reed, a well known author and publisher who had an interest in long distance walking, the environment and kauri trees in particular.
The site of his parents homestead is on the opposite side of Clapham Road from the upper car park.
A H Reed was a significant player in protecting the falls from quarrying and retaining the kauri trees in the forest.
…
…
Walk: Northland 16
Links
Walk 43, 30th September 2020
The Waipoua Forest is the place to see giant kauri trees. The ancient trees we saw were Tane Mahuta and Te Matua Ngahere.
Tane Mahuta means ‘Lord of the Forest’ and ‘Te Matua Ngahere’ means ‘Father of the Forest.’
There are four walking tracks: Tane Mahuta which is just off the road, and the other track leads to the Four Sisters, Te Matua Ngahere and the Yakas kauri. The tracks to the Four Sisters and the Yakas Kauri were closed because of the threat of kauri dieback.
Kaitiakitanga: means guardianship, protection, preservation or sheltering. It is a way of managing the environment, based on the traditional Māori world view. The guardian of the Waipoua Forest is the Te Roroa iwi (tribe) which is part of the Ngāti Whātua confederation of tribes.
Te Roroa took over management of the Crown Forest as part of a Treaty of Waitangi Claims settlement. Te Roroa Claims Settlement Act 2008.
There are stone ruins in the Waipoua Forest area.
The late Noel Hilliam from Dargaville Museum was one of the archaeologists working on the sites in the nearby Waipoua Forest. He states that nearly half a million dollars of taxpayers money went on excavations by 37 archaeologists in 1981 and in 1983. A local Kaumatua (elder) closed the whole site down and records deposited in Wellington archives had a hold put on them for 75 years. Attempts have been made over the years to get these records released but only a few sanitized results were forth coming and all original datings (2500 BC) have been destroyed.
I did find a report from the Ministry of Justice (Te Roroa claim WAI-38) which I have linked to here: Waipoua Archeological Sites and Te Roroa History.
Here is an excerpt from section 4.1 of that report from 1990 where I’ve highlighted what jumped out at me.
It’s criminal that the sites are being destroyed and covered with pines and bracken fern. An archeological reserve was proposed in 1985 but nothing seems to have come from it and it’s very hard to find information about the stone ruins. More info is in the links below.
Walk: Northland 24 and 25
Links
Here’s a video I made from the lookout tower on the edge of the Waipoua Forest. I could hear the chainsaws from the forestry.
Forest lookout – Puketurehu Hill
‘Puke’ means ‘hill,’ Turehu’ are the original inhabitants of the land.
Turehu: Hoani Nahe, a Ngāti Maru (Hauraki) elder of the late 19th and early 20th centuries writes graphically of a people called the patupaiarehe and the tūrehu, who inhabited the land prior to the arrival of the Polynesian peoples. Source: TeAra, The Encyclopedia of NZ
Waipoua Whitewash, Challenging NZ History, Who were here first? “Waipoua Forest is best known for its primeval kauri trees, but there is also a major pine plantation in the forest which is wrecking the stone city. The roots of the pines are cracking ancient structures and when the pines are felled for timber, they’re likely to destroy a lot of the stone structures. Free ranging cattle are also damaging the site.” Source: elocal
Walk 41, 28th Sept 2020
This is another mainland island, like Bushy Park, but without the pest proof fence. It has about 200 kiwi. We returned at night hoping to see some but didn’t. There’s a 50-50 chance of seeing them. We heard one call and a morepork answered.
The park has some fine kauri trees but it’s not as well visited as the nearby Waipoua forest.
This forest is a gift to us from James Trounson, an early settler. The park opened in 1921.
Walk: Northland 26
Links
History:
https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/trounson-kauri-park
Three men admire the grove of trees known as ‘the cathedral’ in Trounson Kauri Park in the early 20th century.
We stayed here: Kauri Coast Top 10
Walk 39, 29th Aug 2020
This is a local walk through a patch of bush next to the Warkworth Museum. Parry Kauri Park has two mature Kauri trees next to the museum car park. The two large kauri trees are named in honour of the former landowners, Harry Parry and Tudor Collins. They were local identities who were largely responsible along with the Kauri Bushmen’s Association for raising the money to purchase the land.
It’s a great place for learning how to identify trees and you might get to see native birds at the bird feeder.
We haven’t seen birds tuck into the fruit on previous visits, but today we saw a pair of Silver-eyes enjoying the apples.
Walk: Warkworth 36
Links
NZShortWalks 