This walk is near Lake Okataina in the Rotorua Lakes area. The track follows a crater rim and leads to views over two lakes, Lakes Rotongata and Rotoatua. The views are better away from the viewing area.
I give it 3 stars because the views in most part are blocked by trees.
I recommend the Te Auheke Track (Cascades Track) instead.
The NZ Motor Caravan site provides this helpful info:
Time: 40 min loop
Distance: 1.5 km
The track passes a sheer cliff face which is covered with moss and ferns. At night, thousands of glow worms can be seen. The picturesque Cascade Falls (around 10 m high) pour water over and around many rock protrusions and inspired the track’s name: Te Auheke means ‘tumbling water’.
Getting there: Start at the back of the field behind the Outdoor Education Centre.
These are two beautiful parks in New Plymouth connected to one another. Brooklands park has a rich history. There are historic trees, a 2000 year old Puriri and a very old Ginko tree.
There’s a colonial hospital building from the 1840s, a chimney from a homestead burned down in the Taranaki Land Wars of the 1860s, a zoo, and the Brooklands bowl where people go for outdoor concerts.
Pukekura park has the tearooms, fountains, waterfall and three picturesque lakes framed by trees, gardens and red bridges.
The Gables was a hospital built by George Grey in 1840s. He hoped Maori would use the facility.Brooklands chimney from Brooklands homestead, burned down in the Land wars of 1860s
Walk: Taranaki 7
Hospitals
After the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, Māori leaders petitioned government for hospitals. Funding for Māori hospitals was allocated in 1846 and the first hospitals were commissioned. The first public hospital in New Zealand opened in Wellington in 1847. Māori use of hospitals was evident from the outset.
The Gables (above) is the sole survivor of four public hospitals built in the period.
Historyof the land
New Plymouth and Taranaki have a history of conflict. While we hear all about Te Whiti and Parihaka, and the nonviolent protest against land confiscation and colonial domination in the 1860s and 1880s, we never about the massacre at Tataraimaka. Tataraimaka was taken possession of in the early 1860s by right of conquest from the Europeans, who were all driven off.
I think Parihaka is great, it ended non violently and without injury except for a foot which was accidentally stood on. I talked about it with a Ngati Awa man a couple of years ago. He wasn’t aware of the European refugees from Taranaki who’d been driven off their farms and wound up in Nelson. We need history from both sides.
The following was taken from a letter by the Rev. Samuel Ironside and reprinted in the Taranaki Herald 27 June 1863;
In 1838 the whole district in question, embracing 100 miles of coastland, was depopulated. There were not more than twenty to thirty souls left there. The Waikato tribes and those further north, had overrun the place ; hundreds of the people had been killed and eaten, hundreds more had been carried into slavery by their victors, hundreds more had been driven into exile towards Cook’s Strait and Queen Charlotte’s Sound. The above twenty or thirty were all that were left in occupation.
The chiefs all signed the deed of sale. Among the parties to the sale was Wiremu Kingi who turned violent and rebellious. He was then called E Witi. They were all too glad to sell the land, and get payment for it, as they dare not return to occupy it for fear of Waikato.
Waikato
When the Waikatos heard of the sale of land which they claimed by right of conquest, they threatened vengeance against the remnant of Taranakis, and a war party of several hundreds started off to exterminate them. The missionaries including Ironside succeeded in preventing bloodshed; but the Waikato chiefs then and there asserted and maintained their rights of ownership of the conquered territory. His Excellency Captain Hobson, then Governor, in satisfaction of their claim, gave Potatau (afterwards Potatau I) £400.
So abundant payment had been made for the disputed lands — first, by the New Zealand Company to the original owners, and afterwards by the New Zealand Company to the Waikato chiefs.
In the years 1843-44, Mr Spain, then Queen’s Commissioner, after careful and patient investigation, determined that the district of Taranaki had been fairly purchased and accordingly awarded to the province the whole block extending north and south of the town, including both Waitara and Tataraimaka.
New Plymouth
The settlers came, and New Plymouth was built.
But the natives, exiled by war, returned home by degrees, now that Europeans were there as a protection; and the Waikato chiefs allowed many of their Taranaki slaves to return. These persons began to clamour and dispute, a thing they dared not before. Ample reserves, suitably situated, had been made for the native residents but the Taranaki natives were dissatisfied, and threatened to drive all the settlers from their holdings.
In the early 1840s Captain FitzRoy, then Governor, partly in pursuance of the mischievous policy of puffing off the evil day, and partly to embarrass the New Zealand Company, that was not in high favour at home, arbitrarily set aside the award of the Queen’s Commissioner, gave back the land to the natives, and told every settler in the Waitara and neighbourhood that they remained there at their own peril — he could not and would not protect them from the natives.
The settlers were driven off their farms.
Captain FitzRoy was sacked and George Grey inherited the mess. He was instructed to take steps at once, by further payments, to acquire these lands for the province. Some of these lands were so acquired, by a further purchase; among them was Tataraimaka, where a massacre of officers and men of the 57th would later take place.
The pressure on the Maori to sell land
But the violent natives had found out their power, and ably have they used it. A large proportion of the natives were peaceable and friendly, and were anxious to sell some of their lands, in order to have European neighbours, and a profitable market close to their doors, for their pigs, potatoes, and corn. These have been overawed, and, to use an expressive, but appropriate term, bullied by the rebels, and thus prevented from exercising their rights of ownership.
As the Pākehā population of New Zealand increased during the 1850s, Māori faced growing pressure to sell their land.
In 1852 a league was formed by these overbearing natives, binding each other not to sell lands to the Government, and threatening death to any chief who should dare to do so. The peaceable natives refused to enter into this league, and have from time to time urged the Government to purchase, saying that the land was the fruitful source of quarrel among themselves, and for peace sake they wished to alienate. The league, however, have ever been strong enough to prevent Government from entertaining their proposals.
War
War broke out between the league and those who wanted to sell. Sometimes the farms of the settlers were made the battleground of the parties. The unoffending settlers were in continual anxiety and fear, and frequently suffered loss.
In 1859 Governor Gore Browne got involved. He had a large meeting of natives in the town of New Plymouth; declared that as British Governor he would protect all of them, in their rights; that he had no wish to purchase any of their lands about which they were quarrelling; that he would not buy any lands, the title of which was disputed; but that if any of them were anxious to sell and could prove their title, they certainly should sell; he would protect them.
Wiremu Kingi (E Witi) of the league blocked the sales. He said ‘that no Maori owned land, the land was owned by all the people to be used communally and individually and not to be possessed. Under Maori custom no land could be sold without the consent of all the people. As leader he must make a decision in accordance with the people’s demands.
The Governor had paid £100 as part purchase money, and surveyors were sent to lay the block out. The land leaguers resisted the survey, and appealed to the native king, Potatau, who espoused their cause.
By 1863 the former productive farms had became overrun with Scotch thistle and other noxious weeds because the natives were not being able to cultivate one-tenth of the land.
Tataraimaka
The Tataraimaka pā was left empty after the pā was sacked by a party of northern Māori during the Musket Wars, shortly before 1820. The Tataraimaka Block of land was purchased from Māori in 1847, and was the location where 200 men of the 65th Regiment were stationed during the First Taranaki War, from April to June 1860.
Martial law was declared and the settlement of Tataraimaka, twelve miles south of the town, was taken possession of by the natives, by right of conquest from the Europeans, who had all been driven off. Many settlers were murdered, some killed in war, a large number died through disease and exposure, and the district was held since 1860 by the rebel tribes.
Tataraimaka was returned to government control in early 1865.
Source: Appendix 1, The War in New Zealand, page 282 to 286.
Confiscating land to pay for the war in the 1860s was a really bad idea, but in 1878 an offer was made to return the confiscated land to Waikato Maori. The offer was refused.
This is a two hour return walk between two of the lakes of Rotorua. The walk starts at Korokitewao Bay at Lake Rotoiti and ends at Lake Rotoehu.
In 1823 Hongi Hika attacked Arawa in Rotorua. He had muskets and he was bent on revenge. They dragged their war canoes from Lake Rotoehu across to Lake Rotoira using the track as a portage, and from there through a canal into Lake Rotorua.
A small loop track leads to Hinehopu’s tree, a sacred matai at the side of SH30. Hinehopu was hidden here as a baby and it’s where she met her husband to be, Pikiao. (This is from a different time and not related to Hongi Hika’s attack on Rotorua).
Hinehopu’s Matai tree
Korokitewao Bay, Lake Rotoira, where the track begins
One of Hongi’s war canoes was made into a pataka that is now at Te Papa. See the walk at Papaitonga Scenic Reserve, Levin where the pataka from Te Takinga, Lake Rotoiti ended up before being donated to the Dominion Museum.
On the point on the left hand as the bay is entered, where the trees dip their thirsty branches so low that they touch the water, once stood Te Ari kainga, a village of the ancient lake people …
Kai Iwi Lakes are three freshwater dune lakes, Lake Taharoa, Lake Kaiiwi, and Lake Waikare. The walk is around Lake Taharoa, the largest lake, where water the colour of sapphire ringed with aquamarine laps at the beaches of fine white sand. It’s a popular place to camp. The jewel in the setting is the lake, while the surrounding land is a bit ho-hum. It was a lovely spot fringed with big trees, but the trees were removed for some reason. It now looks a bit barren.
We got there in late afternoon and it started raining so the lake isn’t shown at it’s best. We got half way around Lake Taharoa when we decided to call it a day and go to the Kaihu Tavern.
Here’s a photo taken on an earlier visit in early spring, 2020 which shows the amazing colour of the lake.
Lake Taharoa, the largest of Kai Iwi Lakes
Walk: Northland 28
Kai Iwi Lakes Coastal Track
I recommend this walk across paddocks to Ripiro Beach, which we did in September 2020. It was more interesting although it’s across farmland so you would have to watch for bulls, cows, bogs and electric fences. We came out at a little waterfall on the beach.
Ripiro Beach
Ripiro Beach is at 107 km (66 miles) long it is the longest driveable beach in New Zealand, longer than the more famous, but erroneously named Ninety Mile Beach further north.
It is called ‘the shipwreck highway.’ The difficulty early mariners had navigating the coastline and finding entrance to the Kaipara Harbour to the south are evident to any visitor; there are no landmarks, and there were no lighthouses until the one at Pouto was built. Studies of a confirmed 113 shipwrecks and other suspected wrecks have brought social information to light with potential impacts on the known history of New Zealand. Some are found in shallow water, some are buried in dunes which are now inland in an area known as ‘Valley of the wrecks’ and “The graveyard”. Vague stories of ships full of white men wrecked and then eaten on this coast before and after the time of Abel Tasman may yet be confirmed. Source: Places NZ, Ripiro Beach – Shipwreck Highway
A nice easy flat walk around a lake that is adjacent to the Ruamahanga and Waipoua Rivers in Masterton. There’s a lot of road noise by the gate but it gets quieter after you pass the school.
Some of the trees are just coming into their Autumn colours.
Lake Ngaroro is a peat lake in the Waipa district of Waikato. It’s ten minutes from Pirongia or Te Awamutu.
The lake is surrounded by farmland. When European farmers drained the swamps for pasture they pulled rata, kahikatea and totara logs out of the ground. The logs were all found lying in the same direction and it was quite likely the trees were knocked over by the Taupo eruption of 233 AD.
The path around the lake is easy and well maintained with some interesting info boards.
I liked the fish ladder and the planting that’s been done around the lake to improve water quality. It took me an hour and twenty minutes to walk around the lake.
This battle was the largest ever fought in NZ with an estimated 16,000 warriors involved. It took place between 1790 and 1807, before muskets. The war between Maori tribes was caused by a dispute over the fish harvest.
Maori buried their taonga (treasures) in swamps to protect them from being pillaged. Uenuku is one such treasure, found in the lake area and now cared for at the Te Awamutu Museum.
The Maori maintain Uenuku was a rainbow god and it was carried into battle before being buried in the swamp surrounding Lake Ngaroro. They claim it’s the only one of it’s kind. However, two such pou (poles) were said to be on Mount Pirongia, the home of the Patupairehe. They would have long rotted out, this one was preserved by the swamp.
Is the artifact Maori or did it belong to earlier people?
Interestingly, for those who say the Moriori never were in NZ, the Moriori also have a god called Ouenuku. This confirms for me that the Moriori were in NZ first, which is what I was told as a child. Source: Tangata Whenua
This is a lovely bush fringed lake in the Taranaki Hills east of Eltham. Its got a pest proof fence which means the bird life is prolific. We saw Saddlebacks and Robins on the track.
The lake was noisy as it was Waitangi Day and there were people out on boats and jetskis. Their use is seasonally limited so if you want a quiet walk go after May.
This walk is between Turangi and National Park on SH47.
This beautiful lake is on the slopes of Mount Pihanga – the smallest of the mountains. It’s really a hill. The lake is named after greenstone, Roto means lake and Pounamu means greenstone.
According to Maori legend the volcanos in the central North Island including Ruapehu, Tongariro, Ngarahoe and Taranaki all fought over Pihanga. Tonagariro blew his top over her and Taranaki left, moving south and west, gouging out the Whanganui River.
Lake Rotoaira, a much larger lake, is at the bottom of Pihanga.
On this walk we were lucky enough to see a NZ Robin, the Maori name is a Toutouwai.
We saw a Huhu beetle on a tree by the style as we were leaving.
The Rotorua district is full of lakes and these two don’t disappoint. They are water filled volcanic craters where the water level rises and falls from year to year. Blue Lake (Tikitapu) drains underground to Green Lake (Rotokakahi) which is 20 metres lower.
Blue Lake is named after a lost tiki. Green lake is named after freshwater mussel.
You can’t walk around Green Lake, it is privately owned by the Maori. Blue Lake is a nice walk, mostly under trees with views of the lake all the way.
Blue Lake, TikitapuGreen Lake, Rotokakahi
Walk: Rotorua #27
Links
There’s stone pataka on the south-east shore of Green Lake, near the former village of Epiha. It’s like the one at the Buried Village at Tarawera, without the ornamentation.
This is a small bush remnant between Wanganui and Wellington overlooking Lake Waiwiri, a dune lake. This area is a rare example of an uninterrupted transition from coastal wetland to mature, dry terrace forest. The whole coast was once covered in this dense and luxurious bush and sadly it’s all gone.
There are two islands on the lake, the larger is Papaitonga and the smaller is Papawhārangi. The smaller island was constructed by the Muaūpoko (Ngati Tara) people in the late 18th to early 19th century.
The reserve is home to the endangered birds like the elusive bittern and spotless crake.
People from the Muaūpoko tribe lived on the islands in the lake but they were wiped out in a battle against Te Rauparaha.
After the local Muaūpoko tribe attacked a group including Ngāti Toa chief Te Rauparaha, they became a target for reprisal raids by Ngāti Toa. Despite retreating to artificial islands they had built in Lakes Papaitonga and Horowhenua, large numbers of Muaūpoko were killed, and survivors fled to the nearby Tararua Range.
The Evening Post published this item on Papaitonga on 6 November 1911:
Papaitonga – NATIONAL RESERVE?
Everything is eerie and silent; there are kiwi on the islet, but you only hear them at night, and the doleful morepork keeps them company. At a turn in the path, in the glooms of the tapu grove, an eerie thing confronts one — a human skull, stuck up on a short pole, grinning as if in menace, a silent warning to “keep off the grass !” This, one finds, is an isle of skulls, a Maori Golgotha, and over the ancient battle-ground and burial-ground that skull on its tapu stick mounts guard. A few yards further on, and in a little open space on the summit of the island, a memorial of another and more picturesque kind is found. A great canoe, an olden war-canoe, carved and painted, rears itself above the trees; one end is sunk firmly in the ground and stoutly braced to keep it upright. It is a stately memento mori, tapu to the manes of the tribal dead.
Sitting here on this thrice-tapu island with a Ngati-Ruakawa companion from the little village of Muhunoa, a mile or so away, one heard some thrilling tale of Papaitonga’s pact. For this quiet island was a lively spot in the cannibal days, the early twenties of last century, when Rauparaha and Rangihaeata and their musket-armed Northern warriors happened along. Papaitonga, like. Horowhenua, and in fact all this country from Paekakarikei to Manawatu and Rangitikei, was owned by the Muaupoko and Rangitane, and some kindred tribes. The Muanpoko had a stronghold on this islet; a stockade, or “tuwatawata,” encircled it There were many canoes on the lake; when danger threatened the people withdrew to the island, taking all their dug-outs with them.
It was in about the beginning of the year 1823 that Rauparaha and his Ngatitoa-and Ngati-Awa invaded and captured this district. Muaupoko brought their fate on themselves, to a certain extent, by a massacre in this vicinity; but the wily Rauparaha had intended to take the place anyway, so the murders only brought matters to a head a little quicker.
It is believed this pataka was built at Taheke on the shores of Lake Rotoiti in the 1870s.
It is said to have been built out of a large war canoe which was drawn overland from Maketu, on the coast of the Bay of Plenty, to Rotorua, Lake, a distance of about thirty miles, by Hongi, when that great Nga-Puhi warrior attacked Mokoia Island, in Rotorua Lake, in the year 1822. Source: THE DOMINION MUSEUM. Evening Post, Volume LXXXII, Issue 56, 4 September 1911, Page 6
In 1886 the pataka was purchased by Gilbert Mair, a soldier and government agent who lived among Te Arawa. He bought it for his brother-in-law Sir Walter Buller, a prominent naturalist and politician.
After being exhibited in London and Melbourne during the 1880s Te Takinga was erected on Sir Walter Buller’s estate. When he died the Buller family donated the house to the Dominion Museum.
Horowhenua Land Dispute : The arrival of other tribes in the Wellington region from 1822 onwards led to a number of conflicts over land ownership. Shown above are the opening lines of an article that was published in the Māori newspaper Te Waka Maori o Niu Tirani in December 1873. The article, printed in Māori and English, outlines a dispute over land at Horowhenua between the Muaūpoko and Ngāti Raukawa tribes.
Muaūpoko were drawn into the wars over land and authority in the 1860s, under the leadership of Te Keepa Te Rangihiwinui (known to Pākehā as Major Kemp). Te Keepa saw the conflict as an opportunity to exact revenge on tribes that had humiliated Muaūpoko in the past. After the wars he used his influence to regain lands at Horowhenua through the Native Land Court. Some of this territory was sold in the 1880s for railway and settlement land, but subsequent intertribal disputes about its ownership led to protracted court hearings, parliamentary debate and finally a royal commission in 1896. In the process, Muaūpoko lost more land. Some was taken to pay for the commission costs, and Walter Buller, who had acted as Te Keepa’s lawyer, took Lake Papaitonga in Horowhenua as his fee.
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