This was an unusual walk, we made our way over a big sand dune to a hot water beach near Kawhia, which also goes by the name of ‘Te Puia,’ meaning ‘hot springs’.
The hot spots are directly out from the main track down the dune. As you can see this hot water beach is less crowded than the more popular and well-known beachat Hahei, Coromandel.
You have to go two hours either side of low tide. The hot water is found by digging into the sand with your toes. We found a warm spot and my husband Bert dug a hole for us to soak in with his father’s US army issue spade. As he dug I could smell the sulphur. The hole that I’d already claimed had water that was a bit hotter.
Unfortunately it started to rain, but we were already wet anyway and the wind wasn’t cold.
Above: Bert explaining how they flew over this when his father was a pilot for Volcanic Wunderflights.
A short walk through native bush leads to a cyan coloured lake framed by red and white cliffs. The lake occupies the crater of Maungakakaramea, Rainbow Mountain. It’s still geothermically active so ducks can swim at one end while water boils at the other.
This is the tribal region of the Ngati Tahu, Ngati Whaoa tribe. According to their tradition their ancestors Tahumatua and his descendant Whaoa arrived long before the so-called “great migration.” The summit and slopes of the mountain supported a large Whaoa Pa.
In modern times the area was used for experimental forestry. Up until the 1960’s half-Clydesdale horses moved the harvested timber by verbal commands, without reins.
Craters of the Moon is a geothermal walk past steaming craters and fumeroles which takes about 40 minutes. There’s a small cover charge for the walk of $8 each to maintain the park. I recommend this walk. The visitor centre is off-grid, with geothermal floor heating and an electricity supply provided by solar cells.
Tokaanu on the southwestern side of Lake Taupo, is near the small town of Turangi.
This short walk is next to the Tokaanu Hot pools, which I’ve found are well worth the visit after a day skiing on Mount Ruapehu. The path at Tokaanu wends its way past steaming pools and boiling mud.
Walk: Turangi / Taupo 39
History of Tokaanu
Wikipedia: Before the development of Turangi in the 1960s, Tokaanu was the main settlement at the southern end of Lake Taupo. It had been known to Māori for centuries for its natural thermal pools. The pools became a major stopover on the Grand Tour stage coach run from Wanganui to Taupo in the 1800s. Passengers arrived by stage coach from Waiouru, and departed by steam launch from the historic Tokaanu wharf onwards to Taupo.
Trevor Hosking, archaeologist for the Tongariro Power Development 1966
In the 1960s the country needed more power and numerous schemes had been mooted. The Tongariro Power Development was to be an important one which would involve thousands of acres of land as well as many rivers and tributaries in the area around the new town of Turangi and as far south as Waiouru. The Ministry of Works was in charge of the scheme and wanted things to be done correctly, and it was decided that the Historic Places Trust would have the responsibility of making sure the development progressed without destroying areas of historic or archaeological interest.
The Trust wrote letters to the Tuwharetoa Board asking for permission to undertake the work and recommended archaeologist Trevor Hosking for the job.
A Museum Underfoot
The book ‘A Museum Underfoot’ was published on Hosking’s work. On page 100, Hosking writes about his discovery of Ngati Hotu skulls:
Bones had turned up near the Tokaanu Stream. Some eight feet of pumice had been removed before the bones were discovered. The skull shapes were quite different and Trevor Hosking had access to the late Lesley G Adkins who provided him with his research papers on the Horowhenua burials and the types of skulls found in that area.
Adkin’s information tied in exactly with what Hosking had been turning up while working throughout the Turangi area. The loader driver had unearthed the skulls of a very early, pre-Polynesian people.
In Taupo these early people are known as Ngati Hotu and Korako. In Horowhenua they are Waitaha, down south Ngati Mamoe and so on. In most cases their history is lost in the mists of time. They didn’t survive the onslaught of the more warlike arrivals from the Eastern Pacific.
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