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.
The track to Orokawa Bay starts at the northern end of Waihi Beach. Orokawa Bay is a perfect, unspoilt beach overhung by ancient Pohutukawa trees. A side track leads up to the 28m high William Wright Falls (30 minutes return) which we didn’t have time for.
The coastal stretch from Orokawa Bay to Homunga Bay is worth doing but we didn’t have time for that either, it would have been four hours return. The walk there and back to Waihi Beach was about 90 minutes.
There are two old pa sites in the area. Neither pa is named nor is there any signage. The area was devastated by Ngapuhi raids in the Maori Musket Wars. By the time the Treaty of Waitangi was signed in 1840, few Maori remained.
This is a small estuary, prolific with birds despite the close proximity of housing. The walk goes over a swing bridge and along the banks of the Waikanae River to the Waimanu Lagoons. There we were treated to a special sight, a white heron (kotuku) who lives at the lagoon. The bird is so rare that the Maori have a saying, “He Kotuku rerenga tahi,” “a Kotuku’s flight is seen but once.”
The beach is only a short walk from the lagoon, where we watched the sun set over Kapiti Island, 5 kms offshore.
Walk: Kapiti 33
History
Te Uruhi, a former pa site at Waikanae, was one of three ancient pa sites mentioned in the book ‘THE ART WORKMANSHIP OF THE MAORI RACE IN NEW ZEALAND,’ published in 1896. Elsdon Best wrote, “I have seen the remains of an old pa at Waikanae, called Te Uruhi, the fence of which has been a mile in circumference.”
Unfortunately the site would have been obliterated by developer’s bulldozers.
The Waitaha, first inhabitants
“Archaeological and ethnographical research suggests that Waikanae may have been first inhabited by the Waitaha moa-hunters as early as a thousand years ago.” The Waitaha people were replaced by successive waves of settlement of the Ngāti Apa, Rangitāne and Muaūpokoiwi (tribal groups).
In the 1820s the infamous Maori leader of Ngāti Toa, Te Rauparaha, moved into the area and based himself at Kapiti Island.
In this 1840s image of Te Rauparaha, he wears a feather in his hair and a pōhoi (feather-ball earring). Te Rauparaha is famous for the role he played during the musket wars.
In 1824, Waikanae Beach was the embarkation point for a force of 2,000 to 3,000 fighters from coastal iwi, who assembled with the intention of taking Kapiti Island from the Ngāti Toa led by Te Rauparaha. Crossing the strait in a fleet of waka canoes under shelter of darkness, the attackers were met and destroyed as they disembarked at the northern end of Kapiti Island.
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Te Āti Awa of Wellington
In the 1820s the Taranaki tribes iwi Te Ātiawa, Ngāti Tama, Ngāti Mutunga and Ngāti Maru Wharanui began moving to the Kapiti area after being driven south by Waikato tribes in the Maori Musket Wars. The tribes moved back to Taranaki in 1848 but some Atiawa iwi remained in the Kapiti area. Source: Te Āti Awa of Wellington
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The Waikanae Estuary Scientific Reserve
The Waikanae Estuary Scientific Reserve is a nationally–significant reserve located at the mouth of the Waikanae River. The reserve was established in 1987 to protect the large number of bird species that use the area.
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Thomas the goose
Here’s something funny and sweet – a local story about a goose called Thomas who lived at the Waimanu Lagoons from 1970 to 2018.
“Thomas had a relationship with a male black-feathered swan, Henry, for approximately 18 to 24 years until a female swan, Henrietta, joined them. Thomas initially attacked the pair, which included breaking two of the five eggs that Henrietta had laid. But once the remaining eggs had hatched, he became friendly and helped raise them. Henry could not fly because he had an injured wing, so Thomas helped teach the cygnets to fly.
Thomas was left alone when Henry died in 2009 and Henrietta flew away with another swan. Thomas later met a female goose and had his own offspring, for the first time, in 2011. The offspring were then taken by another goose. After going blind and getting attacked by swans, he was moved in 2013 to the Wellington Bird Rehabilitation Trust in Ohariu, and stayed there until his death in 2018. A plaque was placed at the lagoon to remember him.” Source: Wikipedia
The locals even had a funeral for him
Links
We stopped at the Southward Car Museum on the road to the Waikanae Estuary walk. It’s well worth a visit.
Te Ātiawa ki Kāpiti History : The earliest accounts of Te Ātiawa ki Kāpiti go back to the Kāhui Mounga Collective that had spread itself from Taranaki and the Central Plateau region through to Te Ūpoko o te Ika. During this time, further waves of migrations occurred.
Two of these migrations began with the arrival of the following waka to Taranaki; Te Kahutara, Taikōria and Okoki.
The names of these iwi were Te Tini-a-Taitāwaro, Te Tini-a-Pananehu, Tamaki, and Te Tini-o-Pohokura, names after four brothers who led their people to Aotearoa.
Local legend has it the bay got its name from an escaped monkey who made his home there.
A quick walk up a well built stone staircase leads to a viewing platform overlooking Cloudy Bay and a small shingle cove with a sea cave.
The information boards are interesting. I read about the difficulty in laying the telecommunication and power cables on the Cook Strait sea floor due to the strong currents and tidal flows.
“The land the sea brought in”
I learned this east coast South Island beach is growing, just like a beach we visited in the west coast of the North Island. So much for “sea level rise” because of “climate change.”
Rarangi
There are caves in the area from a time when the sea once reached further inland, evidenced by fish hooks and shellfish remains around the caves. There were stone walled gardens near the hills, evidence of a much earlier people who had lived in the area around 900 years ago.
That’s interesting because there were also stone walled gardens across Cook Strait at Cape Palliser.
According to Maori lore, one of the caves in the bluff, Te Ana Rangomai Papa, housed a taniwha who ate the daughter of a local chief. Another cave, “Daddy Watson’s cave” was hollowed out by a bach owner in the hope of breaking through to Whites Bay. We didn’t know about these caves when we visited the area, it was a reconnaissance trip.
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.
A pleasant walk, 20 minutes return, leads down a bush track to a lookout with beautiful views over the Tasman Sea. Looking to the north is Ngarunui Beach and Raglan Harbour, and to the south is Manu Bay with it’s famous surf break.
I’ve zoomed in on the surfers on Manu Bay. Raglan is famous for its surfing beaches.
Looking north, Ngarunui Beach, Raglan
The waves are great for surfers at Manu Bay, but they’re eroding the rocks with ancient petroglyphs which are further up the beach, unprotected. This photo is from the National Library of NZ : Rock with Maori markings, at Raglan, circa 1920.
Historical Rocks on the Raglan coastline.“These petroglyph inscribed rocks are gradually being destroyed seemingly with the tacit sanction of some Maoris, local government and authorities.” Why aren’t the authorities exercising Kaitiakitanga (protection, guardianship) over these historic rock carvings? It’s an archeological crime.
Further up the unpaved and winding road traveling south, is Te Toto Gorge. It’s the shortest walk with the longest coastal views and looking down you’ll see a fertile, sheltered amphitheatre with the remains of terraced gardens and karaka groves.
Raglan and the west coast : Harbour 50 km south of Port Waikato, 13 km long and 2–3 km wide, with two arms fed by the Waingaro and Waitetuna rivers. Whāingaroa means ‘the long pursuit’, referring to the Tainui waka’s search for its destination. From the late 1700s the Ngāti Māhanga tribe occupied surrounding land.
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