Narnia – NZShortWalks

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.

History of Hahei

Here’s extracts of the history of the area from the Hahei Community site.

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.

Links

Walk 73, 15th November 2021

Virginia Lake is Wanganui’s jewel, a really pretty lake on St John’s Hill. You’ll pass it if you’re heading west-northwest to Taranaki. It only takes about 45 minutes to walk around.

There’s also a bird aviary and the Winter Gardens, an art deco hot house. My favourite thing is the Higginbottom Fountain, installed in 1971, the year my family arrived in the Wanganui area. The copper fountain is in the shape of a lily. A 40-minute lighting display occurs every evening, coinciding with when the streetlights are switched on. The display can be activated at any other time by placing a gold coin into the slot.

The aquatic bird life is prolific, with lots of chicks to be seen on our walk.

The video features my young cousin, and a goose who remembered her from last time …

Walk: Wanganui 17

Links

Rotokawau Virginia Lake

Birds of Rotokawau, Virginia Lake

Tainui Statue, Virginia Lake

Virginia Lake Reserve Management Plan

Medical discrimination begins in NZ:

This is my first walk from Wanganui, my new / old hometown. Sadly we had to relocate and there will be no more Auckland / Northland walks for the forseeable future. We arrived back on the 7th November 2021, after enduring 82 days of lockdown in Auckland over one Covid case. Auckland is NZ’s largest city, and it’s still locked down, 112 days later.

There’s more freedom in the regions but discrimination as well.

I would have happily put a link for the cafe in the old caretaker’s cottage next to the Winter Gardens, but not after seeing their sign.

I’m not able to go in. I’ve been having cancer treatment since November 2020, and for safety reasons have elected to wait until 2023 before even considering the so-called “vaccine.” So people like me are discriminated against.

We came back and had a picnic on the lawn in front of that cafe a few days later. I thought there’d be three friends but 30 people turned up. How much business are cafes like this going to lose?

Things are not going back to normal, but even if they did, I wouldn’t go back in there. I understand the cafes are between a rock and a hard place, but the sign excluding me was there before the 2nd December when NZ adopted the medical aparteid system.

We are also barred from DOC (Dept of Conservation) huts and camping sites. “For our health.”

You’ll hear us mention the NZ government on the walk. I wish the lion on the plinth at the gate would turn into Aslan and boot the witch out of Narnia.

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Note: the above cafe has appeared in the local paper since I wrote about this on the 7th December:

Owner of the Funky Duck Cafe Dave Hill said increased costs across the board alongside very low numbers of customers has them in a tough spot. Photo / Bevan Conley
Wanganui Chronicle, 12 Feb, 2022 Covid-19 Omicron: Whanganui hospitality businesses say life under red is unsustainable

This is what happens when you discriminate.

Tag: Narnia

Cathedral Cove, Hahei, Coromandel

Hahei

Virginia Lake, Wanganui