Patupaiarehe – NZShortWalks

Walk #139, 30th Sept 2024

This bush clad mountain is a familiar site when I’m travelling, but I’ve never stopped to explore this intriguing area until now. The book I had with me recommended a climb to the Ruapane lookout, but I decided to skip it in favour of two introductory walks, the Mangakara Nature walk and the Corcoran Road lookout leading to the Ruapane lookout.

I was fortunate to hear a Kokako at the Corcoran Road lookout. The birds have been reintroduced to the area by the Pirongia Te Aroaro o Kahu Restoration Society Inc in partnership with DOC. The pest control area is shown in the bottom right of the picture.

Also this mountain range has the tallest native tree in NZ.

Kaniwhaniwha: Kahikatea tree

I find this area intriguing as Mt Pirongia and Wairenga Reserve near Raglan are associated with the patupaiarehe, a white tribe the Maori saw as fairies because of their pale skin. They were said to have lived on Hihikiwi peak, a pyramid shaped peak on Mount Pirongia. The patupaiarehe also lived on Mount Ngongotaha in Rotorua, but moved west after they were accidentally or deliberately burned out by the Maori.

We stopped for lunch in a park at Pirongia and there in front of us were three pou dedicated to the patupaiarehe. There was also a large polished stone sculpture representing Pirongia Maunga (mountain) and the patupaiarehe children of the mist.

Patupaiarehe Pou, Pirongia “These are representative of patupaiarehe fairies that live on Pirongia Maunga. Te **Ngahere** **Reserve**.”

Links

Here’s an interesting video taken at Purekireki marae near Pirongia, where an elder of the Ngaati Taramatau hapu speaks of the patupaiarehe.

Patupaiarehe – Waka Huia explores the existence of the Mist people

He says (18.38) “there was speculation they were our ancestors.” I wouldn’t be surprised given their appearance, there are a few freckled faces and redheads surrounding him.

The true meaning of the name Pirongia-te-aroaro-o-Kahu is “the odour from Kahu’s nether regions.” It is explained between 10:39 and 11:46 of the video. Puawhea was the name given for Mt Pirongia by the Patupaiarehe.

The name of their god was Io Matuakore but his name was never mentioned. Uenuku was used instead. Uenuku is associated with the rainbow. Interestingly, for those who say the Moriori never were in NZ, the Moriori also have a god called Ouenuku.

Whanawhana

In 1894 Hoani Nahe, an elder of the Ngāti Maru people, recalled three sub-tribes of patupaiarehe: Ngāti Kura, Ngāti Korakorako, and Ngāti Tūrehu. Tahurangi, Whanawhana, and Nukupori were important chiefs. Source: TeAra.govt.nz

“It was Whanawhana’s ambition to want a relationship with Maori that he connected with Tawhaitu, the wife of Ruarangi. There was no negativity about these people …” (28.52)

Walk: Waikato 23

Related walks

Mount Ngongotaha, Rotorua

Wairenga, Bridal Veil Falls

Lake Ngaroto, Waikato

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MOUNT PIRONGIA (959 METRES) IS AN ANCIENT VOLCANO CENTRAL TO THE 17,000 HECTARE PIRONGIA FOREST PARK THAT, WITH ITS DRAMATIC SKYLINE, IS ONE OF THE MOST DISTINCTIVE FEATURES IN THE WAIKATO DISTRICT. Explore the Mountain

Walk #86, 16th April 2022

There are two tracks, I recommend the nature trail.

The Jubilee track is straight up for an hour with no views. It was a nice walk with friends, great for my friend who wanted exercise, meh for me.

This walk had the most fungi I’ve seen anywhere.

At the start of the walk is a large rata, the only one in the reserve.

The Patupaiarahe

This mountain used to be the home of the ancient patupaiarehe. They weren’t fairies, some looked like Maori, some like Europeans.

The name Ngongotaha is derived from an encounter with them. It means to drink water from the calabash, which was offered to Ihenga (the grandson of Tamatekapua) by a patupaiarehe maiden when he was exploring the country around Rotorua. There’s no water up the top of the mountain and Ihenga was thirsty.

Normally the elusive patupaiarehe had no truck with Maori but Ihenga made friends with them and he eventually lived near the mountain on the banks of the Waitete Stream.

The patupaiarehe left the mountain and moved west after the Maori accidentally or deliberately burned them out.

Walk: Rotorua #23

Links

Mt Ngongotaha Jubilee Track

The Fairy Folk of Ngongotaha Mountain

“The name of that tribe of Patu-paiarehe was Ngati-Rua, and the chiefs of that tribe in the days of my ancestor Ihenga were Tuehu, Te Rangitamai, Tongakohu, and Rotokohu. The people were very numerous; there were a thousand or perhaps many more on Ngongotaha.

They were an iwi atua (a god-like race, a people of supernatural powers). In appearance some of them were very much like the Maori people of today; others resembled the pakeha race. The colour of most of them was kiri puwhero (reddish skins), and their hair had the red or golden tinge which we call uru-kehu.

Some had black eyes, some blue like fair-skinned Europeans. They were about the same height as ourselves. Some of their women were very beautiful, very fair of complexion, with shining fair hair.

They wore chiefly the flax garments called pakerangi, dyed a red colour; they also wore the rough mats pora and pureke. In disposition they were peaceful; they were not a war-loving, angry people.

Their food consisted of the products of the forest, and they also came down to this Lake Rotorua to catch inanga (whitebait.)

There was one curious characteristic of these Patu-paiarehe; they had a great dread of the steam that rose from cooked food. In the evenings, when the Maori people living at Te Raho-o-te-Rangipiere and other places near the fairy abodes opened their cooking-ovens, all the Patu-paiarehe retired to their houses immediately they saw the clouds of vapour rising, and shut themselves up; they were afraid of the mamaoa—the steam.

Chapter II, The Fairy Folk of Ngongotaha Mountain

Source: Victoria University Library, Title: Fairy Folk Tales of the Maori, Author: James Cowan

Story: Patupaiarehe : Mt Ngongotaha

Fairy Springs: so named because the Patupaiarehe would descend the slopes of Mount Ngongotaha to visit the springs at night and to drink from the waters.

Nearby Rainbow Springs: A rainbow would appear over the spring, therefore Rainbow Springs is another name given to this location.

Unfortunately the wildlife park that was here has been closed after 90 years of business – because of the Covid lockdowns.