Waikanae River Estuary and Beach

Walk #168, 19th May 2025

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 Muaūpoko iwi (tribal groups).

Source: Wikipedia:

Te Rauparaha

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.

Source: Te Ara

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

Links

We stopped at the Southward Car Museum on the road to the Waikanae Estuary walk. It’s well worth a visit.

Waikanae Link Track

Kotuku, White heron

White heron making most of Waikanae Beach before departure

Thomas (goose)

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.

Pelorus Bridge, Marlborough

Walk #5, 23rd April 2025

Pelorus Bridge, at the junction of the Rai and Pelorous Rivers, is a small island of native bush which escaped the axe because a town was planned for the site. It was soon recognised as a beauty spot and in 1912 it became a scenic reserve.

The site was used as a film location for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

Sceenit: Pelorus River
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013)

The juction of the Pelorus and Rai rivers was an old Maori trail. There had been a small kainga (village) in the area which was abandoned during the bitter fighting of the Maori Musket Wars. By the time Europeans arrived the area was largely uninhabited.

Walk: Havelock 17

Mapara Reserve

Walk 67, 5th June 2021

This walk is off SH4, south of Te Kuiti. It’s a rough, moderately graded track up and down a steep hill in the bush reserve. You’ll need tramping shoes or boots if it’s not dry. We walked the track in winter and we had to be careful we didn’t slip in places.

If you go in the early morning or evening you are likely to hear the kokako, a rare native bird featured on our $50 notes. This reserve is a sanctuary for them. I didn’t see or hear any, but I did see a tomtit.

Mapara means ‘heartwood’ or wood saturated in resin.

Walk: Waikato and King Country 36

Links

The Mapara Wildlife Management Reserve is in steep hill country covered in a lowland forest of mixed broadleaf and scattered podocarps, 260-600 m above sea level. It is isolated from other forests by surrounding pasture and young plantation forests. Extensive control of introduced mammalian browsers and predators was undertaken between 1989 and 1997. This greatly increased kokako breeding success and allowed new pairs to establish.
http://www.notornis.osnz.org.nz/system/files/Notornis_53_2_199.pdf

Kokako: NZ Geographic

Recording the elusive Kokako

Recording the elusive Kōkako

The info board at the reserve said that elder of the Ngati Maniapoto tribe Tiwha Bell was a strong advocate for the work DOC did in Mapara. He has a strong affinity with Mapara – his father was one of the original land owners.

Other places to visit in the area:

Aramatai Gardens.

Omaru Falls.

Mangaweka

Walk 26 and 27, Mangaweka, 1st Jan 2020

Mangaweka is a sleepy place where the Rangitikei River flows past cliffs of white papa. The very grandly named main street of Mangaweka is now devoid of traffic since State Highway 1 bypassed the main street in the late 1970s.

It’s a town where time seems to have stopped. The unaltered buildings in “Broadway” are from a previous century.

Many buildings stand empty, but Mangaweka still has a school, library, hotel, and a DC3 plane on the main highway which operated as a tearoom.

Manga means stream and weka means woodhen.

Mangaweka was one of the first towns on the North Island Main Trunk Railway to get electricity. The Mangaweka Power Station project commenced in 1911, originally it was intended to serve as a water resevoir.

Little remains of the tiny power station and a small building containing historic photos shelters the site. The walk to the resevoir intake is across the road. The path is through a beautiful small gorge which follows the Mangawharaiki River. The resevoir is intact but the brick-lined intake tunnel to the right is blocked by a log which wedged there in 1937, causing the power station to finally close down.

Mangaweka street panorama -resized — Broadway, Mangaweka

Walk: Manawatu 22

Mangaweka Scenic Reserve

I think there was supposed to be a viewing point by a Kahikatea tree but we couldn’t find it. The track is not well maintained. The walks are not clearly marked but there’s a good view of the town of Mangaweka from the road by the entrance. Part of the walk is on the old main trunk railway line which is littered with broken pieces of the white papa rock. There’s a large matai and other trees like rimu, tawa and titoki trees in the reserve.

Mangaweka panorama -resized