Awatetaki Pa, Taranaki

Walk #185, Waitangi Day 6th Feb 2026

This pa is ringed on three sides by a high defensive ditch and the Waitara River on the fourth. There’s a second ditch inside the first. The ditches are so well constructed that even now, centuries later it’s still impressive. Food pits called ‘rua’ are still visible, despite being covered by centuries of leaf litter.

The way in is not very welcoming as there’s a screen of kawakawa bushes, but once you’re through it’s easy to walk around. There are karaka trees throughout the site and a big totara tree that would have been growing there when the site was still occupied.

The track begins at a farm on the end of Ngatimaru road. You can park near the farm shed. The track is over farmland marked by an orange trail marker.

Walk: Taranaki 3

History

I don’t know who built the pa – there are no info boards. The only clue is the name of Ngatimaru road.

Ngati Maru.

Ngati Maru descend from an ancient Taranaki people known as the Kāhui-Maru, whose genealogy predates the arrival of the explorer Toi. Kahui means a flock, a name which is only applied to the tangata-whenua people. (Source: Tangata Whenua – The ancient inhabitants of Taranaki)

Ngāti Maru were not involved in the land dealings which led to war in Taranaki in 1860, and were not directly involved in the subsequent fighting. Source: Ngāti Maru (Taranaki) Claims Settlement Act 2022

The Musket Wars

Taranaki was a fertile land that was home to 8 Māori tribes before it was devastated by the Waikato invasions that began in 1817. It would be left almost uninhabited for the next seven years before European colonisation began in 1841.

Video: The Devastation of Taranaki

Mangaokewa Gorge Scenic Reserve

Walk #175, 17th November 2025

Mangaokewa means “the stones of Kewa.” This walk is about 3kms from the town of Te Kuiti. It follows the Mangaokewa River.

There’s a small waterfall about 20 minutes along the track. Beyond that is an old road going in the direction of Te Kuiti. The area has a ghost townish feel which I remarked about on the video. I later learned it was the original site of Te Kuiti before the town moved north.

Walk: King Country Walk 31

Links

Mangaokewa Gorge Walk

Papers Past: Old Te Kuiti (By J.W.E)

Te Kooti

Te Kooti was invited to Te Kūiti, the residence of the Māori King – but only if he came in peace. He responded defiantly that he was coming to ‘assume himself the supreme authority which he coming direct from God was entitled to’. Accompanied by Horonuku and Ngāti Tūwharetoa, and his core group of around 60 whakarau, Te Kooti arrived at Te Kūiti on 10 July 1869. Rewi Maniapoto greeted Te Kooti as a kinsman (they were related through Te Kooti’s father) and Te Kooti, for his part, appeared more conciliatory. He had come not to depose Tāwhiao but ‘to rouse up the Waikato to take up arms’. A feast had been prepared, but at this point Te Kooti declared that ‘he should consider himself the host (tangata whenua) and that the Waikato were his visitors’. His men loaded their weapons and fired over the heads of the bewildered Ngāti Maniapoto.

Te Kooti goes to Te Kūiti

From 1873 to 1883 Te Kooti lived at Te Kūiti. Here he evolved the rituals of his church. In 1883 Te Kooti was formally pardoned, at Rewi Maniapoto’s insistence. Te Kooti left Te Kūiti and in April moved to Ōtewā, where he founded his religious community.

Te Ara: Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Tūruki

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

Howarth Memorial Wetland, Te Aroha

Walk #144, 25th January 2025

This is a walk along the banks of the Waihou river in the delightful town of Te Aroha. The tree planting in the reserve is a bit chaotic with kahikatea, oaks, willows and other trees all scrambled in together but it’s a pleasant place. It was green and shady, all that is wanted on a hot summer’s day.

Don’t leave without going to the town domain.

Walk: Waikato 4

Te Aroha, Jan 2006

Te Aroha is an Edwardian spa town. The domain where the hot springs are was decked out in the fashion of the European Spas in the 1880’s, and it hasn’t changed. It is a unique place, the only complete Edwardian Domain in New Zealand, and the site of the Mokena Geyser, a geyser of hot soda water … the only one of its kind in the world.

The geyser comes up from a depth of 70 meters and plays every 40 minutes. It was named after the Maori chief, Mokena Te Hau, an early Christian convert who gifted the land to the town. His memorial Cairn is next to the No.8 Drinking Fountain, where you can drink the soda water for free.

The water is nice to drink, naturally carbonated without the sugar or preservatives. Coke’s not the real thing, THIS is the real thing. The pools are nice too.

The word ‘Spa’ is an acronym for Salus per Aquam or healing through waters.

In order for this unique fountain to be found at the Spa, it needed two things – a gift to the people from a chief, and for the people who discovered the healing power of the water to have enough faith in it to dig a bore 70 meters down to find the well.

The geyser plays every 30 minutes. These are photos from a visit in 2006. This is our third visit to the area.

The meaning of the Te Aroha mountain peaks

The mountain has two names, one for each of its two peaks, ‘Te Aroha-ki uta’, and ‘Te
Aroha-a tai’, respectively meaning ‘love for the land’ and ‘love for the sea’. The names
originated in Hawaiki, the memory of which is fostered by Tainui, Arawa, and Mataatua
waka which all incorporate Te Aroha as part of their respective traditions.

Chief Mokena Te Hau, benefactor and peacemaker was of the Ngāti Rāhiri Tumutumu tribe.

The original inhabitants of the Aroha lands are believed to be the Tino-o-Toi. Various
tribes subsequently settled the area. According to Ngāti Rāhiri Tumutumu tradition, Te
Aroha is a dwelling place of the ‘patupaiarehe’ or ‘fairy people’. The mountain is
important in many stories, karakia (prayers), and waiata (songs).

Source: NGĀTI RĀHIRI TUMUTUMU Deed of Settlement

Kaitoke Regional Park, Wellington

Walk # 11th April 2017

The Kaitoke Regional Park lies in the foothills of the Tararua Range near Wellington. It’s a catchment area for nearly half of Wellington’s water supply and the surrounding virgin bush is made up of old rata, beech and rimu trees.

Near the carpark a short side path leads to the site of Rivendell from the Lord of the Rings films.

We visited the park in 2017 but only had time to look at the LOTR location. The bush and river setting is so lovely, I can see why it was chosen for the Rivendell setting. It’s a walk we’ll return to.

Nothing remains of Rivendell except this replica arch.

A map shows the location of Frodo’s bedroom and Elrond’s house. The Pakuratahi river flows near the set before joining the Hutt River.

The tree where Legolas posed for publicity photos.

Besides the LOTR location there are a number of short walks. The main walk, a loop along the Hutt River, begins over a swing bridge from the carpark.

Walk: Wellington 9

Kerikeri Basin

Walk #124, 30th April 2024

This has everything – history, a river walk and waterfalls. Also a cafe in the historic beekeepers house which is right next door to the oldest house in NZ, the Kemp House. The Kemp house was built in 1822 and the Stone Store was built in 1835. There’s a heritage orchard and cottage garden flowerbeds which the cafe uses. The garden has been in operation for over 200 years.

The Mission (Kemp House) was deliberately established next to Kororipo pa (see below), the home of Hongi Hika. Without his patronage and protection, the mission had little chance of survival. No doubt the people in the pa kept a good eye on the coming and goings of the Pakeha living there and reported back to Hongi.

The heritage park is enchanting, even down to the friendly goose who greeted me waggling his tail feathers. The river walk has a historic power station, rock formations and two waterfalls.

Kerikeri Basin, the old Beekeepers House with Kemp House next door

Link

Kerikeri Mission Station (Kemp House)

Kerikeri stone store

Stone Store

Kerikeri’s Kemp House – the oldest building in NZ – turns 200

Kerikeri’s hidden waterfall trails: The network of tracks linking five spectacular cascades

Kororipo Pa

This site was the pa of Hongi Hika, the paramount chief of the north. From here they could keep an eye on everyone, including the Pakeha at the mission across the inlet.

Walking around Kororipo Pa in the quiet of the Kerikeri Basin, I imagined what it was like in the past. In the early 19th century the Ngapuhi tribe controlled the Bay of Islands, the first point of contact for most Europeans visiting New Zealand.

Looking at the historic Mission (Kemp House) and Stone Store across the inlet, New Zealand’s oldest buildings, I wondered about the two cultures that had existed side by side. How did they do it?

Lyndsay Bush, Waipukurau

Walk #94, 4th January 2023

Our first walk of 2023

This is a small bush reserve alongside the banks of the Tukituki River between Waipukurau and Waipawa. The bush is mainly comprised of kahikatea trees which love swampy ground.

The bush is not far from the area where my forefathers settled in Hawkes Bay. Sadly, ninety-nine percent of the bush was felled and milled. Growing up in Hawkes Bay I never saw or heard a Tui, or any of our native birds, until a visit to a bush reserve in 1970 when I was eleven.

Walk: Hawkes Bay 34

Just down the road from the bush reserve is the site of Kaitotoa Pa. The site used to be a food gathering place but it became a permanent settlement in the 1840s when the Maori traded harakeke (dressed flax) to the Europeans who used it for rope and ship rigging.

Tongariro National Trout Centre, Turangi

Walk #79, 12th Jan 2022

This pleasant spot near Turangi is a trout fishery run by DOC. I took my kids trout fishing here in the school holidays 20 years ago. The children are guaranteed a catch from the kids pond.

Times have changed and sadly the children are now locked out of this activity unless the parents have vaccine passports. We ignored the whole vaccine passport mess by avoiding the DOC trout centre.

We wandered around the hatchery facility, looked through the underwater trout viewing chamber and took a stroll along the banks of the picturesque Tongariro River.

Walk: Turangi / Taupo 40

Links

Tongariro National Trout Centre

Waitaha Pa, Wanganui

Walk 36, Waitaha Pa, 5th July 2020

The Waitaha Pa is between Wanganui and the village of Upukongaro. Waitaha means “beside water,” like the bank of a river. It’s an ancient pa and the iwi (tribe) who lived here is not known.

The pa was in a good defensive position above the river. They could keep an eye on the river and they were able to grow food like kumara on the river flats.

Waitaha Pa, Whanganui River

I grew up in Okoia, the same area as Waitaha Pa and the farm I lived on was in a nearby valley. It was there that I found an adze of black rock, or rather, it found me. I wonder if it was from this pa. Okoia means to scrape or rasp.

I want to find out more about the people who lived here. Who were the Waitaha? Where did they go?

Walk: Wanganui 20

The spelling of Wanganui

Wanganui was renamed “Whanganui” by maori activists, against the wishes of the local people. The name Wanganui is actually a Waitaha name. There is also a place and a river named ‘Wanganui’ on the West coast of the South Island. The location is probably named by the same people. They did not use the ‘wh’ sound.

The Waitaha people

The Waitaha are an ancient tribe. Since visiting the pa site in 2020, I’ve done hours of research. To learn more go here:- The first people The research is ongoing as at 2025. I’ve been to Marlborough but have yet to investigate Waitaha sites in Nelson and Canterbury.

Huka Falls Walk

Walk 28, Huka Falls Walk, 23 Jan 2020

Huka Falls is a popular waterfall to visit. The clear blue \ green water thunders through a narrow gap and roars over a spectacular three metre drop at 200,000 litres per second.

Huka means to foam or froth.

We started the walk from Spa Park . The start of the walk began near a popular swimming hole where a hot spring joins the Waikato River.

Walk: Taupo 35