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.
Lake Taupo is New Zealand’s largest lake. The whole basin is an old caldera. The last eruption around 180AD, believed to be the largest in recorded history, blew Taupo dust to Java. There are still active thermal areas, especially at Waireki in the northeast and Tokaanu in the southwest.
This walk is in sections: one from Taupo to Five Mile Bay, and another section from Wharewaka Point to Five Mile Bay, which I walked on New Year’s Day the year before.
The official walk begins in town where the lake empties into the Waikato river and goes for 7kms to Wharewaka Point.
Here are some of the Lake’s measurements:
Wharewaka Point
Wharewaka Point to 5 Mile Bay
I did this walk on 1st Jan 2018.
Taupo nui a Tia walk
This walk is from Wharewaka to the Yacht Club by the Waikato River. I did it with Meredith, Colleen and Lyn on Easter weekend 2021.
Walk: Taupo 36
Stone Alignments, Wharewaka
There were stone alignments at Waipoua Forest, Maunganui Bluff, Northland and Koru Pa, Taranaki. This appears to be another site. Many of the rocks are in an unnatural standing position. If these were boulders spewed-forth from a violently erupting volcano, then they would neither look so regularly shark’s-fin shaped nor would they sit so perfectly upright.
Fortunately these boulders haven’t been lost to the bulldozers, they are sitting in plain sight at the Lake Taupo Scenic lookout reserve.
Lake Taupo is named after the explorer Tia, a chief from the Arawa canoe. The full name of the lake is Te Taupō-nui-a-Tia. When the people of the Te Arawa landed at Maketū, Tia travelled up the Kaituna River to Rotorua. Tia continued west until he came to the Waikato River. He noted the murkiness of the water and reasoned that someone was ahead of him. This place was named Ātiamuri (Tia who follows behind). Determined to meet those responsible for the muddy water, Tia hurried after them. At a place near Wairākei he came to some river rapids whose tiered form fascinated him. Today they are called Aratiatia (the stairway of Tia). Journeying on to present-day Lake Taupō, he was disappointed to find a large tribe, *Ngāti Hotu, already living there.
Tokaanu on the southwestern side of Lake Taupo, is near the small town of Turangi.
This short walk is next to the Tokaanu Hot pools, which I’ve found are well worth the visit after a day skiing on Mount Ruapehu. The path at Tokaanu wends its way past steaming pools and boiling mud.
Walk: Turangi / Taupo 39
History of Tokaanu
Wikipedia: Before the development of Turangi in the 1960s, Tokaanu was the main settlement at the southern end of Lake Taupo. It had been known to Māori for centuries for its natural thermal pools. The pools became a major stopover on the Grand Tour stage coach run from Wanganui to Taupo in the 1800s. Passengers arrived by stage coach from Waiouru, and departed by steam launch from the historic Tokaanu wharf onwards to Taupo.
Trevor Hosking, archaeologist for the Tongariro Power Development 1966
In the 1960s the country needed more power and numerous schemes had been mooted. The Tongariro Power Development was to be an important one which would involve thousands of acres of land as well as many rivers and tributaries in the area around the new town of Turangi and as far south as Waiouru. The Ministry of Works was in charge of the scheme and wanted things to be done correctly, and it was decided that the Historic Places Trust would have the responsibility of making sure the development progressed without destroying areas of historic or archaeological interest.
The Trust wrote letters to the Tuwharetoa Board asking for permission to undertake the work and recommended archaeologist Trevor Hosking for the job.
A Museum Underfoot
The book ‘A Museum Underfoot’ was published on Hosking’s work. On page 100, Hosking writes about his discovery of Ngati Hotu skulls:
Bones had turned up near the Tokaanu Stream. Some eight feet of pumice had been removed before the bones were discovered. The skull shapes were quite different and Trevor Hosking had access to the late Lesley G Adkins who provided him with his research papers on the Horowhenua burials and the types of skulls found in that area.
Adkin’s information tied in exactly with what Hosking had been turning up while working throughout the Turangi area. The loader driver had unearthed the skulls of a very early, pre-Polynesian people.
In Taupo these early people are known as Ngati Hotu and Korako. In Horowhenua they are Waitaha, down south Ngati Mamoe and so on. In most cases their history is lost in the mists of time. They didn’t survive the onslaught of the more warlike arrivals from the Eastern Pacific.
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