This walk is tucked into the foothills of the Tararua Ranges.
The video actually covered two walks; the Donnelly’s Flat Loop track which was split on either side of the track to Rocky Lookout.
There has been a bit of storm damage but the track is well maintained. The bush here is beautiful but we didn’t hear many birds.
The Rocky Lookout was excellent, with extensive views of Mount Holdsworth and Atiwhakatu valley.
Right now NZ is experiencing a very dismal summer. We would have stopped for a snack at the viewpoint but it was too cold and exposed to linger.
The highlight of the Donnelly’s loop track were the abundant kidney ferns, some were even growing in trees.
The Mt Holdsworth lookout is further up the Gentle Annie track, we stopped at Rocky Lookout.
Walk: Wairarapa 3
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Rating: 4 out of 5.
Notes
Further up the Gentle Annie Track is the remains of a pa punanga, a refuge pa. This ridge was a temporary refuge for Maori from the Rangitane tribe to hide from raiding war parties. All that remains are small terraces and basic earthworks
The Kahuterawa Valley is located near Palmerston North in the foot of the Tararua Ranges.
We walked the Sledge track in the Kahuterawa Valley with our friend who knows the area. He was very keen to go as far as we could.
Having now walked the track, if you’ve only got a couple of hours I recommend only going as far as the Arapuke Swing Bridge.
From the swing bridge it’s all uphill on a ridge with no views. That part of the track is called “the Elevation.” There are no helpful signs on this section, just a hand-painted sign in red saying “2.8.kms to B.B.”
We had no idea what that stood for, it could have been “Black Bridge,” but that was back the way we came! Further up we came to a fork, which could have been the Toe Toe Junction, leading to some platinum ore mines from the late 1800s and early 1900s. With no signage we didn’t know where or how far it was. We carried on uphill for another 15 minutes and met some people coming back from the platinum mines – which we didn’t have the time budget for, so we went back the way we came.
The track is semi-maintained. I give it three stars because of the lack of signage and bush bashing.
This is the prettiest waterfall I have ever seen. A weir above the falls diverts some of the river through a power station so the falls are greatly diminished from their original power. Even so the area has still maintained its natural beauty.
Omanawa Falls was the first underground hydro-generating power station in the country and entire southern hemisphere. It was constructed in 1913-1915 for the city of Tauranga, which at that time had a population of around 1500 people .
Ngati Hangarau, the tribe who are kaitieke (guardians) of the area hold the river and falls as a sacred place.
There are three different viewpoints. We saw the falls from two of the lookouts but didn’t do the third, the Te Harikoa Lookout at the base of the falls. It would have taken an extra 662 stairs and 40 minutes; time we didn’t have.
What we did see was wonderful, a single drop waterfall in front of a cave, surrounded by native bush with the water splashing into a sapphire coloured pool.
As well as native birds the pekapeka, long tailed bats, have been recorded flying around the Omanawa Valley.
There’s a cafe at the car parking area near the start of the track.
The earliest people known to have lived in the Tauranga area are the Purukupenga, whose name alone survives, and the Ngamarama, who inhabited all the land from the Waimapu Stream to the Kaimai ranges. So numerous were these people that when the Tainui canoe passed through the Tauranga harbour, she made only a brief stay. Source: Tauranga Local History
Ngati Hangarau, the guardians of the area, are a sub-tribe of Ngati Ranginui of the Takitimu canoe.
We did part of the 9km long estuary walkway, from McCardle Reserve to the Esplanade Reserve. It’s a flat, easy walk but stick to the left and watch out for cyclists.
History
The area forms part of my childhood memories from when I stayed with my mother’s family in Tauranga in the 1960s and early to mid 1970s. The area has changed quite a lot since then.
They lived in a large house on the hill at 31 Chapel Street which overlooked the estuary. It was situated next to the Mission House, which in those days ran a farm and had milking cows and animals which were kept on what is now the Domain.
My grandfather owned two boats, which I don’t remember because it was before my time. He built a small jetty just below the Domain where the boat was moored.
My mother is in black togs seated next to my grandfather who is standing in the water. My great-Grandfather is the one wearing a hat at the other end of the boat.
Pre-european history
The earliest people known to have lived in the Tauranga area are the Purukupenga, whose name alone survives, and the Ngamarama, who inhabited all the land from the sea to the Kaimai ranges.
So numerous were these people that when the Tainui canoe passed through the Tauranga harbour, she made only a brief stay.
An anchor stone was found on the foreshore directly below the old Otumoetai Pa. The pa originally belonged to the Ngamarama people. They were replaced by Ngati Ranginui and then later by Ngaiterangi. The latter were in control of the Tauranga district when the missionaries and traders arrived in the early 19th century. As the largest pa in the district it was referred to by missionaries as “the capital of Tauranga.” Source: Tauranga Heritage Collection
A second carved mahe (Māori anchor/sinker stone) found in the Tauranga Harbour by a fisherman in 2005. Image: Tauranga Heritage Collection.
This beautiful 35 m high waterfall is on the Te Anga Road in the Waitomo region. Also on the same scenic road, going toward Waitomo, is the Piripiri cave and the Mangapohe Natural Bridge.
This old pa site at Aotea Harbour was right at the doorstep of the place where we stayed for two nights. The harbour in front of the pa was named after the Aotea canoe which is said to have arrived around 1300.
The Tainui canoe arrived about 50 years later and the people from that canoe settled at nearby Kawhia, just down the coast. The Tainui and Aotea tribes lived in harmony until the 1600s when battles started because the Kawhia people were expanding.
The two tribes united when their rohe (area) came under attack around 1800 from inland Tainui. The defeated people fled south to take refuge in pa still controlled by Te Rauparaha, trekking to Taranaki and then on to Horowhenua.
For a long time after their defeat this pa site was left empty, until the defeat of Waikato by Ngapuhi at Matakitahi in 1826 when survivors from that conflict settled here.
The book said it was an easy climb to the top – no it wasn’t. The long grass came half way up my body and it was impossible walking through it. Plus there was some dead gorse in the midst of the vegetation. I did not want to disappear into an old kumera pit so I called it a day and came back down.
The pa site is not a “wahi tapu,” a sacred locality like part of the foreshore – but when I gained the ridge I felt I shouldn’t be up there.
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.
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.
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.
Queen Elizabeth park is on the Kapiiti Coast between Raumati Beach and Paekakariki. We parked at the Wellington Tramways Museum at MacKays crossing and took a historic tram to the start of the walk at Whareroa Beach. It was a different and fun way of starting the walk. The tram runs on the weekend.
The central car park at Whareroa Beach is the start point for two loop tracks, one north to Raumati Beach and the other south to Paekakariki. Both have seaward tracks that follow the dunes. We kept to the inland track which is more sheltered from the westerly wind.
I have some family links with the area from the 1800’s. History of the Howell family (my paternal Grandmother’s relatives)
From the 1850s, several Pakeha families came into the Whareroa/Paekakariki area to farm the land which included areas currently within the Queen Elizabeth Park. From 1860, John Telford established a sheep farm know as ‘Wharemako’ and this extended around and south of current-day Raumati and presumably included the northern part of the park
In August 1879, William Bentinck Howell leased much of this land off Telford for £100 per annum for 10 years. The 1,335-acre run carried 800 sheep. In 1884 Howell agreed to buy another 600 acres or so, on deferred payment, with the result that he then held an approximately 2,000 acre farm that extended all the way down to Whareroa Stream. Howell continued leasing and acquired a right of purchase of the whole farm by the late 1880s. He began draining the swamps in between the sandhills and establishing pasture.
Howell Road, Paraparaumu Beach
Named after the Howell family, early settlers. William Bentinck Howell (named after the ship he was born on the way to NZ) settled in Wharemaku, a homestead next to the Wharemauku stream in 1879. This house was demolished in about 1949. The site is now 41 Alexander Road. Source: Kapiti Historical Society – Street names and early dwellings Project
This seaside reserve, half an hour from Auckland includes a kilometre-long sandy beach and a coastal marine reserve. Green hillsides provide a buffer from the neighbouring suburbs and pohutukawas flank the beach along the length of the bay.
The parkland continues north of the beach for about two kilometres before turning inland along the Okura river.
Vaughan homestead, the original farm homestead has been restored and is open for visitors.
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