Tag: Waka

Mount Maunganui,Bay of Plenty

Walk #121, 25th April 2024

Mount Maunganui is a prominent Tauranga landmark rising 232 metres out of the sea at the entrance to Tauranga harbour.

The Patupairahe people gave the Mount the name ‘Mauao’ which means “caught by the dawn.”

Three pa sites have been found on the Mount. Ngati Ranginui held the Mount until around 1700 when they were defeated by Ngāi Te Rangi in the battle of Kokowai.

The Mount has been the site of many battles, the last being in 1820 when Ngapuhi, armed with muskets, took Mauao. The pa was never reoccupied.

This walk is around the track at the base of the Mount. We were running out of daylight so the top track will have to wait.

Walk: Bay of Plenty 6

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Related walk:

Waikareao Estuary Walkway, Tauranga

January 2026

In January 2026 a slip crashed into the campground at the base of the Mount in heavy rain, killing six people. The tracks on the Mount are new closed and an investigation is underway as to the cause of the tragedy. 

Ownership of the Mount was transferred to iwi (3 tribes) in 2008. It’s now jointly managed by iwi and the Tauranga City Council.

Little did I know about the removal of exotic oak pine and chestnut trees from the flanks of the Mount in 2023, on the orders of the council and iwi, for Māori spiritual and anti-colonial reasons. Native pohutukawa trees were also removed above the campground in 2017, because of myrtle rust concerns.

Climate alarmists tried to blame the slips on the rain, but Mauao suffered a much bigger soaking in 2005 than it did in 2026 but the hillside above the holiday camp did not give way.

Tellingly, photos of the slip reveal it began above the existing 2026 treeline, in exactly the area once covered by trees in 2005.

Geotechnical engineer Rod Kane, in a Facebook post, noted that tree roots left in the ground after chopping start to rot, and over time they allow water to surge into the rotting root cavities and sluice the hillside. It appears this may have been exactly what happened.

Links

The tragedy at the Mount

IAN WISHART: Are climate activists ignoring the evidence at Mt Maunganui?

Why Councils are Felling Non-Native Trees

Earlier history

The Battle of Kōkōwai

The walk features a rock named Te Toka a Tirikawa, a landing site associated with the Takitimu canoe.
(see our walk in Mahia)

The legend of Mauao

This artwork at Mt Maunganui public library depicts the story of the mountain Mauao (Mt Maunganui).

Lake Tarawera, Rotorua

Walk 49, 31st October 2020

Lake Tarawera walk to rock paintings

There are two walks from the landing; the walk to the right takes you to the mouth of the Te Wairoa Stream where Green Lake flows into Lake Tarawera. The walk to the left takes you to Maori Rock paintings. The sign by the Tuhourangi iwi is very faded but this is what it says:

The rock art was restored by archeologist Trevor Hoskings. In 2009 Trevor Hosking, of Taupō, received the Queen’s Service Medal for services to the conservation of historic places.  Mr Hosking had been actively involved in the restoration and protection of historic places in the Taupō area for more than 50 years.  He worked to ensure the protection and restoration of local sites of significance, including the Armed Constabulary Hall, burial caves on Motutaiko Island, Rauhoata Cave, the Napier/Taupō Armed Constabulary Redoubts, the Te Porere Redoubt, the Tarawera rock drawings, and the Opepe Canoe. Source: Turangi Museum

The Tarawera rock art is mentioned in his book A Museum Underfoot, page 137-140.

Walk: Rotorua 28

Lake Tarawera

Links

Rock Art

Rock art in New Zealand is generally associated with the limestone shelters of the South Island, but already the New Zealand Archaeological Association lists 140 rock art sites in the North Island, most in the central plateau region … There are differences. The North Island has more carvings, the South Island more drawings. Abstract motifs dominate in the North, more figurative forms in the South.

And there are regional variations. In Tokoroa and Rotorua, drawings and carvings of waka are common—the best known being the vivid armada drawn in red on the edge of Lake Tarawera—while in Taranaki, the spiral, circles and other “classic” Maori motifs predominate.

Set in stone, NZGeo.com

Lake Tarawera

Rotorua Lakes Council: Lake Tarawera

DOC: History of Lake Tarawera Scenic Reserve

Totally Tarawera: Our History

Guide Sophia Hinerangi

DBNZ Biography: Hinerangi, Sophia

The Pink and White Terraces

The famed Pink and White Terraces, an eighth wonder of the world, were buried by the Tarawera eruption.

The Pink and White Terraces by Carl Kahler, painting is hanging at the Chateau Tongariro.

The Pink and White Terraces: Sound Archives: the Mt Tarawera Eruption

The Tarawera Eruption

Mount Tarawera in Eruption, June 10, 1886, from Wairoa

A phantom canoe was believed to have been seen by tourists at Lake Tarawera eleven days before Mount Tarawera erupted in 1886.

The Eruption of Tarawera (2000) Part 1

Strange Days on Lake Rotomahana

The End of the Pink and White Terraces

Te Wairoa

The Buried Village, Te Wairoa

The village of Te Wairoa was established in 1848 by Christian missionaries as a model village. It was buried in the 1886 eruption.

This stone pataka was one of the first structures to be excavated. It was discovered by Vi Smith, the landowner while they were having a picnic by the Te Wairoa stream.

Stone pataka at the Buried Village, Te Wairoa

The pataka is much older than the village structures and was probably built by the first people to live in the lakes area. See my post on Lake Okataiana.

There’s another stone pataka on the south-east shore of Green Lake, near the former village of Epiha.

Stone pataka at Green Lake

The carving below in the Buried Village museum is also much older. As you can see from the diorama, Lake Okataina is in the same area.