Heading east along the Bay of Plenty coast we noticed fewer people, fewer camper vans, fewer resources, more agriculture, more Māori culture and more challenging terrain.
Coordinates
Whakatāne
Ngā Tapuwae o Toi is a linked series of walks around Whakatāne. We began quayside, where a red carpet and coastguard escort heralded the arrival of the city’s first-ever cruise ship passengers (first photo). From the central business district (CBD) climb the “vertigraph”—43 sets of glazed tiles, independent yet vertically integrated into a depiction of NZ flora and fauna, arranged from sea to sky (second photo). The whole is greater than the sum of the parts! Sadly, fly-tipping is not an uncommon sight in NZ; among other waste, old sofas can be found dumped at beaches or viewpoints (third photo). The path provides excellent views out to sea (final photo).
Ngā Tapuwae o Toi also offers views upriver and into town (first photo) as you pass through the 250m-long Taumata Kahawai Pā site, which formerly occupied the headland. From the point the track heads gradually down; you’ll note White Island, marked by a cloud of its own making (second photo). Cross the rocks into Ōtarawairere Bay (third photo) unless at high tide. Next, turn uphill to the road—there’s no track to Ōhope Beach due to a slip. Ōhope Beach can however be seen from the hilltop (final photo). Walk along the road to Kōhī Point Lookout and take the link path via Toi’s Pā (one of the oldest pā in NZ) to rejoin the outward track.
This modified loop of around 10km took us 3.5h:
The “Kiwi Boy” art on Whakatāne’s riverfront (first photo) evidently shares whakapapa with a bench-sitting bird we met in Auckland Botanical Gardens; several less anthropomorphic kiwi sculptures also decorate the river bank. According to the AI species classifier app, this painted gull-like local is probably Homo sapiens (second photo). Ceremonial waka are housed near the river mouth (third photo), which is hazardous to navigate (final photo).
The girl on the rock
A sculpture of Wairaka (1965) stands on one of several rocks in the river mouth.
“When the men of the Mataatua waka were ashore scouting the new land, the great canoe started to float away. Wairaka, daughter of Toroa—commander of Mataatua, recited a powerful karakia and as she jumped ashore the canoe was dragged after her. The waka was saved and the site was named Whakatāne.” (Whakatāne Museum)
🤔 Curiosity
Ōhope and Ōpōtiki
The 11km-long Ōhope Beach on the seaward side of Ōhope Spit identifies as NZ’s “most-loved beach” (first photo). There’s the large shallow estuary of Ōhiwa Harbour on the landward side (second photo). A wildlife refuge at the spit’s tip allows endangered birds to nest safely, overlooked by Onekawa Pā across the harbour entrance (third photo). A Sterna striata/ white-fronted tern returns to the nest with a shoal fish in its beak (final photo).
An advantage of being “on site” in a camper is witnessing changing light throughout the day. Whakaari | White Island, seen from Ōpōtiki’s Hukuwai Beach Recreation Reserve, smoked shades of white, grey and blue (first photo). Light can also change our mood—from irritation over fly-tipping (for which us freedom campers will be blamed) to joy at the reds and golds of sunset on Hukuwai Beach (remaining photos).
Hukutaia Domain near Ōpōtiki is a 5ha reserve amidst farmland (first photo). Within is Taketakerau | The Burial Tree, a large 2,000+ year-old endemic Vitex lucens/ pūriri into which the Upokorehe iwi set the bones of their distinguished dead, rendering it tapu | sacred (second photo). Although the bones are gone (reburied elsewhere) the tree now has guardian carvings (third photo). The pink pūriri flowers were past their best (final photo).
Hukutaia Domain contains many species of trees, birds and fungi. A walk here is especially “fruitful” for spotting Favolaschia claudopus, the orange pore fungus. Viewed from the top you can appreciate why it’s sometimes likened to a ping-pong bat (first photo) with prominent pores on the underside (second photo). We also saw Cerrena zonata (third photo) and Auricularia cornea/ ear fungus (final photo).
Waioeka Gorge
Tauranga Bridge (first photo) is south from Ōpōtiki on SH2, within Waioeka Gorge Scenic Reserve. It is the only surviving “harp” suspension bridge in NZ and, as such, is of national significance for its engineering and aesthetic. Built in 1922 to replace an earlier one destroyed by flood in 1918, it spans the Waioeka River (second photo) and served settler farms in the Tauranga Valley. A 1.5h loop track from here involves two stream crossings, including one at the mouth of Tauranga Stream (third photo). We enjoyed the knot symmetry in the railings made of No. 8 wire—a symbol of Kiwi ingenuity (final photo).
Continuing east
Eastern BOP coastal scenery seen from SH35 included fishing from the long beach between Pehitairi and Hawai (first photo); Whituare Bay (second photo); the small settlement of Houpoto (third photo); and the mouth of the Mōtū River (final photo).
Below is the entrance gate at Ōmāio Marae, an open area for greetings/ discussions in front of a wharenui | meeting house (to sleep guests, here called Rongomaihuatahi), but may refer to whole complex. This marae serves the hapū | sub-tribe of Te Whānau a Nuku, of Te Whānau-ā-Apanui iwi | tribe (named for a seventeenth Century ancestor). Also inscribed are the names of two of Apanui’s wives (Te Kohepare and Te Whaaki). As well as whakapapa | lineage, marae may connect ancestrally to specific waka | canoes and geographic features e.g. moana | sea and awa | rivers.
Reciting whakapapa
Connections to people and landscapes may be recited in a pepeha | proverb, such as this one from the East Cape’s Ngāti Porou iwi:
Ko Hikurangi te maunga
Ko Waiapu te awa
Ko Ngāti Porou te iwi.
Hikurangi is the mountain
Waiapu is the river
Ngāti Porou is the tribe.
Such connections to physical places, in addition to tīpuna | ancestors, are an important part of the Māori sense of belonging, or tūrangawaewae (place to stand).
🤔 Curiosity
Raukokore’s wooden Anglican church is a local landmark, built in 1894, with free-range horses minding the grass (first photo). It’s still in use and in immaculate condition (second photo). On the back wall are pencil drawings of the decorative panels by a boy named Taika Waititi, who spent some of his childhood here (third photo). He would go on to become a well-known Kiwi filmmaker; Boy (2010) was set in nearby Waihau Bay (final photo).
Here’s the trailer for Boy, which is set in 1984 and tells the story of a young Māori boy trying to relate to his father, who has returned home after release from prison:
Curiously, also on the church’s back wall was a sign you probably wouldn’t find in too many other churches—one that might lift your nose, if not your spirit:
Please excuse any fishy smells coming from the font area as there maybe penguins nesting and feeding under the church.
Raukokore Church
Road conditions had not thus far impacted our journey. Having now passed Potikirua Point, we entered Gisborne District.
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Curiosity Drive 