The Far North beckoned as the last area of NZ we had yet to explore during this visit. It’s a region rich in Māori tradition, key to colonial history, and home to some stunning yet remote scenery. Our final week of touring in Curiosity would prove a rather busy one!
Coordinates
Waitangi and Kerikeri
Entry to Waitangi Treaty Grounds costs $30 to NZ residents or $60 for international visitors. A “chief” volunteer from among visitors accepts a token—confirming peaceful intentions—during a challenge in front of the meeting house as part of a cultural performance (first photo). The flagstaff flies the 1902 NZ ensign, 1834 United Tribes and British Union flags (second photo). The Treaty of Waitangi was signed on the grounds of Treaty House in 1840 (third photo). The world’s largest ceremonial waka is used only on Waitangi Day (final photo).
Treaty of Waitangi.
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In February 1840 the grounds of British Resident James Busby’s house (now Treaty House) at Waitangi were used by William Hobson, representing the Crown (and latter becoming NZ’s first Governor), to ask rangatira | chiefs to agree to British settlement. By September of that year 500+ rangatira had signed—mostly the Māori translation, although this differed from the English treaty text in ways that continue to have ramifications today (e.g. ceding of sovereignty vs. retention of governance).
Many rangtira did not sign, unconvinced of the benefits, not wishing to compromise their independence, or simply because they weren’t asked to (e.g. only four South Island locations were visited to seek signatories). Although this “founding document” has limited legal standing in modern NZ, recognition of perceived Treaty breaches by the Crown led to a Waitangi Tribunal being established in 1975 to formally investigate historical grievances and recommend settlements. The tribunal’s remit includes hearing claims for redress lodged by ancestors of non-signatory iwi.
Near Waitangi Treaty Grounds, Te Tou Rangatira translates as “the seat of chiefs.” A year after Te Kara | the United Tribes flag was chosen by Ngāpuhi chiefs for NZ-based shipping, it was here in 1835 that the northern iwi made a Declaration of Independence—and here that they endorsed Te Tiriti | Treaty of Waitangi before its formal signing in 1840. Some of the iwi still mark “Independence Day” on Oct 28, arguing they didn’t cede rangatiratanga in favour of Crown sovereignty in 1840.
A national Māori flag.
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Although the political structure corresponding to a pre-European Māori nation was lacking, common interests have forged a national identity, with flags devised to represent it (see images below).
Te Kara | The United Tribes flag was chosen by Far North (Ngāpuhi) chiefs in 1834. The design was in use by the Church Missionary Society, based on St. George’s cross, as was chosen from a selection of designs presented to the chiefs by Busby. A ship from NZ had been seized by customs officials in Australia for not flying a flag (NZ not being a British colony, it couldn’t fly the Union Jack, and unflagged ships were considered pirates!). As well as solving this issue, Busby’s agenda was to unite Māori behind such a symbol to pave the way for collective government. The original flag used a black border around the inset cross; it was recognised by King William IV and the British Admiralty as NZ’s first national flag. In 1845 the black border was replaced with white in accordance with a heraldic design principle, the “rule of tincture.”
The Tino Rangatiratanga is the flag of the Māori sovereignty/ independence movement, commissioned following a competition run in 1989 to raise awareness of Treaty breaches yielded no favoured design. The resulting design has elements representing a balance of mythical realms: in black Te Korekore (realm of Potential Being, dark, heavenly and male); in white Te Ao Marama (realm of Being and Light, the pure physical world); and in red Te Whei Ao (realm of Coming into Being, the colour of earth, sustainer of life and female). Central is a koru, signifying new life, rebirth, continuity and hope. Visible at protests, a public hui in 2009 confirmed the design as preferred candidate for a Māori national flag. In 2009 the NZ cabinet recognised it as such, but without giving it official status. From 2010 it was flown (alongside NZ’s official flag) on Waitangi Day at significant locations, including from Parliament and the Auckland Harbour Bridge.
Kororipo Heritage Park in Kerikeri is home to the Stone Store, the oldest stone building in NZ (first photo), which has been trading since 1836 (second photo). Next door is the historic mission station of Kemp House, built in 1822 and thus NZ’s oldest European building (third photo). Sitting on the bank of Kerikeri River, the garden setting looks rather “English” and now includes a popular café (final photo). Nearby is a reconstructed Māori village c.1800s.
Whangaroa Harbour
We walked out to Kairara Rock | Dukes Nose via Wairākau Stream Track from Totara North. There’s $5 parking in a field off Campbell Road. After 3km on the track, cross Wairākau Stream twice in order to skirt a conglomerate cliff (first photo) and just a few minutes later, first sight of the goal (second photo). We enjoyed the spectacle of a brief sun-shower (third photo), which dissipated quickly so that the mangrove-edged estuary reflected a blue and white sky (final photo).
Twenty minutes later we had a view into Whangaroa Harbour’s Rere Bay (first photo), followed by Pekapeka Bay (second photo). The Dukes Nose formation now loomed closer and we could make out fellow hikers, walking around on top (third photo). To join them via Dukes Nose Track, we’d need to haul our bodies up a couple of steel grab rails that had been fixed to near-vertical sections of rock (final photo).
Needless to say, ascending the formation was well worth the effort for the elevated views around Whangaroa Harbour (first to third photos). Then, what comes up, must come down (final photo); the estuary we followed to get here is seen left of frame, with Te Rere Bay in the distance.
Here’s the GPS track of our 6km/ 2.5h outbound route:
Continuing north
Ōtaipango | Henderson Bay near Houhora is a gorgeous 5km stretch of Northland beach, but we visited for its geologic merits.
Being careful not to disturb the delicate sandstone structures or dune plants, we took a sandy path about 1km south from the car park up to a terrace of ancient dunes. Kauri gum dug from the fossil forest here is around 30–34,000 years old; ventifacts have also been found here. The fragile rust-coloured sandy crusts were sculpted by wind.
B’s brother has enjoyed fishing Pārengarenga Harbour, but it’s difficult to explore without a boat. The bright white sands on Kotoka | The Sandspit can be seen from SH1 (first photo). The Te Kao Local Store suggested we take the road into Te Pua Reserve for a closer view—although the sands remained far-off (second photo). The campsite and point area (for view of entrance) were closed. Further north are lakes and dunes backing Twilight Beach (third photo). Although there is a view from the car park for Twilight–Te Werahi Loop Track, this was also closed (final photo).
At the top
We arrived late in the day at Te Rerenga Wairua | Cape Reinga, in time for sunset from the Lighthouse Walk (first photo). The iconic lighthouse was built in 1941 and is now remotely monitored from Wellington. A popular meeting point for modern peoples (second photo), it overlooks the meeting of ocean currents from the Tasman Sea and South Pacific (third photo). For some iwi, Te Rēinga is where spirits enter the underworld, departing via the root-steps of an ancient pōhutukawa tree (final photo).
Cape Maria van Diemen was named by Abel Tasman in 1643 (first photo); sitting off the tip of North Island’s most westerly point is Motuopao Island. On the horizon to the east is Piwhane | Spirits Bay and Hikurua | de Surville Cliffs on North Cape, the mainland’s most northerly point (second photo). Three Kings Islands actually number 13 and lie 55km offshore (third photo); the original 100 or so inhabitants were slaughtered by mainland Māori in the late 1700s. Nearby is a campsite at Tapotupotu Bay (final photo).
Some of the 48km-long Te Paki Coastal Track is closed, but not so from Te Rerenga Wairua | Cape Reinga to Te Werahi Beach, overlooked here from the aforementioned Lighthouse Track (first photo). The 2km/ 40min path down to the beach is the initial stretch of Te Araroa, the Long Pathway (second photo). Looking back midway down, sea mist is uplifted onto the cliffs (third photo). If the tide is low you can access the beach dry (final photo). Returning by the same route is a good option for a short walk if your time here is limited.
If you have a few more hours spare, Te Werahi Beach is 3km of sand between Cape Reinga’s Tarawamaomao Point and Cape Maria van Diemen’s Te Kohatu Point (first photo). The lighthouse on Motuopao Island is now derelict; it was lit from the early 1880s to 1941, with supplies for three keeper families ferried across 200m of treacherous water (second photo). It’s a nice view back up the beach to the new lighthouse on Cape Reinga (third photo). From Herangi Hill a loop in Te Werahi Stream is seen, before it gains the beach (final photo).
As we followed the accessible section of Twilight–Te Werangi Loop Track up the 159m Herangi Hill at base of Cape Maria van Diemen, we were struck by the variety in both sand/ soil colours (first photo) and patterns (second photo). Once at the shoulder we gained an early view to Paengarēhia | Twilight Beach and to Tiriparepa | Scott Point beyond (third photo). Soon thereafter after a desert-like expanse lay between us and the Cape/ Motuopao Island (final photo).
Continuing on Twilight–Te Werangi Loop Track allowed us a look at the “backside” of the Cape and Motuopao Island (first photo). After 7km/ 2h 45min we turned back, barely any closer to Twilight Beach, but with sight of the massive Te Paki Dunes beyond (second photo). Colours were again stunning on our way down onto the Cape (third photo), resting for lunch against a way-marker in the exposed sands (final photo).
On the sub-landscape scale, Paphies subtriangulata | tuatua is an endemic shellfish regarded as a delicacy by Māori; having left its burrow, we watched as this one pulled itself across the sand using a muscular tongue (first photo). Scyphax ornatus | the soft shore isopod is ordinarily nocturnal; many had left their burrows to forage for detritus delivered by the tide (second photo). We came across a sea sponge with a bone-like matrix (third photo) and another with tubular form (final photo).
Placostylus ambagiosus is an endemic and endangered land/ flax snail found only in this area (first photo); blanched sub-fossil shells stand out against the Cape’s coloured dune sands. Lissopimpla excelsa | the orchid dupe wasp is native (second photo); Orthodera novaezealandiae | the NZ mantis is a winged endemic insect (third photo). Talochlamys zelandiae | the NZ fan scallop is an endemic organism from the sea (final photo).
This was a very enjoyable 16km/ 5.5h out-and-back walk:
Ancient giants
Te Paki Sand Dunes rise to a height of 150m (first photo). Sand-boarding is popular here with children of all ages (second photo); apparently digging your toes into the sand provides a degree of braking—helpful if you have kids on board and/or prefer not to eat too much sand! Some graduate from beginner slopes, risking greater/ higher/ longer/ faster thrills (third photo). Te Paki Stream (final photo) cuts through to Ninety Mile Beach; 4WD buses use it for access.
Te Oneroa-a-Tōhē | Ninety Mile Beach is a lie; it’s just 88km long. It is however a legal NZ road so usual rules should apply (first photo). Kids were squatting in the middle of said road, likely digging for tuatua (second photo). In Awanui at Kā Uri, a 11.3m-girth swamp kauri trunk has been fashioned into an awesome staircase (third photo); here Ngāti Kuri craftspeople turn 45,000 year-old wood into carvings for purchase (final photo).
At Gumdiggers Park see a thousand year-old Agathis australis | kauri trunk, felled by a prehistoric event 120,000 years ago (first photo). Kauri sap congeals and hardens into resin, fossilising to amber or “gum” (second photo). Māori had several uses for the gum, including lighting fires; it was later sold commercially as a varnish/ lino/ paint ingredient. After most of the surface gum had been collected, diggers wearing “gumboots” turned to holes and tunnels (third photo) in the peat swamps of Aupōuri Peninsula until about 1937, living harsh lives in sack huts (final photo).
Although introduced from Australia, this Ranoidea aurea | green and golden bell frog is the first frog we’ve spotted in the “wild”, at Waitangi Treaty Grounds (first photo). Dicathais orbita | cart-rut shell, a predatory sea snail, found at Hendersons Beach (second photo). The rare Naultinus grayii | Northland green gecko was captive at Gumdiggers Park (third photo), where an ancient insect (a mosquito?) is entombed in kauri gum (final photo).
Kohukohu on the north side of Hokianga Harbour—the landing place of Kupe (see below)—has 47 places in its historic village walk; this renovated boat shed isn’t listed (first photo). In the community art gallery we met “Patches”, a locally famous cat adopted by villagers after the postmistress passed (second photo). We crossed by vehicle ferry to Rawene. Ōpononi has dunes opposite, reachable only by boat (third photo). For views of the harbour entrance try Ōmāpere jetty (final photo), or the nearby hill lookout.
Who was Kupe?
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The Ngāpuhi iwi from the Far North cite a direct relationship to Kupe in their whakapapa. Oral histories suggest a fishing dispute (or other local conflicts) led to his voyage to NZ from Hawaiki as early as 750 CE, some 500 years before scientific evidence corroborates arrival of the first settlers (~1230–1282 CE) who would develop a culture recognised today as Māori. Some iwi say the explorer’s wife gave North Island the name of Ao-tea-roa (“long white cloud”) in a proto-Māori language—this being some time after Māui and his brothers fished it from the sea. Still others attribute the formation of Cook Straight to Kupe’s land-carving efforts; there are many more traditions. Kupe is said to have returned to Hawaiki from Hokianga (hoki means return)—although there is no supporting anthropological evidence of return trips having been made by Polynesian navigators. There is a Footprints of Kupe tourist attraction in Ōpononi.
Having seen 120,000 year old swamp kauri, we sought descendants at Waipoua Forest. Tāne Mahuta | Lord of the Forest is the tallest living kauri at 51.5m, with a girth of 13.8m and age of something over 2,000 years (first photo). Te Matua Ngahere | Father of the Forest is the widest living kauri at 16.4m girth—and possibly the oldest (second photo). Ancient kauri grew up to 60m tall and reached 32m girth. Note that the Four Sisters and Yakas trees are inaccessible due to kauri dieback disease.
What next? Our bodies and spirits will soon leave these shores for Europe. They will do so considerably enlightened by our time in Aotearoa New Zealand.
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