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Head south from the Bay of Island's to Kawakawa with its vintage railway and take a tour of the Kawiti Caves before continuing south to the Waro Limestone Reserve. If you have time for a detour out to the coast you will be rewarded with a string of sandy bays along the Matapouri coastline leading to the marina, diving and gamefishing centre at Tutukaka before heading back towards Whangarei.
The land south of the Bay of Islands is inexorably tied into the historic events that shaped this early area of New Zealand settlement. When the first Europeans, on sealing and whaling expeditions, began to arrive and trade with the local Maori, one of the significant items the Maori acquired was the musket. The Musket Wars were the inevitable result, as a series of battles raged between various tribal groups in the early 1800s. Northern tribes inflicted heavy casualties upon each other as well as on neighbouring tribes, some of whom had never faced this deadly firearm. Eventually all the tribes obtained muskets, deadlocking the conflict, but not before intertribal boundaries had been drastically shifted and at least 20,000 people had died. The Maori not only learned to use firearms, they also developed the gunfighter pa as a defense against both the musket and later the cannon which was used against them in the New Zealand Land Wars. This partly explains why the Maori were more successful in their wars against the British than most other tribal peoples. Today the gunfighter pa at Ruapekapeka still sits on the top of a hill looking over the countryside south of Kawakawa. You can still find vintage steam trains operating in the area as well as other tourist attractions including quaint country museums, glow worm caves and limestone rock formations. Out on the coast there are numerous unspoiled beaches and sheltered bays waiting to be explored as well as the big game fishing and diving centre at Tutukaka. Offshore lie a number of wrecks for divers as well as the world class marine reserve at the Poor Knights Islands.
1OPUA
From the Opua Wharf head back up the hill and turn left onto the Paihia Road.
Located on the Waikare Inlet at the head of the Kawakawa River, Opua was originally a commercial wharf for dairy and other products. Today it’s a popular anchorage for a variety of yachts and chartered diving and fishing vessels. There is a track leading from Broadview Road, Opua, through Harrison’s Bush Scenic Reserve, down through a forest clad valley to the Paihia to Opua walkway. This part of the forest has never been milled or burned and contains a number of old and very large native puriri trees.
SUNBEAMLAND MOTORCYCLE & PIONEERING MUSEUM
Head south 6.6 km from Opua. The museum is on the right, heading towards Kawakawa on SH11.
A museum centred on vintage and post war motorcycles with a wealth of information and unusual, rarely seen exhibits mostly in working order. Some motorcycles in the collection are unrestored and original and are on display along with beautiful, live steam traction engines. Other exhibits include WW1 military items, printing and bookbinding displays. Also feature prehistoric, Roman, Celtic, Edwardian and Victorian cultural artefacts, old guns, bulldozers, rusty pieces of metal and tame animals.
BAY OF ISLANDS VINTAGE RAILWAY
The vintage railway operates on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Established in the 1980s on the 14 km section of railway line between Kawakawa and Opua, the Bay of Island's Vintage Railway is one of the longest heritage railway lines in New Zealand. The historic steam locomotive Gabriel is currently operating on the 4 km section between Kawakawa and Taumarere section which was originally opened in 1868 as a coal tramway pulled by horses. Gabriel was one of five locomotives built by Pecketts of Bristol in the south west of England. Two of these 4-4-0 engines went to Southern Ireland and ran on the Schule & Skibbereen Railway. Another two went to Sarawak, followed by a third engine which was ordered in 1915. The decline of the Teak Trade due to the First World War resulted in the last order being cancelled, even though Pecketts had almost finished the engine. This engine was eventually purchased in 1925 by the Portland Cement Company of Whangarei as a light shunting loco and was mainly used to move coal and lime wagons at the cement works. The engine was re-gauged from metre gauge to 3 foot six. Gabriel was loaned to and later purchased by the Bay of Islands Vintage Railway and is now the only one of her kind remaining.
Historic steam engine, Gabriel at Kawakawa.
2KAWAKAWA
Drive south 10.7 km on SH11 to Kawakawa.
With its distinctive railway tracks running down the main street, Kawakawa was originally known as Irishtown. Displays featuring items from the town’s coalmining past can be seen in the Kawakawa museum located in the historic First World War Memorial Library building. Today Kawakawa is also famous for an operating piece of art created in 1997 by internationally renowned artist and architect, Friedrich Hundertwasser. Born in Austria, New Zealand has become his second home and his creation, the Kawakawa Toilets, have attracted visitors from all over the world. They are a masterpiece of art and design featuring a grass roof supported by ornate columns, glass bottle windows, mosaic tiling, copper handwork and cobblestone flooring along with a number of individual sculptures as well as a living tree integrated into the design. This is his only creation of this type in this part of the world.
3KAWITI CAVES
Continue south on SH 1 to Waiomio, 4 km from Kawakawa. The turn-off to the caves is on the left
and it is approximately 1 km to the caves.
Towering limestone pillars rising through the forest are a striking feature of the landscape around Waiomio. A boarded walkway leads into impressive caverns at the start of the 30 minute guided walk through the Kawhiti glow-worm caves. Lit up by thousands of glow-worms, the caves feature stalactities, stalagmites and other pure white limestone rock formations that formed over thousands of years. The glow-worms (Arachnocompa luminosa) belong to the gnat family and are not related to the glow-worms found in Europe which are a type of beetle. They live in caves, on river banks and in shady places in forests, using their glow to attract insects which are snared on a sticky hanging web.
The caves are open from 8.30 am to 4.30 pm daily.
RUAPEKAPEKA PA
Driving south 13 km on SH1 from the Kawiti Caves, you will reach Towai where the road Ruapekapeka is signposted to on the left. The Ruapekapeka Historic Reserve is located high up in the hills to the east.
A masterpiece of design and engineering, Ruapekepeka Pa was built in 1845 by Te Ruki Kawhiti and his warriors as an adaptation of earlier defences that were no longer effective in warefare now dominated by the newly introduced muskets and cannon. This new style of ‘gunfighter pa’ was developed by the Maori well before the First World War and featured extra thick puriri palisades, trench systems and underground shelters designed to withstand heavy bombardment from British cannons. Up to twenty men could shelter in each of the bunkers, emerging like bats from their dark holes at the end of each bombardment to fight off the British attackers. This is what gave the pa its name, Ruapekapeka, meaning the ‘bats nest’. The siege and attacks by 1600 British troops continued for over a month. The pa was finally taken when Tamati Waka Nene and his men, allies of the British, infiltrated the defences on a Sunday while the defenders were engaged in prayer. The surprise attack brought the ‘War in the North’ to an end.
Fluted Limestone at Waro.
4WARO LIMESTONE RESERVE
From the Kawiti Caves turnoff, continue 29 km south on SH 1 to Waro where you will find
the Waro Reserve signposted on the left side
of the road near the turn-off to Hikurangi.
The Waro Reserve offers a rare opportunity to explore a karst landscape only a few minutes walk from the main highway. It takes about 20 minutes to walk around the whole reserve which features the distinctive weathered limestone rock formations that characterize this type of landscape. The limestone was formed millions of years ago from corals and other marine organisms that were laid down on the sea floor, forming thick layers of sedimentary rock. As the layers continued to build up on the sea floor, the lower layers were compressed by the weight of the layers above over millions of years. The pressure created limestone rock which was eventually uplifted above sea level. Over time, forests spread across these limestone landscapes,. The forests creating natural acids, as rainwater filtered down through the leaves carpeting the forest floor. These acids gradually dissolved the limestone rock, creating the beautiful fluted patterns that can be seen today.
5SANDY BAY TO MATAPOURI
Continue 0.2 km south on SH1 and turn left onto King Street. Drive south 1.1 km and turn left onto Valley Road. Drive 1 km onto Marua Road and continue east 10.9 to Matapouri Road and continue east 11.7 km to Sandy Bay.
A string of attractive bays between Sandy Bay and Matapouri can be reached via a number of excellent walking tracks including the Otito Track which runs from the road up on the hill above Matapouri. This a short 30 minute loop track that runs through forest past a string of small and secluded, sandy beaches to Whale Bay which is a great spot for snorkeling. Sandy Bay is a prime surfing location especially at high tide when there is a north-easterly swell, while Matapouri provides a sheltered sandy beach and
an estuary rich in marine life, that can be explored with a mask and snorkel for an hour each side of high tide.
THE POOR KNIGHTS ISLANDS
Tutukaka is the main location for arranging a chartered dive trip out to the Poor Knights Islands, 22 km off the coast.
This spectacular marine reserve, set around a fascinating group of forest-clad volcanic islands, is an underwater haven for sub-tropical marine life. Fed by warm currents that originate in the Coral Sea, the Poor Knights provide a habitat for an incredible variety of species that would not normally be found this far south. The area features huge caves, submarine lava cliffs and extensive reef systems, rich with multi-hued sponges, invertebrates and huge shoals of fish. This luxuriant marine life was protected by legislation passed in 1981, making the Poor Knights Islands and their surrounding waters part of a marine reserve that has preserved one of the best subtropical diving locations in the world. The spectacular Riko Riko cave, when surveyed, was found to be the largest sea cave in the world. The islands are the eroded remnants of a rhyolitic volcano that is over 4 million years old. The islands provided a refuge for many plants an animal species during the ice ages including the rare Poor Knights lily (Xeronema callistemon) which was discovered in 1924 and is one of the species endemic to the Poor Knights Islands as well as Taranga Island in the Hen and Chickens Islands to the south. The islands are also the only known nesting place of the Buller’s shearwater.
Gamefish, Tutukaka.
6tutukaka
Continue south 10.8 km on Matapouri Road and turn left into Marina Road. It is 0.3 km to the Tutukaka Marina.
The home of the Whangarei Deep Sea Anglers Club, which is the largest aquatic social club of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, Tutukaka’s sheltered harbour is packed with fishing and charter boats of all shapes and sizes. Sitting on the deck of the clubhouse or wandering around on the wharf, you will often see game fish including huge sharks and marlin being brought in for weighing at the marina towards the end of the day. Charter boats take divers out to the Poor Knights and also to the artificial reefs created by the sinking of the Royal New Zealand Navy vessels the Tui, a survey ship, and the frigate Waikato. These wreck dives are both deep and more suitable for experienced divers. The HMNZS Tui and HMNZS Waikato are both large navy vessels which were specially prepared for adventure diving before they were sunk at depths that could be reached by divers. Access and exit points have been cut into the wrecks allowing divers to explore the guns, bridge areas, control areas, the helicopter hangar, engine rooms, cabins and crew areas. Now resting on the sea floor in 30 m of water, the Leander Class frigate HMNZS Waikato was launched in 1966 and served in the RNZ Navy until decommissioned in 1998. She is 113 m long, has a beam of 12.5 m beam and a draft of 5.5 m.
NGUNGURU
Ngunguru is 4 km south from Tutukaka on Matapouri Road and Ngunguru Road.
Ngunguru is a haven for boaties, providing a sheltered anchorage and swimming spot behind a large sandy peninsula. The pohutukawa-shaded domain is a great place to take a picnic in summer and there is a walkway with boardwalks through the mangroves that begins near the local library. There is also a walkway from Ngunguru through to Whangaumu Bay which can be followed a few hour either side of low tide. The walk takes about 40 minutes from Te Maika Rd and crosses the estuary before following the coast north along a number of sheltered, sandy beaches, across rocky outcrops and grassy ridges. From Red Rock Bay the track climbs the ridge to a lookout point with views south to the Whangarei Heads, Taiharuru, Pataua, and on a clear day you can see all the way to Goat Island. The track continues to the southern end of Whangaumu Bay.
Whangarei Falls.
7WHANGAREI FALLS
Return to Matapouri Road and continue south 2.8 km onto Ngunguru Road and continue west 20.4 km to the Whangaei Falls on the left.
Its only a short walk to the top of the spectacular Whangarei Falls, where the Hatea River plummets 26 m over a huge basalt lava bluff. It takes another 10 minutes to follow the track down to the base of the falls where you will be able to get a closer look at the interesting columnar-jointed rock formations that make up these impressive lava cliffs formed two and a half million years ago. Traditionally this area was a good eeling spot for the local Maori and today you can follow the Hatea River walk from the falls to the A H Reed Memorial Kauri Park.