Northland Region

St Joseph's Church, Awanui.

1AWANUI

The trip starts at Awanui 6.5 km north of Kaitaia on SH1.
The gateway to the Aupouri Peninsula, Awanui was originally established as a port for Kaitaia to the south. Located on the banks of the Awanui River, the town was once frequented by scows which plied the twisting waterway from the Rangaunu Harbour to load cargoes of kauri logs and later kauri gum. Kaitaia was dependent on this small river port for many years with the railway only making it as far as Okaihau, 73 km to the south. Today giant kauri tree stumps, recovered from swamps where they have been submerged, sometimes for thousands of years, can be seen stacked up in a yard from the side of the main road. The timber from these swamp kauri, is highly valued and is used in the manufacture of furniture and ornaments. On the outskirts of the town, the Anglican Church of St Joseph has been a landmark since 1887. The churchyard contains the graves of three of the passengers lost when the inter-colonial passenger steamer Elingamite ploughed into the rocks in dense fog off the Three Kings Islands in 1902. With nearly 200 passengers aboard, six lifeboats were launched with one of them, carrying 52 of the survivors, managing to land just north of Mount Camel. The alarm was raised at the Houhora Hotel and a rescue fleet of several vessels was dispatched, including the local schooner Greyhound, from Awanui. Captained by Alfred Subritzky, the vessel was poled down the Awanui river, then with all available canvas run up, the ship was headed full speed at the bar, which they just managed to clear despite the tides being wrong. The Subritzky family owned or controlled almost all of the Far North, the town of Awanui having been built by the Subritzky's and their European and Maori extended family.

2GUMDIGGERS PARK

Drive 15.1 km north on SH1 to Waiharara. Turn right into Camp Road to reach Heath Road and the Gumdiggers Park.
Kauri first appeared on the planet over 150 million years ago during the Cretaceous Era, when dinosaurs still walked the Earth. The dinosaurs died out 65 million years ago, but the ancestors of the original kauri and other conifers, prevailed in forests throughout New Zealand. About 5 million years ago the sea levels rose, followed by periods of volcanic activity and the beginning of glaciation. As the landscape and climate changed, the kauri retreated northwards and are now confined to the countries northern rainforests. Today small pockets of the original kauri forests have been found preserved by the chemical cocktail in Northland’s peat swamps. In some places, successive layers of logs show that three or four kauri forests have matured, died and been buried in one location. At Gumdiggers Park you can see the top two layers of one of these forests. These giant fallen trees were first discovered lying in the swamps by gumdiggers. Kauri trees produce large amounts of resinous sap when they are damaged. The sap congeals into hard lumps covering the wound and protecting the inner timber. Eventually the kauri gum falls to the ground where it is covered by fallen leaves and becomes buried in the forest leaf litter. The gumdiggers’ unearthed trees between 40,000 and 150,000 years old, exposing parts of their trunks in their gum holes. The site includes an authentic gum field from the early 1900s and a recreated gum diggers’ village, providing an insight into the lifestyle and hardships of the times. Informative displays on the natural history of the area and its significance in predicting future climate change make it well worth the visit.

 

Fishing boat, Houhora Harbour.

3HOUHORA HARBOUR

Return to SH1 and continue northwest 18.6 km to Houhora. Turn right into the Pukenui Wharf Road and drive east 0.1 km down to the wharf.
Houhora is one of the best fishing spots in the country thanks to the fast flowing deep water channel which brings kahawai, kingfish, john dory, snapper, trevally and baitfish right up the harbour to the wharf, providing a safe place to fish all year round. There is always a variety of fishing boats in the harbour and usually a collection of people fishing from the wharf. To the north rising above the harbour entrance is the distinctive shape of Mt Camel and the site of some of the oldest archaeological finds in New Zealand. Early Polynesian settlers were camping here every summer some 750 years ago, drawn to the area because of its warm climate and rich seafood resources. Archaeologists have found tools made from wood and bone as well as a type of volcanic rock called argillite, that comes from a site much further south, indicating that these people also spent part of the year on the Coromandel Peninsula. By the 19th century, Houhora Harbour had become a supply base for whalers, with the local residents later mounting their own whaling expeditions in open boats. Three families, the Wagener's, Subritzky's and Yates, settled in the area. It was the Subritzky family, of polish descent, who in the 1860s built the old homestead which survives at Houhora to this day. The Mount Camel Station became the hub of their operations which included importing cattle from which they developed their own breed of shorthorn as well as establishing a shipping link with Auckland. Many of the early pioneering families were carried to the Far North by the Subritzky's who also established flax mills and began processing the fibres for export.

 

Ratana Church, Te Kao.

4TE KAO

Return to SH1 and drive north 24 km to Te Kao on SH1. The church is on the right.
The Ngati Kuri people still own much of the land in Te Kao, the name of which was derived from ‘Kao’ which is a form of dried kumara that was once taken by travelers making long journeys. The most distinctive landmark is the Ratana church, its twin towers named Alpha and Omega, the first and last letters in the greek alphabet, representing the sons of Wiremu Ratana. Founded by this famous faith-healer and political activist in the 1920s, the Ratana religion combines Christian teachings with Maori spiritual beliefs and culture. During the nineteenth century, the Maori people had lost their tribal way of life, their land and their traditional religion. Christianity had been accepted, but the missionaries had also acted as chaplains to the colonial forces and many Maori had become suspicious of the missionary clergy, believing them to be part of a Government plot to subjugate the Maori people. From the 1860s, the words of the Bible had been put into terms Maori could understand by prophets such as Te Kooti, Te Ua Haumene, Te Whiti o Rongomai and Tohu Kakahi. In 1918, Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana had a vision, which he regarded as divinely inspired, asking him to preach the gospel to the Maori people and to cure the spirits and bodies of his people. He preached to increasing numbers of Maori, and although the movement was seen as a Christian revival, it soon moved away from the mainstream churches. In 1925, Te Haahi Ratana (The Ratana Church) was formally established as a separate church and was to become the largest independent movement and the third largest religious group among the Maoris in New Zealand. In 1924, T.W. Ratana tried unsuccessfully to present a petition to George V and the League of Nations on land confiscations and the Treaty of Waitangi. After the Ratana temple was completed at Ratana Pa near Marton in 1928, Ratana began a political campaign that would see Ratana members holding all four Maori seats in Parliament between 1932 and 1943.

 

Te Paki stream and sand dunes.

5TE PAKI STREAM

Continue north on SH1 from Te Kao 16.3 km up onto the hill above the Parengarenga Harbour. This is where you will get the best views across the this part of the coast. Continue 9.2 km north on SH1 to the Waitiki Landing. This is the last petrol station and place to pick up supplies on the road to Cape Reinga. Continue north on SH1 4.9 km and turn left onto Te Paki Stream Road. The road ends 3.7 km east along this road.
Its only a 30 minute walk from the carpark at the end of the road to some of the enormous windswept sand dunes that look out across the stream and Ninety Mile Beach. You can walk along the winding path of the stream-bed to the dunes, but you should remember that it takes an hour if you want to walk all the way out to the coast. Extending beyond the dunes lies the Te Paki Recreation Reserve which stretches inland across the scrub covered hills and nearby farmland. Bartlett’s rata, discovered in 1975, is one of the endangered plant species found here along with native land snails including colonies of (pupuharakeke) the endangered flax snail. The first European settlers, Stannus Jones and Samuel Yates, bought most of the land in 1873. Yates farmed the land, ran a local store and traded kauri gum. After marrying a local Maori princess he became known as the King of the North and his homestead was called Paki, from which the name Te Paki was derived.

 

Cape Reinga lighthouse.

6CAPE REINGA

Return to SH1 and continue 15.4 km north to Cape Reinga.
 
According to Maori legend, the curve of Ninety Mile Beach traces the route taken by the dead on their journey to the homeland of Hawaiki. Cape Reinga (place of leaping) is said to be their final departure point as they leave from the branches of an ancient pohutukawa tree that clings to the rocky bluffs. Its only a short walk from the carpark to New Zealand’s first automatic lighthouse, built in 1941, which looks out across towards the shadowy forms of the Three Kings Islands which can sometimes be seen to the north-west. Below the cliffs the surging currents mark the turbulent meeting point of the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean. For the energetic there is a track leading down the hillside to Sandy Bay. It only takes about 30 minutes to get down to the coast but it's about 45 minutes to walk back up. From Sandy Bay the track continues south as part of the Cape Reinga Coastal Walkway over the hills to Taupotupotu Bay which takes another 90 minutes before continuing alll the way out to Pandora and Spirits Bay which is a 5 hour walk on a 9 km section of this track.