The Far North

Cape Reinga

It was like driving to the end of the world.  The narrow Aupouri Peninsula had an otherworldly landscape, empty of all but sand and pine forest.  It was punctuated on the eastern side by the inlets and creeks of the Parengarenga Harbour, shimmering in the morning light, while to the west we glimpsed towering sand dunes.  At the end of the road the land gave way to the ocean. The Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea meet here where the waters swirl and fling spume skywards.  The last headland jutted out—Cape Reinga, known to Māori as Te Rerenga Wairua, the 'leaping off place of spirits'.  This is where their dead leave this world and begin the journey to the spiritual homeland, Hawaiki.  This is the furthest north you can travel in New Zealand and it is remote.  The nearest town is Kaitaia, more than 100 kilometres to the south.

Cape Reinga

            No wonder the area is, and always has been, sacred to Māori.  The famous Polynesian navigator Kupe made landfall nearby and it was he who named the headland Te Rerenga Wairua.  He knew the cape was Aotearoa's land's end, and if the spirits of the people were to find their way home they would have to pass this way.  We walked down a track past the lighthouse and gazed out at the last sliver of land.  Clinging to the cliff-side was an 800-year-old pōhutukawa.  Down the roots of this tree the shades of the dead slide to the underworld and on to Hawaiki.

Tapotupotu Bay

            Close to Cape Reinga a narrow, unsealed side road twisted down to Tapotupotu Bay.  Malcolm negotiated the road cautiously, then drove into the DOC campground.  We parked Tangaroa beside the sandy beach for a couple of days, enjoying some walks and some swims—and plenty of reading and drinking coffee.  This is not an area where you can visit a cafe or look around an historic building, it is a place to enjoy the scenery and absorb the atmosphere.  One morning we walked along the cliffs north of Tapotupotu Bay to Sandy Bay, tucked into the side of Cape Reinga, and from the cliff-tops we could see along the coast to Spirits Bay and North Cape, the most northerly—and inaccessible—tip of New Zealand.  Spirits Bay is where Kupe is said to have reached out from his waka (canoe) and grasped the spirit of the country before making landfall.  The area was a fitting start to our journey of discovery.

            We turned Tangaroa's nose south and headed back down the Aupouri Peninsula.  We passed Te Paki Stream Road where thrill-seekers can drive onto Ninety Mile Beach, then careen down the enormous dunes on boogie boards.  Parengarenga Harbour and Rarawa Beach, stretching down the coast to our left, have glistening white silica sands of such high purity they are sought after for glassmaking.  Despite the tourists heading for Cape Reinga, the area had a remote feel—an untamed beauty. 

            We turned at Heath Road, just north of the township of Awanui, and stopped at Gumdiggers Park, once the site of a huge kauri forest.  Kauri are New Zealand's iconic trees.  No one can visit Northland without being aware of them. Kauri can live to be 2,000 years old (some have lived twice that) and are second in size only to the giant sequoias of California.  Their column-like trunks stand 30-40 metres in height, topped by spreading crowns.  Large trees are over 50 metres tall and have girths of more than 13 metres.  Unfortunately, after the coming of the Māori and later, Europeans, most of New Zealand's kauri forests were destroyed.  In some cases this was by fire, but much was cut down for use in ship-building and as timber for homes. 

            At Gumdiggers Park we learned that wasn't the case here.  It seems that a tsunami or a hurricane destroyed the kauri forests in prehistoric times.  (The wood of uncovered trees is dated to between a mind-boggling 46,000 and 150,000 years ago).  Historians support this idea because the trees were bowled over and are all lying the same way, although another theory suggests that ash from the eruption at Taupō 26,000 years ago might have changed the climate and caused the death of the trees.  Whatever the cause, it has made the area unique.  Ancient buried kauri trees are recovered from peat swamps throughout Northland, the timber perfectly preserved.  This beautiful wood is highly prized and is used to make furniture, carvings, bowls, and souvenirs. 

            But swamp kauri isn't the only treasure buried where kauri forests once stood.  A substance known as kauri gum was once searched for as avidly as miners searched for gold in other parts of New Zealand.  Kauri gum is resin that bled from the tree, turned into a hard lump and eventually dropped to the ground.  Over millions of years the gum became fossilised into amber.  Māori used the gum for cooking and lighting, while Europeans valued it because it made high quality varnish and other products.

            By 1860 the exportation of kauri gum was an established industry, and over the following decades around 20,000 people were involved in Northland's gumdigging trade.  First the diggers just picked gum up from the ground. Later it became harder to find and so they used spears to locate the gum under the earth before digging it up.  The gum diggers—Māori and European, especially a large group from Dalmatia (now Croatia) — lived isolated lives in tiny shanties out on the gumfields.

            Gumdiggers Park is on part of what were once the Aupouri Gumfields, the largest in the country.  Two of the 26 hectares are set up to show the public what life was like on the gumfields, the rest is set aside as a reserve for regenerating bush and wetlands.  We spent half an hour wandering around the tracks between gum-holes (just as they were left by the diggers, abandoned when the gum ran out), and marvelling at huge exposed swamp kauri logs.  We poked around in a recreation of a gumdiggers settlement and store, the buildings rudimentary—canvas and ponga log lean-tos with corrugated iron chimneys.  It must certainly have been a hard life and a hard way to make a living.

Gumdiggers Park

            At Awanui we stopped at Kā Uri Unearthed, a shop, cafe and workshop where large swamp kauri logs are milled and carved.  Inside the building we were amazed to see a huge kauri staircase.  It looked as though elves from The Lord of the Rings should be making their way up and down it.  We were informed that the staircase was carved from a fifty tonne section of a massive swamp kauri log.  At around 140 tonnes, it was the largest swamp kauri log ever to be dug from the ground and carbon-dating has established that the tree was over 1,000 years old when it fell, being then preserved in the swamp for between 45,000 and 50,000 years.  We made our way to the top of the five-metre-high staircase and marvelled at the size of it, although it pales in comparison with the mighty giant that the kauri tree must once have been.

            At Awanui we turned onto SH 10, heading towards the Karikari Peninsula.  Jutting out into the ocean like a beckoning finger, the peninsula separates Rangaunu Bay to the west from Doubtless Bay, so named by Captain Cook when he sailed past in 1769.  He didn't explore further, merely noted in his journal that it was 'doubtless a bay'.  We, however, were keen to discover the delights of the Karikari Peninsula so turned off the beaten track.

            At Matai (also called Maitai) Bay DOC campground, on the northern tip of the Karikari Peninsula, we found the perfect New Zealand summer scene—a beach lined with pōhutukawa, each tree a mass of crimson flowers.  The trees clung with gnarled roots to the sandy bank, below which a beach stretched towards the blue waters of the quiet bay.  Long ago, the Matai Bay area was an island, now it is joined to the Northland coast by a low-lying sandy strip, home to the popular holiday areas of Whatuwhiwhi and Tokerau Beach.

            We decided to walk along the Matai Bay Headland Track, which lead from the campsite across farmland and swooped down a hillside clothed in mānuka and kānuka, before finishing at the end of the headland.  There were a few steep side tracks leading down to rocky bays, which must have been made by fishermen.  Eventually we came across a track marked by a DOC post and went down to the rocky shore.  From here we could see right across Matai Bay and out through the entrance to the ocean beyond.

            The following day we set out for a longer walk, on the Fig Tree Track.  This began by the boat ramp at Waikato Bay and the first two kilometres took us along the beach.  It was lovely to stroll amongst more brilliant red pōhutukawa trees, watching dotterels dodging the waves that were lapping the shore.  After passing a couple of little rocky points, we turned inland at Poroa Stream and were soon walking through deep bush.  After about half an hour, we came to a signposted junction and began the steep climb uphill to the summit of Paraawanui.  The views from here were stunning—down to Matai Bay and clear across the Karikari Peninsula  to the sweep of beach at Karikari Bay.  In the distant haze we could see the Aupouri Peninsula stretching north.

            After spending some time taking photographs and eating a picnic lunch we continued down through bush, to a more open area where we found an old tractor quietly rusting away.  It seemed symbolic.  Whole chunks of the Far North were once home to Māori tribes, European settlers, gumdiggers, missionaries, whalers, and sealers—people and communities that have disappeared from the landscape.

            Waves were breaking on the rocky shores of Whangatupere Bay, the end of the Fig Tree Track.  It was a wild, remote spot so it was a surprise when, as we began to retrace our steps, we suddenly came upon another walker—the only other person we met on the path.  He told us that there was an alternative way back to Matai Bay, along the top of the cliffs.   We took his advice and found the turn, looping around and finally arriving back at Waikato Bay about three hours after setting out.  We never found the fig tree.

Matai Bay

            It was hard to leave pretty Matai Bay but we were keen to see more of the coast.  After passing Cable Bay and Coopers Beach we turned into Mangonui.  This picturesque village clings to the harbour-side, indeed some of its buildings stand on stilts in the water.  One of these is the fish and chip restaurant (we can recommend it).  Another is the Four Square shop—one of those old-fashioned stores that sells everything.  Mangonui was founded on whaling and the Butler Point Whaling Museum here (open by appointment) is well worth a look.  Many of the settlement's buildings date back to these early days and we wandered around enjoying the architecture before stopping for a drink at one of the cafes on the waterfront.

Mangonui

Butler Point

            Further along SH 10 we came to Whangaroa Harbour.  This place is a little gem.  We admired its soaring peaks and hidden bays from the top of St Paul's Rock behind the tiny settlement of Whangaroa.  It is only a short walk from the car park to the top of the dome-like rock, but it is a steep one.  As we gazed at the stunning view and enjoyed the tranquility of the surroundings we found it hard to believe that the waters below us were once the scene of murder and cannibalism. 

            A massacre occurred in 1809 when the ship Boyd was anchored in the harbour.  One of the sailors aboard, a young Māori chieftain called Te Ara, had been flogged for some offence. This was considered a great insult in Māori culture.  When he went ashore and told his story the tribe formed a plan for utu (revenge) and, under cover of darkness, attacked the ship. Around seventy Europeans were killed and eaten, there were only four survivors.  The local Māori then towed the Boyd into shallow water where, during a period of looting, a spark ignited barrels of gunpowder causing a massive explosion and fire.  The cargo of whale oil in the hold burned fiercely, leaving the Boyd a hulk.  Subsequently the four survivors, including two small children, were rescued but news of the massacre led ships to avoid the area for some years afterwards.

            The Reverend Samuel Marsden (of whom more will be told in chapter 2), together with two chiefs from the Bay of Islands, eventually managed to settle tensions in the area and by the 1820s missionaries and settlers were arriving in the harbour.  Ships called to collect kauri spars and later saw-mills were based at Totara North, across the harbour from Whangaroa.  It was said that at one time it was possible to walk from one settlement to the other on the floating logs awaiting milling.

            Whangaroa is a quiet backwater these days with little remaining from these early times.  We enjoyed walking along the waterfront though and called in at the Marlin Hotel, a quaint old weatherboard pub, for a drink and some fish and chips.  With views past the moored boats in the marina, it couldn't have been better.

Tangaroa at Tauranga Bay

            Our next stop was Tauranga Bay.  The view from our camping spot at the Holiday Park here was stunning.  Because it was early in the season, Tangaroa was parked in splendid isolation on the grassy foreshore.  In front of us was a wide ocean view that took in Stephenson Island as well as the headlands and islets up and down the coast.  Tauranga Bay itself has a kilometre-long stretch of pink sand beach.  At low tide we walked to the eastern end of the beach where we looked out at Arrow Rocks, thought to be the oldest rocks in the North Island.  Fossilised plankton embedded in these outcrops has been dated to between 270 and 245 million years ago.  At the other end of the beach we wandered through a natural rock arch to Butterfly Bay, so-named for the colony of monarch butterflies that over-winter and breed in the trees here.  After a pleasant couple of days, doing nothing much more than relaxing and enjoying the view, we drove back through the wide valley to rejoin Wainui Road.  This area is still farmed  by descendants of the early missionary and settler, James Shepherd, who made the valley his home in the 1830s.

            Wainui Road took us past Mahinepua Bay and the pretty beaches at Piapia Bay and Taiaue Bay before it wound through bush-covered hillsides, eventually bringing us to the little settlement at Matauri Bay.  The Reverend Samuel Marsden made his landfall here in 1814.  The reverend and the other missionaries were welcomed by the Māori chief Hongi Hika before they moved to the Bay of Islands where they established their mission.  Almost fifty years previously Captain James Cook had anchored HMS Endeavour nearby and, after purchasing fish from local Māori, named the offshore islands, the Cavallis—a mishearing of trevally.  We left Tangaroa parked near the end of the road and took the track to the Rainbow Warrior Memorial on the headland.

            The Rainbow Warrior was a Greenpeace-owned ship, bombed by the French intelligence service in Auckland in 1985.  The hulk was brought to this site and scuttled to become an artificial reef for divers.  It has become one of Northland's top dive sites.  In 1988 a memorial to the crew was commissioned and sculptor Chris Booth created an arch of rocks brought from the shores nearby.  It is topped by the Rainbow Warrior's bronze propeller.  A plaque explains that the memorial is dedicated to 'peace, conservation and a nuclear free planet'.

            After admiring the views of the Cavalli Islands—and thinking of Captain Cook enjoying a fish supper as good as the ones we had in Mangonui and Whangaroa—we returned to Tangaroa and headed south to the Bay of Islands.

Matauri Bay

The following information was correct at the time of writing

Walks

• ·         Tapotupoto Bay to Sandy Bay

www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/northland/places/te-paki-recreation-reserve/things-to-do/tracks/tapotupotu-bay-to-cape-reinga

3 hr return, easy: walking track

Access: from DOC campground

• ·         Matai Bay Headland Track

www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/northland/places/karikari-peninsula/things-to-do/maitai-bay-headland-track/

3.45 km return, 1.5 hr, tramping track (we found it easier to walk than this suggests)

Access: from DOC campground

• ·         Fig Tree Track

www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/northland/places/karikari-peninsula/things-to-do/fig-tree-track/

4.9 km loop, 3 hr, easy: walking track

Access: from DOC campground

• ·         St Paul's Rock Track

www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/northland/places/whangaroa-area/things-to-do/st-pauls-rock-track/

720 m one way, easy: walking track

Access: Old Hospital Rd, Whangaroa

Places to visit

• ·         Kā Uri Unearthed

229, SH 1, Awanui 

Hours: 7.30 am-5.30 pm daily

• ·         Gumdiggers Park

171, Heath Rd, RD1, Awanui 

www.gumdiggerspark.co.nz

Hours: 9.00 am-5.00 pm (summer) 10.00 am- 4.00 pm winter

Entry price: adult $12.50, child $6.00

• ·         Butler Point Whaling Museum

31, Marchant Rd, Hihi

www.butlerpoint.co.nz

hours by appointment: 09 406 0006 and info@whalingmuseumbutlerpoint.com