The Kapiti Coast
The narrow plain between the rugged and inhospitable Tararua Range and the Tasman breakers is known as the Kapiti Coast, effectively part of Wellington’s commuter belt, peppered with dormitory suburbs and golf courses. Still, it has sweeping beaches, a few minor points of interest and provides access to Kapiti Island, 5km offshore, a magnificent bush-covered sanctuary where birdlife thrives.
Kapiti Island
Kapiti Island is one of the best and most easily accessible island nature reserves in New Zealand, a 15min boat ride offshore from Paraparaumu Beach. This magical spot, just 10km by 2km, was once cleared for farmland but is again cloaked in bush and home to birdlife that has become rare or extinct on the mainland. Much of New Zealand’s bush is now virtually silent but here it trills to the sound of chirping birds – much as it did before the arrival of humans.
In 1824, famed Maori chief Te Rauparaha (original composer of the haka) captured the island from its first known Maori inhabitants and, with his people the Ngati Toa, used it as a base until his death in 1849. The island is considered extremely spiritual by Maori, and was designated a reserve in 1897.
Late January and February are the best months to visit, when the birdlife is at its most active, but at any time of the year you’re likely to see kaka (bush parrots that may alight on your head or shoulder), weka, kakariki (parakeets), whiteheads (bush canaries), tui, bellbirds, fantails, wood pigeons, robins and a handful of the 300 takahe that exist in the world.
The North End of the island (about a tenth of its total area) is also part of the Kapiti Nature Reserve, though it’s managed and accessed separately. The Okupe Lagoon has a colony of royal spoonbills, and there are plenty of rare forest birds and kiwi.
A wedge of sea between Kapiti Island and Paraparaumu has been designated a marine reserve, and its exceptionally clear waters make for great snorkelling around the rocks (bring your own gear, or rent it from the Kapiti Nature Lodge). You’ll need your own gear for scuba diving, which is particularly good to the west and north of the island.
Paraparaumu
The burgeoning dormitory community of PARAPARAUMU (aka “Paraparam”), 7km south of Waikanae and 45km from Wellington, is the Kapiti Coast’s largest settlement. It is primarily of interest as the only jumping-off point to Kapiti Island, which faces the long and sandy Paraparaumu Beach, 3km to the west along Kapiti Road. With safe swimming, accommodation and a few restaurants, this is the place to hang out.
Walking around Kapiti
The island can be explored on two fairly steep walking tracks, the Trig Track and the Wilkinson Track, which effectively form a loop by meeting near the island’s highest point, Tuteremoana (521m). There are spectacular views from the summit, though the widest variety of birdlife is found along the lower parts of the tracks – take your time, keep quiet and stop frequently (allow about 3hr for the round-trip).
Kawhia
Far-flung KAWHIA, 55km south of Raglan and a similar distance northwest of Otorohanga, slumbers on the northern side of Kawhia Harbour but wakes up when its population of around five hundred people is joined by over four thousand holidaying Kiwis flocking to Ocean Beach, where Te Puia Hot Springs bubble from beneath the black sand. At peak time, many come to witness the annual whaleboat races (Jan 1), when 11m-long, five-crew whaling boats dash across the bay. The only other site of note is the modest Kawhia Museum, Kaora St (Oct–March daily 11am–4pm; April–Nov Wed–Sun noon–3pm; free), covering the region’s rich Maori heritage with some good carved pieces, a fine modern flax and feather cloak and an 1880s-era kauri whaleboat.
The village centre is strung along Jervois Street, where there’s a petrol station and a handful of combined shop/cafés.
Brief history
Legends tell of the arrival of the Tainui in 1350, in their ancestral waka (canoe), and of how they found Kawhia Harbour so bountiful that they lived on its shores for three hundred years. Tribal battles over the rich fishing grounds eventually forced them inland, and in 1821, after constant attacks by the better-armed Waikato Maori, the Tainui chief, Te Rauparaha, finally led his people to the relative safety of Kapiti Island.
When the original waka arrived in Kawhia, it was tied to a pohutukawa tree, Tangi te Korowhiti, still growing on the shore on Kaora Street, near the junction with Moke Street, 800m west of the museum, and reached along the waterside footpath. The Tainui canoe is buried on a grassy knoll above the beautifully carved and painted meeting house of the Maketu Marae, further along Kaora Street at Karewa Beach, with Hani and Puna stones marking its stern and prow. The arrival of European settlers and missionaries in the 1830s made Kawhia prosperous as a gateway to the fertile King Country, though its fortunes declined in the early years of the twentieth century, owing to its unsuitability for deep-draught ships.
The King Country
The rural landscape inland from Kawhia and south of Hamilton is known as the King Country, because it was the refuge of King Tawhiao and members of the King Movement, after they were driven south during the New Zealand Wars. The area soon gained a reputation among Pakeha as a Maori stronghold renowned for difficult terrain and a welcome that meant few, if any, Europeans entered. However, the forest’s respite was short-lived: when peace was declared in 1881, loggers descended in droves.
Tourist interest focuses on Waitomo, a tiny village at the heart of a unique and dramatic landscape, honeycombed by limestone caves ethereally illuminated by glowworms, and overlaid by a geological wonderland of karst. North of Waitomo is the small dairy town of Otorohanga, with a kiwi house and Kiwiana displays. To the south of Waitomo, Te Kuiti provided sanctuary in the 1860s for Maori rebel Te Kooti, who reciprocated with a beautifully carved meeting house.
From Te Kuiti, SH4 runs south to Taumarunui, with access to the Whanganui River and the start of the Forgotten World Highway.
The King Movement
Before Europeans arrived, Maori loyalty was solely to their immediate family and tribe, but wrangles with acquisitive European settlers led many tribes to discard age-old feuds in favour of a common crusade against the Pakeha. Maori nationalism hardened in the face of blatantly unjust treatment and increasing pressure to “sell” land.
In 1856, the influential Otaki Maori sought a chief who might unite the disparate tribes against the Europeans, and in 1858 the Waikato, Taupo and other tribes, largely originating from the Tainui canoe, chose Te Wherowhero. Taking the title of Potatau I, the newly elected king established himself at Ngaruawahia – to this day the seat of the King Movement. The principal tenet of the movement was to resist the appropriation of Maori land and provide a basis for a degree of self-government. Whether out of a genuine misunderstanding of these aims or for reasons of economic expediency, the settlers interpreted the formation of the movement as an act of rebellion – despite the fact that Queen Victoria was included in the movement’s prayers – and tension heightened. The situation escalated into armed conflict later in 1858 when the Waitara Block near New Plymouth was confiscated from its Maori owners. The fighting spread throughout the central North Island: the King Movement won a notable victory at Gate Pa, in the Bay of Plenty, but was eventually overwhelmed at Te Ranga.
Seeing the wars as an opportunity to settle old scores, some Maori tribes sided with the British and, in a series of battles along the Waikato, forced the kingites further south, until a crushing blow was struck at Orakau in 1864. The king and his followers fled south of the Puniu River into an area that, by virtue of their presence, became known as the King Country.
There they remained, with barely any European contact, until 1881, when King Tawhiao, who had succeeded to the throne in 1860, made peace. Gradually the followers of the King Movement drifted back to Ngaruawahia. Although by no means supported by all Maori, the loose coalition of the contemporary King Movement plays an important role in the current reassessment of Maori–Pakeha relations, and the reigning Maori King is the recipient of state and royal visits.
Waitomo
Some 16km southwest of Otorohanga (8km west of SH3), WAITOMO is a diminutive village of under fifty inhabitants with an outsize reputation for incredible cave trips and magnificent karst features – streams that disappear down funnel-shaped sinkholes (Waitomo means “water entering shaft” in Maori), craggy limestone outcrops, fluted rocks, potholes and natural bridges caused by cave ceiling collapses. Below ground, seeping water has sculpted the rock into eerie and extraordinary shapes. The ongoing process of cave creation involves the interaction of rainwater and carbon dioxide from the air, which together form a weak acid. As more carbon dioxide is absorbed from the soil the acid grows stronger, dissolving the limestone and enlarging cracks and joints, eventually forming the varied caves you see today. Each year a further seventy cubic metres of limestone (about the size of a double-decker bus) is dissolved. Many of the caves are dazzlingly illuminated by glowworms.
The bulk of the caves are in (or visited from) Waitomo: for DIY limestone scenery sightseeing in any weather, head west to Mangapohue Natural Bridge and Piripiri Caves.
Brief history
Local chief Tane Tinorau introduced Waitomo’s underground passages to English surveyor Fred Mace, in 1887. The pair explored further, building a raft of flax stems and drifting along an underground stream, with candles their only source of light. Within a year, the enterprising Tane was guiding tourists to see the spectacle. The government took over in 1906 and it wasn’t until 1989 that the caves were returned to their Maori owners, who receive a percentage of all revenue generated and participate in the site’s management.
Glowworms
Glowworms (Arachnocampa luminosa) are found all over New Zealand, mostly in caves but also on overhanging banks in the bush where in dark and damp conditions you’ll often see the telltale bluey-green glow. A glowworm isn’t a worm at all, but the matchstick-sized larval stage of the fungus gnat (a relative of the mosquito), which attaches itself to the cave roof and produces around twenty or thirty mucus-and-silk threads or “fishing lines”, which hang down a few centimetres. Drawn by the highly efficient chemical light, midges and flying insects get ensnared in the threads and the glowworm draws in the line to eat them.
The six- to nine-month larval stage is the only time in the glowworm life cycle that it can eat, so it needs to store energy for the two-week pupal stage when it transforms into the adult gnat that has no mouthparts. The gnat only lives a couple of days, during which time the female has to frantically find a mate in the dark caves (the glow is a big help here) and lay her batch of a hundred or so eggs. After a two- to three-week incubation, they hatch into glowworms and the process begins anew.
Palmerston North and around
One of New Zealand’s largest landlocked cities, PALMERSTON NORTH (as opposed to Palmerston near Dunedin, and known as “Palmy”) is the thriving capital of the province of Manawatu, with around 80,000 residents, including a lively student population attending Massey University. After the arrival of the rail line in 1886, Palmerston North flourished, thanks to its pivotal position at the junction of road and rail routes, reflected today by some fine civic buildings, notably an excellent museum and gallery and a stunning library. Nonetheless, an unimpressed John Cleese famously claimed, “If you want to kill yourself but lack the courage, I think a visit to Palmerston North will do the trick.” The town responded by naming the local rubbish dump after him.
The city’s main cultural event, the Festival of Cultures (w foc.co.nz), takes place around The Square in March (22nd & 23rd in 2013) with a Friday-night lantern festival and a Saturday craft, food and music fair. Artists who recently played at WOMAD in New Plymouth often turn up on the bill.