Description
(North to South) |
As it leaves Kerikeri Inlet Road the trail ascends gradually through young pines for 2.5 kms to a road junction, but stays on Te Wairoa as it turns left downhill to low swamp and a fern- and tree-shaded passage another 4.5 km then turns right onto Te Puke Road. One km on from here, just before the junction with Skyline Road, you may see, if the grass is trimmed, Te Araroa’s first-ever track-opening plaque February 7th 1995. Then-Prime Minister, Jim Bolger whisked a yellow tarpaulin off a local volcanic stone embedded with lines from A. R.D. Fairburn’s poem ‘To a Friend in the Wilderness’ –
I could be happy, in blue and fortunate weather,
Roaming the country between you and the sun
South of here, the trail follows the same route as the path that once connected the now-vanished Maori village Okura with Waitangi. It passes Mt Bledisloe (105m) and a short diversion to the summit lookou is worthwhile. The large swathe of land on view from this low summit, includes the Waitangi Treaty Grounds below. The track descends past Mt Bledisoe before turning east (left) onto Haruru Falls Rd then Tau Henare Drive and past the Waitangi Golf Course, to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds. On February 6th 1840, New Zealand’s founding document was signed here between Lieutenant-Governor Hobson, representing of the British Crown and Maori chiefs. The manicured lawns and the solemn kaitiakitanga that surround the place indicate the importance now placed on the treaty. The Treaty House here was gifted to the nation in 1932 by the former Governor General, Lord Charles Bledisloe. As a British aristocrat, he perhaps saw more clearly than Pakeha New Zealanders then did what the Treaty of Waitangi meant to Maori, and the nation. Within two years he’d laid the foundations here for Waitangi’s Whare Runanga. That triumvirate of Maori meeting house, Pakeha treaty house, and flagstaff were seen by him, and are seen now in New Zealand’s more exalted moments, as symbolic of national unity. Go on down to the Waitangi Bridge.
Notes:
- There are many side roads in this forest so take care you are on the correct road.
- The track passes through the Waitangi Endowment Forest – part of New Zealand’s conservation estate, a further gift to the nation by Lord Bledisloe, in 1936.
- The Waitangi Treaty Grounds, are open daily from 9am - 7pm (summer season) and 9am - 5pm during the rest of the year for scenery, indoor shows, crafts, museum, guided tours and Maori cultural performances. Entry free for New Zealand residents (ID required).
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