Landing on Tuhua/Mayor Island

DAWN: Sunrise on the beach at Opo. All pictures by Barry Foster

Tūhua is the emerging summit, the visible portion, of a 700m high 15km wide volcanic mountain located on the edge of the continental shelf about 26km off the coast. The island is about 1280 hectares. The most recent volcanic activity was 6300 years ago, and the island is now referred to as a dormant shield volcano.

The Tūhua Trust Board administers the island on behalf of the owners, Te Whānau a Tauwhao ki Tūhua, and visitors are welcome on the island from Labour Weekend to the end of February.

Peter Whitehead had investigated the options — accommodation on the island, facilities and boat transport and costs — and our group of 20 filled most of the accommodation and we were almost a full boatload.

The trip from the marina at Mount Maunganui to Tūhua is about 35 kilometres and with Tauranga Water Transport takes about one-and-a-half hours. We had fairly lumpy seas on the way over and were relieved that it was a smoother trip on our return.

The sheltered bay on the southeast corner, Opo or Southeast Bay, is the landing place. This is where the resident caretaker lives, and there are cabins and tent sites for visitors. Permission to land is needed from the trust board.

Tūhua is a wildlife refuge and care must be taken to prevent any pest plants and animals from reaching this pest-free island. All luggage needs to be checked in the quarantine shed on the island.

After jumping off the boat between waves on to the gravelly beach, our group was welcomed by the caretaker, Victoria Harimate.

There are several Māori hapu who have had a strong connection with Tūhua. Early on, the descendants of ngā waka hourua Tākitimu, Tainui and Te Arawa who settled nearby on the mainland frequented the island. Later the Ngāi Te Rangi people displaced these settler populations and established permanent and temporary settlements on the island. Permanent occupation has been challenging because of the lack of reliable fresh water, and of flat land for cultivation. The last Māori occupants on Tūhua, Te Whānau a Tauwhao, vacated the island in 1901. However, the hapu have maintained a strong link through frequent visits, and for decades continued to plant crops to provision fishing parties.

In 1953 the Tauranga Big Game Fishing Club was granted a lease at Opo where they developed facilities for recreational and commercial fishers who visited the island. The lease expired in 1990 and the Trust Board purchased all remaining facilities. In 1993, as a joint partnership between Tūhua Trust Board and the Department of Conservation, a marine reserve was established on the northern side of the island.

A special feature of the volcanic rocks on the island is the many bands of glassy black obsidian. The name Tūhua is derived from a similar island, Me’etia Island, in the traditional Maori homeland of Hawaiki, which was also a source of obsidian. Tūhua is also the Maori name for obsidian. Obsidian was a prized material for making tools before the introduction of iron, which meant that the island was very desirable and was fought over in many tribal battles. There are defensive pa sites around the coast. Early archaeological finds of Tūhua obsidian occur as far away as Tiwai Point in Southland and the Kermadec Islands in the far North. Te Whānau a Tauwhao as kaitiaki of Tūhua prohibit the unauthorised removal of obsidian.

There is a network of tracks on the island. Although the topography is rugged, short tracks allow people to walk to prominent points like Panui Peninsula; to nearby bays like Omapu and Otiora; and to high points with views, like Tutaretare (328m). Te Panui was a significant pa site but since it was left vacant in the early 1900s regeneration of the pōhutukawa forest has covered the historical sites.

We stayed on the island from Friday to Sunday, so we filled our part days with short walks and planned a longer walk on our full day, Saturday. For this day we split into two groups. The faster, fitter, group walked around the island. The track is mostly along the crater rim, but includes dropping into the crater via “Devil’s Staircase” and walking along the crater floor for some distance before climbing back to the crater rim to continue the island circumnavigation. The less ambitious group climbed up to Ruru Pass, then scrambled down to the crater floor, along a track beside the two crater lakes, Lake Te Paritu and Lake Aroarotamahine, then back to the crater rim via “Devil’s Staircase”.

During the day each group had several adventures, including overgrown tracks, gaps with no sign of a track, connecting tracks that are no longer there at all, swamps with head-high rushes, rockfalls, large fallen trees and very steep rocky/pumice drops which required careful negotiation, and we all ended up having quite a challenging but thoroughly enjoyable day!

Mostly our group spent time walking, but Peter Hair also snorkelled around the rocks at Opo. Many visitors to Tūhua will enjoy water and fishing activities in this beautiful bay. Being pest-free the island has a good variety and abundance of birdlife. We heard kiwi calling at night, and kākā were flying around the bay especially near dusk. There were also tui, bellbird, kereru, fantails, ruru, grey warbler, wax eyes, pied stilts and shags.

The cabin and camping facilities and cooking shelter are basic, but everything you need for a peaceful holiday is there, along with only very limited cellphone coverage. Lovely!