Motor homes and caravans at Awaroa (Five Mile Bay) in June 2020 before a rāhui came into effect and ended all public camping. Photo / NZME
Motor homes and caravans at Awaroa (Five Mile Bay) in June 2020 before a rāhui came into effect and ended all public camping. Photo / NZME
On Monday, a notice preventing freedom camping was removed from Awaroa (Five Mile Bay).
The removal of the notice, originally issued by the Department of Conservation in December 2012, was requested by Te Kotahitanga o Ngāti Tūwharetoa, the landowners and administrators, who are acting on behalf of the hapū collective.
The notice is no longer required because a rāhui preventing all public camping was put in place on June 12, 2020.
Awaroa was a freedom camping hotspot before the Covid-19 pandemic hit, with up to 100 self-contained campervans lined up each night on a less than two-hectare idyllic beachfront spot, just south of Taupō.
A Taupō District Council freedom camping bylaw passed in 2017 resulted in self-contained vehicles being concentrated in Hipapatua (Reid's Farm) and Awaroa (Five Mile Bay).
The following year, a large chunk of Five Mile Bay Recreation Reserve was given back to the iwi as part of the cultural redress in the Ngāti Tūwahretoa Claims Settlement Act 2018.
The legal vehicle receiving the settlement, on behalf of the six hapū, is Te Kotahitanga o Ngāti Tūwharetoa who are in the process of facilitating transfer to the hapū collective.
Speaking to the Taupō & Tūrangi Weekender in June 2020, Te Kotahitanga o Ngāti Tūwharetoa spokesperson Te Ngaehe Wanikau said the council's Freedom Camping Bylaw coming into effect just one year before settlement was not helpful to the iwi going forward in a post-settlement environment.
In March last year, Te Kotahitanga o Ngāti Tūwharetoa closed the freedom camping area and in June notified the interim administrators of Awaroa, the Department of Conservation, that a rāhui was being placed over the freedom camping area and that the Iwi were resuming management responsibility for much of Five Mile Bay Recreation Reserve.
The land will retain the recreation reserve or scenic reserve status (administered by the Department of Conservation) but in time will be transferred to fee simple title to hapū.
Te Kotahitanga o Ngāti Tūwharetoa spokesperson Te Ngaehe Wanikau. Photo / Rachel Canning
Awaroa borders other land administered by the Department of Conservation and by July 2020 there was widespread unease expressed by the public who had wandered at large over the entire area for decades and were confused about being redirected by hapū who were intent upon providing education about the Awaroa boundaries set down in the Ngāti Tūwahretoa Claims Settlement Act 2018.
In late June 2020, Te Kotahitanga o Ngāti Tūwharetoa spokesperson Merehira Savage said they were keen to eliminate the tension between hapū and the public at Awaroa.
A meeting was held with Taupō Police, the Department of Conservation, and Taupō District Council to work out a way forward to manage public access.
Gates were constructed to close off the only vehicle access point from State Highway 1, and a fence was constructed along a paper road (Tawhaa Rd) to separate the existing Taupō District Council administered lakefront reserve from the Five Mile Bay Recreation Reserve.
Last week the Department of Conservation said as they are the governing body it was up to them to remove notices they issue. Te Kotahitanga o Ngāti Tūwharetoa passed on request for comment to the hapū collective, however no response has been received.
