Moutohorā is home to a kekeno/NZ fur seal colony. Photo / Supplied
Moutohorā is home to a kekeno/NZ fur seal colony. Photo / Supplied
Julia Gabel is captivated by the landscape and seascape of Whakatāne
There's a roar of white noise as the wild east coast ocean clashes with the calm, strong current of the Whakatāne estuary.
It's my first visit to this spot and I spend a couple of hours watching the waves explode as they hit thick slabs of rock at the estuary entrance.
It's a Saturday afternoon, a clear day with the type of sun that burns your skin subtly and slowly. Locals sit in their cars eating fish and chips while looking out to sea, fishermen bait hooks on the rocks and people walk their dogs. Time moves slowly.
Turuturu Rock in Whakatāne, Moutohorā / Whale Island in the distance. Photo / Julia Gabel
After a couple of hours by the water, entranced by the vastness and beauty of this place, I walk back to my accommodation along the path that hugs the estuary.
I pass people playing on the grass in front of a marae and kids draped over swings and ladders at a playground.
That night, I drive down a dirt road in the pitch dark until I see five or six little lights gathered in a dead end. Strangers with head torches and tramping boots are waiting for me.
We're all here for a night walk with the Whakatāne Kiwi Trust, a group made up of around 100 volunteers who spend thousands of hours managing pests and monitoring kiwi.
Volunteers from Whakatāne Kiwi Trust run night walks in the forest surrounding Whakatāne. Photo / Supplied
In 1999, eight adult kiwi were found at Ōhope Scenic Reserve; today there are more than 350.
We spend hours scouring part of the bush that makes up the Ngā Tapuwae o Toi (Footprints of Toi) track, in an area the was the heart of chief Toi's dominion and home to one of the oldest known pā sites in the country, Kapu-te-Rangi.
The guides shine their blue lights on tree trunks and forest canopies, turning the grey mosses electric blue and fluorescent yellow, bringing the forest to life in a way I've never seen before.
We comb through the forest floor looking for minuscule mushrooms smaller than a fingernail, native spiders, glow worms and harlequin wētā.
Weta make a regular appearance during the Whakatāne Kiwi Trust night walks. Photo / Supplied
The forest is a different world at night. My senses are alert, my nose filled with the earthy smell of the damp layers of leaves and foliage.
We all emerge from the forest buzzing with curiosity and appreciation for the hard mahi the volunteers do.
The next day I'm off for a guided tour of Moutohorā / Whale Island with White Island Tours.
Moutohorā/Whale Island, a pest-free sanctuary home to rare and endangered plants, birds, and reptiles. Photo / Supplied
The boat slaps the water as it bounces over big waves, and my stomach drops.
Anyone who has been in the back of the car as their parents sped over the Kawakawa speed bumps knows the feeling I'm talking about.
Further away from the shore, the ocean is calm, its surface like dark green velvet rippling in the wind.
Canopies of thin trees that have bowed over the track and intertwined their branches so we can hardly see the sky anymore.
As we crunch twigs and leaves underfoot, our guide hushes us to stay still. She crouches down and points to a log where a tuatara stands, frozen, a rare sight during the day.
We continue up through the bush almost to the top of the island; higher still, a pā looms above us and grand pōhutukawa, hundreds of years old, thrive.
Straight ahead of us, Whakaari/White Island exhales white plumes into the sky and it's hard to keep the events of December 9, 2019 out of mind.
I can't imagine what it would've been like here on the day the volcano erupted: it impacted on many in New Zealand and overseas, but none more than the whānau of Whakatāne and those who lost their lives. Thousands of hearts sank that day.
We track back down the other side of the island to a geothermal valley filled with kānuka, where trails of steam curl out of the land and sulphate has turned the rocks yellow.
The view of Whakaari / White Island from Moutohorā. Photo / Supplied
Before we head back, the skipper circumnavigates the island. At the base of its east side is a fortress of huge spire-like rocks, making it impenetrable to anyone below. They look like the type of formations that could've inspired architects to design cathedrals.
I'm left in awe of the land. Speechless. And feeling incredibly lucky I got to see this corner of Aotearoa.
CHECKLIST: WHAKATĀNE
DETAILSFor more information on things to see and do in the region, go to whaktane.com
