A walk through Whakatane's history

The eastern Bay of Plenty lies at the feet of Ka-pu-Terangi, one of the oldest known pa sites in New Zealand and a highlight of the Nga Tapuwae O Toi walkway.

To the west is Mt Maunganui, to the east are the rugged hills of East Cape, White Island smokes to seaward, and inland the Rangitaiki Plains stretch past Mt Edgecumbe to distant hills.

This was the dominion of the great chieftain Toi, a descendant of the legendary Maui and progenitor of the Ngati Awa.

A teacher is showing some of Toi's young descendants their ancestor's great fortress above the township of Whakatane. The youngsters explore the protective ditches across the ridge site and the teacher explains that until the plains were drained to become rich farmland they were a swamp peppered with islands from which different hapu would guard routes through the bog.

With a little imagination, you can visualise toa paddling from the north being spotted from the watch towers of Ka-pu-Terangi and the guards of the inland route being readied against war parties penetrating the swamp.

We had crossed a good chunk of Toi's inland domain in a Tramplite Walks van the previous day, but had done our share of foot-slogging over Bay of Plenty trails too.

Tramplite Walks is the creation of Maureen Baker, an Edgecumbe grandmother, and her husband, Len, a former logging contractor. At an age when most people think of slowing down, Baker went on a cycling tour of China. She was hooked; golf was forgotten. A trek in the Himalayas followed, along with pounding several of the South Island's major tracks.

Weekly outings with the local tramping club, Nga Tapuwae O Taneatua, made Baker appreciate the beauty and variety of walks in her own backyard. So when Len was made redundant, Baker hatched a plan to bring trekkers to the dominion of Toi.

It is a simple and wonderfully efficient operation and a tribute to a lot of hard work overcoming the bureaucratic obstacles.

First day on the Baker plan starts in the evening at their Edgecumbe home, where the downstairs area has been turned into comfortable, backpacker-style accommodation with a large lounge and modern kitchen area.

Dinner arrives and we dig into roast meat and veges and a cooked pudding before Maureen arrives to brief us on the next day's walk.

In the fridge is a range of goodies for breakfast and for a lunch of sandwiches.

Lake Okataina is perhaps the most unspoiled of the Rotorua lakes, and the drive from Edgecumbe past Lake Rotoma, Lake Rotehu and Lake Rotoiti to get there is one of the prettiest you will find anywhere.

Okataina, a lake without outlets, is special in another way: in 1921 the Ngati Tarawhai gifted 1200ha of the lake foreshore to the nation. Tracks, established as part of the New Zealand Walkways system, almost encircle the 32km of shoreline.

Our Tramplite walk starts at 9 am when Baker bids us goodbye at Tauranganui Bay, the beginning of the eastern walkway.

It is easy walking on a broad path that remains dry despite recent heavy rain. The shoreline is just a few metres below, glimpsed through a forest of rata crowned in red blossoms and decorated with clematis, pohutukawa hybrids, kamahi and rewarewa that is thick with nectar-laden flowers. We are surrounded by the scent of honeysuckle and the happy trilling of feeding tui.

There are some minor undulations but nothing too arduous before we reach the end of the lake and cross a small isthmus to Humphries Bay, on Lake Tarawera, where the sky clears on cue to reveal a handsome view of the mountain that in 1886 spewed ash over the entire region.

The track around Lake Tarawera goes through a forest thick with moss underfoot before climbing into a forest where the air hangs heavy with jasmine-like scent, and down through rocky canyons to where the lake empties into the Tarawera River.

If you are tired when you get here in mid-afternoon you can call on a cellphone for an early pick-up, but that would be to miss the spectacular walk along the Tarawera River to the Tarawera Falls.

This is an amazing river - narrow and fast running, a succession of rapids, waterfalls and deep pools, with just one pool where it is safe to cool off because elsewhere some of the water is sucked underground.

Eventually, there is virtually no river at all, just a foaming drain, until, as we see after climbing many metres down through a rocky canyon, the Tarawera River bursts out of the cliff face in a waterfall that beats any hydro dam spillway.

The Bakers' daughter, Lisa, collects us at the Falls carpark and takes us back to her place for tea and cake after our eight-hour walk. Her place used to be a doctor's house and the separate surgery has been converted into a comfortable hostel. Dinner is another wholesome meal.

Next morning Lisa takes us to Ohope and the beginning of the Nga Tapuwae O Toi (in the footsteps of Toi) walkway, a 16km, seven-hour round trip that captures the essence of the region with historic pa sites, coastal views, pohutukawa forests and rural vistas.

But this is an easy day for us because we are walking only half the journey, stopping at Whakatane for the night in a Tramplite Walks cottage close to the centre of town.

We have a receipt for dinner at the nearby Gamefish Club and our luggage is waiting for us at the cottage.

You could start at Whakatane and do the Nga Tapuwae O Toi walk in a day, leaving day three for, perhaps, a visit to White Island. But breaking the walk in two allows time to ponder the wonders of Toi's remarkable pa site, and linger for lunch on the sands of Otarawairere Bay, where Maureen Baker joins us for the foreshore stroll back to Ohope, her van, and a ride back to our cars in Edgecumbe.

It has been a thoroughly enjoyable and impressive three days, made more so by the organisation and enterprise of the Baker family. It just shows what a cycle tour in China can lead to.

* Tramplite Walks, ph (07) 304 9893, e-mail maureen.baker@wave.co.nz

Costs: $260 a person including all meals, accommodation and transport for groups of up to four people; $240 a person for groups of up to 10. Season: October 1 to June 30.

* colinmoore@xtra.co.nz

Tramplite Walks