Te Aroha: Mountain offering views from coast to coast

For a mountain whose name means love, Mt Te Aroha in the Waikato has endured many unkind attacks from miners, loggers, roadmakers and builders of broadcasting towers.

But that matters little to its admirers, who puff their way for two or three hours up a bush track 952m to the summit for a rich and well-deserved reward: coast-to-coast views of the widest part of the North Island with a turn of the head.

On a slowly clearing frosty morning the jewels of the East Cape, Mt Ruapehu, Mt Taranaki and Little Barrier Island float on a slick of mist. Other delights include the wealthy dairy lands of the Waikato and Waihou Valleys, the silver horseshoe of the Firth of Thames and frothy-fringed Bay of Plenty beaches with their outriders, Mayor and White Islands.

But Mt Te Aroha projects even farther, beaming images from around the world to Waikato and Bay of Plenty residents via a 122m television and communications tower.

Four hundred years before that icon of steel was built, the mountain was a window on the world for Maori. They climbed the summit track to look for camp fires of neighbours and travellers.

The pounding from thousands of determined feet over the years prompted a rebuilding of the track from the Te Aroha Domain five years ago, says Warren Geraghty, a Department of Conservation ranger for the Kaimai-Mamaku Forest Park.

The upgrade included an innovative aid for climbing steep, muddy slopes: sturdy steps or ladders formed by placing round posts on the ground fastened by fencing wire. "Kaimai floating steps," Mr Geraghty calls them.

Older trampers love them, he says, showing his pride at how his workplace for the past 23 years is becoming accessible to all, regardless of athletic ability.

Children as young as seven scramble excitedly to the summit, while other visitors are content with 50 minutes on a zig-zag track to Whakapipi Lookout at 349m.

Mountain bikers ride along a challenging lower-slopes path that gives a workout of 45 to 60 minutes and, soon, wheelchair wanderers will have a forest pathway designed for them.

An additional charm of this mountain is its opportunity for soothing relief in the commercial mineral pools in the domain.

Those who prefer to enjoy views from the summit without working up a sweat can take a tour bus from Te Aroha township which uses a private road for tower maintenance vehicles.

Mr Geraghty suggests staying two days at Te Aroha. On one day do the "loop walk" from the domain to the summit, returning on the northern slopes via the old workings of the Tui Mine, where lead was extracted until 1974.

On the other, walk the mountain's southern side, and the workings and steep tramlines of the Wairongomai Valley gold miners of 1880 to 1946.