• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

Kaimai tocoast AND SURROUNDINGAREAS FORESTPARK KAIMAI-MAMAKU andtramps Walks Key to symbols is on pages 11 and 12. Activity planner Page Karangahake Gorge • • • • • • • • 13 Waitawheta Valley • • • • • • • • 17 Te Aroha and Waiorongomai • • • • • • • 20-24 Katikati area • • • • • • • • • 25 Southern Kaimai and Mamaku Plateau • • • • • • • 33 The North South Track • • • • • • • 37 Orokawa Scenic Reserve • • • • 41 Otanewainuku Forest • • • • 43 Otawa Scenic Reserve • • 45 Kaituna wetland • • 46 1 Location guide and map index Welcome The areas covered in this booklet are significant to the iwi of Te Arawa, Tainui, Takitimu and Mataatua waka. To early Mäori inhabitants and later Europeans, the Kaimai mountain range formed a barrier between the Bay of Plenty and Waikato regions. Traversed by rough tramping routes and later by access tracks for the logging and gold mining industries, the Kaimai now feature over 360 km of walking and tramping tracks. The range was gazetted as a Conservation Park in 1975 and the Kaimai-Mamaku Forest Park now covers an area of approximately 37,000 hectares. Along with other reserves in the area, the park encompasses the remains of the unique natural heritage of this part of New Zealand. The Kaimai Heritage Trail, a series of walks and sites within the park, represents some of the best examples of 19th century New Zealand mining heritage. The view from Mount Te Aroha (walk 10 in this booklet). tiakina, häkinakinatia, whakauru protect enjoy be involved 4 CONTENTS Activity planner and location guide 1-3 Introduction Welcome 4 Kaimai Heritage Trail 5 Getting there 7 Safety information 7 Natural history 8 Historic heritage 10 Map symbols and track classifications 11 Historic pack-horse tracks and bush tramways are still visible in many places within the park, along with Northern Kaimai tracks building ruins and other relics from the gold mining and logging era. Karangahake Gorge 13 Waitawheta Valley 17 The Kaimai Heritage Trail helps to bring these stories to life in the following locations: Te Aroha 20 • Karangahake Gorge Wairongomai 23 • Waitawheta Valley Central Kaimai and Katikati area tracks 25 • Waiorongomai Valley Aongatete 31 Walks featuring historic sites are marked in this booklet using the Kaimai Heritage Trail logo. Southern Kaimai and Mamaku tracks 33 The North South Track 37 Orokawa Scenic Reserve 41 Otanewainuku Forest and Otawa Scenic Reserve 43 Kaituna wetland 46 Further information Huts and campsites 47 Permitted activities 49 Environmental care code 50 Useful contacts 51 The discovery of mining and logging remains makes for a References 52 memorable experience, and is a highlight of several walks in this booklet. 5 6 Getting there The Kaimai-Mamaku Forest Park stretches from Karangahake Gorge in the north, almost to Rotorua in the south. The park is bordered by State Highways 2, 26, 27, 29 and 36. The nearest towns are Paeroa, Waihi, Katikati, Tauranga, Matamata and Te Aroha. These are all serviced by regular buses, and Air New Zealand runs services to and from Tauranga airport. The other reserves in this booklet are all within easy driving distance of Tauranga. Safety Safety is your responsibility. Make sure your trip into the outdoors is memorable for the right reasons. Choose a trip suitable for the skills, knowledge and If you see any safety hazards in the park please report experience of your group - be realistic. A little bit of them to your nearest DOC office or call 0800 DOC HOT: planning and preparation will ensure you keep yourself (0800 362 468). safe and enjoy your trip into the outdoors. Check the weather forecast and be ready to change your Fire trip plans if necessary. New Zealand’s weather changes rapidly. It can be very cold at any time of the year, Fires are a hazard to any bush area. No fires may be lit in especially at altitude, and rivers can rise rapidly after the Kaimai-Mamaku Forest Park without a permit. Please heavy rain. Always be prepared for the worst conditions. report any fires immediately by calling 111. Take layers of clothing including a hooded raincoat, over-pants, hat and gloves, warm and fast drying tops, Natural history trousers and shorts, and thermal underwear made from wool or polypropylene. Wear sturdy walking shoes or The high northern part of the Kaimai range is comprised boots. of ancient volcanic rock which has been uplifted along the Hauraki fault line, its highest point being Mount Te Carry a map (available from DOC Tauranga) and a Aroha at 952m. The land has been tilted on an angle to compass. Carry a first aid kit and survival kit (whistle, form a steep scarp slope facing the Hauraki Plain to the cord, sharp knife, pencil and paper, survival sheet and west and a gentler slope down to the Tauranga basin firelighters). Take a in the east. The range is covered by a sheet of volcanic water bottle and plenty rock called ignimbrite. of high-energy foods. The Mamaku plateau to the south is a flat sheet of Remember to leave ignimbrite which erupted from the site of Lake Rotorua details of your trip 140,000 years ago. (return date and time, planned route, party member names and Flora and fauna vehicle details) with a responsible person, The area hosts a great range of vegetation from dense and don’t forget to low altitude forest to windblown scrub and grassland. check in with them The park marks the northern limit of kamahi, red beech when you return. and silver beech. It is the southern limit of the mighty kauri. This unusual combination of semi-coastal and Good planning and route-finding montane plant species makes the forest composition skills are often necessary. unique and highly significant. 7 8 The park is the natural Symptoms of kauri die back include yellowing of foliage, home of native birds loss of leaves, canopy thinning and dead branches. such as whitehead, Affected trees can also develop lesions that bleed resin, whio / blue duck, extending to the major roots and sometimes girdling the käkä, kökako, kiwi and trunk as a ‘collar rot’. PTA can kill trees and seedlings of kärearea / New Zealand all ages. falcon. More common Photo: DOC Keep to the defined park tracks at all times, and to the native birds such as tüï boardwalks around the giant trees themselves. Any and bellbirds are readily The endangered kökako. movement of soil around the roots of a tree has the seen and heard from within the park. Small remnant potential to spread the disease. populations of the endangered kiwi and kökako are found in the northern Mamaku. Small populations of Report sightings of diseased kauri to the Kauri Dieback the endangered Hochstetter’s frog are found scattered Response Team on 0800 NZ KAURI or visit throughout the northern half of the park. Both long and www.kauridieback.co.nz. short-tailed bats are present, along with the threatened striped skink and some rare invertebrates including the Mount Te Aroha stag beetle, plus snails such as Didymo Paraphanta busbii busbii (the kauri snail). Didymo is an introduced microscopic algae that has Introduced animal pests such as possums, goats, pigs, caused huge problems in New Zealand’s waterways deer, mustelids and rats threaten forest health and the in recent years. Fishing equipment, tramping boots, ongoing survival of native species. The Department swimming togs, kayaks and any other equipment that carries out pest control at key sites and encourages may have been in contact with water can accidently recreational hunting to assist with pest control. transfer didymo to new rivers and streams. Didymo has not yet been recorded Much of the vegetation in the park has been modified by in the North Island, human activity. In the late 1880s the gold mining industry however people need generated huge demand for timber. Kauri were extracted to Check, Clean, Dry from the Kaimai in large numbers for use in mine all their equipment construction and for fuel in gold extraction processes. every time they use a waterway. This Kauri die back will help prevent the further spread of this Kauri die back is a disease threatening the native kauri invasive species. tree. The disease agent is Phytophthora taxon Agathis (commonly known as PTA) which is a microscopic See www.biosecurity.govt.nz/didymo for more details. fungus-like plant pathogen that only affects kauri. This disease is a serious threat to our magnificent native kauri trees. Historic heritage PTA is believed to be a soil-borne species spread by soil Specks of gold were first found in the Wairoa River above and soil water movement, plant to plant transmission Kaimai Village in 1867, drawing prospecting parties to through underground root-to-root contact, and human the area, and mining soon began. A great number of and animal carriers. Make sure shoes and equipment mines and associated industry (such as the huge Victoria are clean of dirt before and after visiting areas of the Battery) were built and operated in the area, and gold forest where kauri grow. Clean your shoes and any other mining continues to this day at Waihi. The new industry equipment that comes into contact with soil after every caused a huge demand for timber, and kauri within the visit, especially if moving between bush areas. park were first taken around 1875. Felling of the park’s native trees stopped in the 1970s. 9 10 Map symbols Track classifications Walking times stated in this booklet and on park signs are only an estimate; please allow extra time for slower Campsite walkers or adverse weather conditions. Additional time Camping and tent sites within the park are free to use. should also be allowed for sightseeing and rest stops.

Load more

  28

Copy Link