Piritahi circuit walk

Introduction | Walkway guide and map | Additional information

Tea Tree line the way to
Te Wharau Bay

Walkway guide and map

Guide yourself around the track.

The Piritahi circuit walk takes approximately two hours, and begins and ends at Piritahi Marae at the end of Tahatai Road (5 minutes walk from Oneroa Village).

The track begins at the western end of Blackpool Beach by the abandoned scow boat. Follow the green and yellow markers up the track turning left up Church Bay Road. 25m up the road on the left there will be steps leading into a paddock.

Follow the markers through the reserve, crossing the road, turning left when you reach the coast and continuing on to the end of the track. Walk along Cable Bay Lane until you turn left onto Walter Frank Drive. On the right, there will be a track to Te Wharau Bay.

Halfway down the beach there will be a signpost up on the bank, follow this track back to Walter Frank Drive. Turn right and continue up the road until you return to Pio Rehutai Reserve, going back the way that you came to the marae at Blackpool.

The information below corresponds with the numbers on the map and tells you about each of these places.

1	Waiheke has always been a transient location; people have always come and gone from this beautiful island, making it difficult to discover its history. Piritahi Marae is unique as it is on council reserve land and it is not specifically dedicated to the local Tangata Whenua (people of the land). This young Marae is community focused as a meeting place for all races and cultures to gather. A community described as "Nga Hau e Wha", from the four winds. Please respect Maori protocol by not entering the Marae unless you have been officially welcomed onto the grounds. This hikoi (walk) is a journey to remember the story of the whenua (land) over the past 180 years. It weaves a story about the people of the past, present and future.
2	In the 1830s, many of the Ngati Paoa tribe (Tangata Whenua) returned to Waiheke Island after almost 10 years of exile and captivity. Chief William Hoete established his village here at Huruhi (Blackpool). The stream close by was named Piritahi, meaning 'coming together as one'. It was to symbolise the peaceful joining of two tribes through marriage in 1833. In 1869 the remaining Maori in Te Huruhi joined together in an effort to protect the land from subdivision and sale. It became a native reserve known as Greater Te Huruhi. It was to be the last remaining land on Waiheke to have original Ngati Paoa ownership. For 150 years, this land was successfully farmed and cultivated by Maori families.
3	Imagine the view from this hill in the 1800s. The narrow neck of land from Blackpool to Oneroa was covered in groves of peach trees and cultivated vegetable gardens, and called Te Huruhi Proper. In 1869, Greater Te Huruhi included all the land you can see to the west of Matiatia and Church Bay - 2,100 acres. Sheep and cattle grazed the hillsides, and at each of the three kainga (villages) there were vast gardens that provided some of the best produce for Auckland city. Boats would sail down the harbour laden with the fruits of the land to be sold at the markets. There are walk notes for the whole circumference of the "Greater" Te Huruhi area. The whole area can be walked in about 8 hours or walked in 2 hour segments. See Waiheke Island walkways for details on this and other walks.
4	A headstone honours Pio Rehutai Te Uri Karaka at the entrance to the reserve. Pio's family donated land at Hangaura (Church Bay) for the first church on Waiheke Island. He became the leading resident of Hangaura serving as one of the last Lay Preachers at the Anglican church in the 1890s. He was highly respected in the Te Huruhi area.
5	Church Bay (Hangaura) is the location of the first church on Waiheke Island. Chief Wiremu Hoete of Huruhi was an early convert to Christianity, eventually becoming a priest. His people built the first raupo chapel in 1833. In the 1880s, money for a wooden church was raised by the Greater Te Huruhi Maori, not a small feat for a small community! By 1882, the 3.5m by 5.5m Anglican Church, 250m back from the beach, was ready for services. Church Bay became a hub of business activity for Greater Te Huruhi by farming sheep and cultivating vegetables for the Auckland markets.
6	Quietly walk through this forest remnant. A fantail may show you the hundreds of karaka seedlings lining the forest floor, Banded Kokopu (a rare native fish) may splash in the shallow clear stream.
7	Entrance to Cable Bay and Park Point Coastal walk (2 hours return trip).
8	In the early 1900s a small pa was situated at Maunganui Point. All the children from the area went to the native school in Huruhi. After WWI, many of the 20 Maori in the area suffered greatly from the flu epidemic. The Parris Family living in the bay helped nurse the sick and bury the dead in the urupa (burial site) up the valley. Gradually the Maori families sold their land at Greater Te Huruhi and moved off the island, ending 150 years of Ngati Paoa occupation.
9	This private regenerating bush is protected forever by a QEII covenant.
10	In 1971 the land where the Piritahi Marae now sits was gifted "to the public of Waiheke for educational and Marae purposes". A condition of lease was that the marae become a meeting place for all races. Today Piritahi Marae is a pivotal part of the Waiheke community - open to all. Iit provides support through education, health services and community events.

You can download the maps of the walk and the island in PDF format below:

Abandoned scow, Blackpool Beach

To view PDFs download Acrobat Reader from the Adobe website. Further help on how to view PDFs.

Published April 2009