Fullers Northland

The Route The History

The 20 kilometre Waitangi-Kerikeri walk begins at the Treaty A plaque alongside the cairn marks the opening of the walk with For roughly one third of its
House, or, from the Kerikeri end, at Cobham Road, and takes a quote from A.R.D. Fairburn’s poem To a Friend in the Wilderness. length – from the Treaty
4-5 hours at average walking speed. From the Treaty House House to Te Araroa cairn –
follow Tau Henare Drive up past the golf course until it I could be happy, the Waitangi–Kerikeri walk
becomes Haruru Falls Road. Follow these roads 4.5 kilometres follows the route of an old
to the Mt Bledisloe summit (135m) and a sweeping view of in blue and fortunate weather, Maori trail. The original trail
Waitangi, the Bay of Islands, and the Kerikeri Inlet. A ceramic Roaming the country linked the Maori settlement
The stone store at Kerikeri – built 1832-35
map at the summit identifies the surrounding landscape. of Okura (now vanished, but
The walk then enters Waitangi Endowment Forest, part between you and the sun once sited about two kilometres south-west of the Okura River
of New Zealand’s conservation estate, originally gifted to the bridge on Kerikeri Inlet Road) with Waitangi.
nation by the then Governor General, Lord Bledisloe, in 1936. Follow Te Puke, then Te Wairoa forest roads. The route goes through The forest road on which Te Araroa cairn stands was
One kilometre into the forest, the trail reaches the Pinus radiata and macrocarpa forest and is pleasantly shaded for named for another Maori village – Te Puke – which once stood
boundary of UBS Timber Investors’ Waitangi Forest, managed much of its length with overhanging tree ferns and a pine needle beside volcanic cones north-east of the cairn.
by Rayonier New Zealand Limited. The road forks, but at this carpet underfoot. After 11.5 kilometres of forest walking, the trail The pen and ink drawing (below) by the well-known
point is signposted, with times and distances. A 2.5 metre cairn, emerges at Inlet Road. Kerikeri township is then four kilometres Victorian artist Augustus Earle shows the trail between Kerikeri
assembled from local volcanic rock by Kerikeri sculptor Chris distant, past flower gardens and orange orchards. and Waitangi as it existed in 1827. The purpose of the rahui
Booth, lies just beyond this boundary. (right) is not known, but perhaps marked a Maori boundary.
The Waitangi-Kerikeri walk (Research R. Brassey)
crosses commercial forest.
Please beware of forest
operations. UBS Timber
Investors’ Waitangi Forest,
and the adjoining Waitangi
Endowment Forest are kiwi
sanctuaries. Dogs are not
allowed. Please respect a
total ban on fire within the
forest, including smoking.

National Library of Australia

Cover: View from Mt Bledisloe by Andris Apse

TIMBER INVESTORS
 A four-hour walk between
Founding Link Te Araroa
New Zealand’s two most
At the southern end of A New Zealand-long foot trail was first proposed in the 1970s by the
the trail is the Treaty House, Federated Mountain Clubs. The New Zealand Walkway Commission, historic settlements.
and the ground where, on set up in 1976, had the long trail as an aim, but did not establish
6 February 1840, Maori a route before its dissolution in 1989. Te Araroa Trust, a private
chiefs and Queen Victoria’s organisation, was founded in 1994 to realise the goal.

7 Feb 1995: tramper Jim Bolger – also a Prime

representative, Captain
William Hobson, signed
In 1997, after consultation with district, city, and regional
councils, DOC and iwi, Te Araroa Trust produced an
Waitangi-Kerikeri
Minister – opens the Waitangi-Kerikeri walk as
the first link of a NZ-long trail. Joan Bolger and
Te Araroa Trust chairman Bob Harvey stand by.
the nation’s founding
agreement – the Treaty
indicative foot trail for the North Island.
The indicative trail links many
foot trail
of Waitangi. At the existing walkways,
northern end of the trail is Kerikeri, also steeped in history. but much of the
In 1819, the Reverend Samuel Marsden established New route awaits
Zealand’s first mission station in Kerikeri. The first New Zealand development.
soil turned by plough, and the first grass seed sown were here. The map
Both settlements prosper still – Kerikeri as an orchard and craft is not a
centre, and Waitangi as a potent symbol. The trail links the tramping guide.
two places, and opens views to one of New Zealand’s prettiest
seascapes – the Bay of Islands. The trail also connects, after
a brief walk through the townships either end, with two other
walkways – the Kerikeri-Rainbow Falls river walk in the north,
and the Paihia-Opua coastal track to the south. Because it links
historic places and links too with other trails on a north-south
alignment, the Waitangi-Kerikeri trail was named, at its
opening, as the founding link of Te Araroa.

Te Araroa Trust
At the opening, Maori and Pakeha
is supported by the
adorn Te Araroa’s cairn with greenery
Gil Hanly Hillary Commission,
Giltrap Motors,
Toshiba NZ,
The Tindall Foundation,
and BellSouth.
Published by Te Araroa
Trust Incorporated
PO Box 5106,
Wellesley St, Auckland.
This pamphlet
was funded by