Kohi Point Trail

21st January 2020 - the Kohi Point Trail

On a mid-summer's day I had to go into Whakatāne for some grocery shopping, so I decided to make a day of it and included a morning walk on the 7km (one way) Kohi Point trail that runs around the coast between Whakatāne and Ohope.  The Kohi Point trail is also part of a longer loop trail known as the Ngā Tapuwae o Toi (The footsteps of Toi), so I discovered partly while walking the trail, and partly with some online research after I returned home; next time I will do the complete 16km loop instead of the there-and-back I did today.

The Kohi Point trail is estimated to take around 3 hours (one-way).  The sky was a little overcast when I arrived, however I do not recall any clouds once I began walking.

After parking at a small car park on Seaview Rd, just off Hillcrest Rd, and before starting the trail proper, I first walked up some steps I saw to the left, which lead me to an ancient pa site, Puketapu, that had high panoramic views from the North West to the North East, overlooking the Whakatāne River, Moutohora (Whale) Island, and the coastline Westward back to where I live, Matata.

At 7:45 a.m. returning to the car park, I then walked a short distance along Seaview Rd to the start of the Kohi Point trail.  From the road, the trail drops slightly, passing the back of a residential property before opening out into a clearing with a picnic table and then over a footbridge (with signage that dogs are not allowed beyond that point to help protect the endangered kiwi) which went over the only stream I remember encountering on the walk.

Almost immediately I encountered steps leading upward, and I realised how quick one can lose one's conditioning, having not walked much in the past 3 months.  A few years back, my mother gave me an electronic recording device (I still think of it as a dictaphone), which I have been using on my walks in the U.K. and also used today, however today I recorded 13 tracks when usually I would do 1 a day.  I don't think I have a great speaking voice, so it is unlikely I will make these recordings available, but this was useful in reminding me of highlights of the day.

Two trails headed off toward the right, both proclaiming to head to a pa.  I wandered quickly up the first one, to Kapu Te Rangi Historic Reserve, which was only seconds to ascend to a clearing that one could image as a historic pa site (although that could have been my imagination).  It was here I saw the only non-fauna wildlife of the morning, a rather large rabbit.  The path from that clearing continued on to the end of Kohi Point Lookout Rd, which was not where I was heading, so I retracted my steps back down to the trail to continue on.

Shortly after, I found myself walking along a ridge with reasonably steep drops down each side.  It was not daunting because I was still surrounded by native bush, which gives a sense of safety even when encountering steep slopes.  Eventually I came to a broad clear spot high above the Whakatāne River mouth and the coastline Westward, where I met a couple from Tauranga (and before that, Auckland) who I spent some time chatting to (about the state of education, real estate, and a Māori chieftain from Thames that attacked and ate other Māoris in Katikati, a place I spent my high school years).

A slightly strenuous climb after that brought me to the Taumata Kahawai pa site, where there was, what seemed very out of place for an ancient site, a mobile phone tower.  The site was high along a broad ridge, where an informative sign showed a map of what it was once like, including a garden area that, to me, seemed to be down a steep slope behind the pa.  It was quite interesting to imagine what life must have been like back then, high on a triangular peninsula that would have given the occupants quite a defensive position.

Descending from that advantageous location took me almost to the tip of Kohi Point, where I had a great view looking directly out toward Moutohora.

From there the trail rapidly descended South Eastward.  At this point I realised how loud the sound of cicadas were in the bush around me, somewhat masking the bell-like tones of birds nearby.

Somewhere along here I passed a woman going in the opposite direction with earphones in.  Personally, I do not understand why one would be listening to music when on a walking trail like this.  Don't get me wrong, I love my music, but only listen to it at home, or while in/on a vehicle.  Isn't part of the point of getting out in nature, to listen to the sounds of nature?

Eventually I dropped down to Otarawairere Beach, arriving at 9:30 a.m.  This beach is unreachable during high tides.  Luckily for me, today's low tide was at 10:53.  I would guess that had I arrived an hour or so earlier, I would have found the water too high to be able to continue, so access would likely be limited to about two and a half hours either side of low tide.  The first section of the beach was covered with water-scoured rock, that required some careful navigation, before opening out to a white sandy section.

 

Partway along the beach was another trail that left up into the bush, that would take one to the Otarawairere village.  A sign here mentioned that this location was where you could encounter the korora (little blue penguin), the world's smallest penguin.  Unfortunately today, it being both daylight and on what was slowly becoming a busy beach, there was no sign of them.

As I walked along the beach I saw a number of people arriving from another trail connection ahead, obviously having walked over from Ohope.  There was some interesting rocky formations at the end of the beach, so I took a photo, slightly disappointed that the image was marred by the silhouette of a lone fisher-person on the rocks.

As I climbed up out of the beach, the trail ran alongside some interesting rock formations, looking like the cliff-side had been worn by horizontal water, but for the life of me I could not imagine how that might have occurred.

A short ascend and descend took me to the Northwest end of Ohope Beach.  As I dislike walking through built-up areas, and my goal was to walk over to Ohope and then back, I stopped prior to reaching the first house.  The walk over had taken me 2 hours and 4 minutes.

I made better time on the return journey, as I did not stop to read signs, take pictures, or talk to people, arriving back at the car in an hour and 25 minutes.  I descended the steps down into town, that was the location of the World's first vertigraph, and spent a few more hours in Whakatāne doing some shopping, getting a library membership, checking out the statue of Moko the dolphin, and going to a matinee at the movie theatre.

Depending on tide times, I plan on doing the longer loop trail on one of my next grocery buying trips to Whakatāne.