fter leaving the Waioeka Gorge, a straight stretch of road of almost 10 kilometres heads towards Opotiki. Not surprisingly, this is called the Waioeka Straight and along it stand a number of fine exotic trees, many planted last century.

It was near Opotiki that I spent much of my early life, and it was here that I first heard stories of the former birdlife that once flourished in our bush. Ronny Campbell, a forester who was brought up at Pakihi, recalls meeting a group of 11 kokako moving single-file through the Pakihi bush in the late 1950s and believes he heard a 'laughing owl' in the same area some 10 years earlier. Having worked many years in the bush, he has a good knowledge of most of the forested country of the East Cape.

Some of the largest known specimens of kahikatea are found behind Pakihi at Te Waiti and there are extensive stands here of matal, tawa and rimu. Rather confusingly, bellbirds are called mockingbirds in this area; this is probably a corruption of their Maori name makomako; because mockingbirds they most certainly are not!

Seven kilometres west of Opotiki along the Woodlands Road is Hukutaia Domain. This magnificent 4.5 h of bush is centred around 'Taketakerau', a puriri tree sacred to the local Whakatohea people and one of New Zealand's oldest trees. Here, until the arrival of the Pakeha, the bones of distinguished dead were placed with appropriate ceremonies inside the tree's hollow trunk It is believed as many as 200 skeletons were once interred here.

From 1940, over a period of about 30 years, a keen amateur botanist, Norman Potts, planted in the Hukutaia Domain a large number of trees and shrubs he had collected along with other plants sent to him by fellow enthusiasts. Today there are trees, shrubs and grasses at Hukutaia from all parts of New Zealand with specimens from as far afield as the Chathams and the Kermadecs growing side by side.

At Kukumoa, about four kilometres west of Opotiki on State Highway 2, once stood the large, fortified Ngati Awa pa called Tawhitinui. The pa is of interest for the battle that was fought over a tame tui kept here. This bird belonged to a chief called Kahukino and was an especially gifted mimic which could recite many charms and spells. This excited the admiration of a Ngati-Ha visitor from Waiaua, who asked to be given the bird. Kahukino refused, so some time later the visitor returned to attack the pa and capture it. The defeated Tawhitinui people were forced to flee to the Gisbome area.

Tui are well known for their ability as mimics and one of the earliest commentators to remark on this was Ernst Dieffenbach who noted:

He has a soft fluting voice, which re-echoes in the forest from morning to the evening. His imitative faculty is remarkable. I heard one that barked like a dog, another that crowed like a cock, and a third that talked long phrases.

Some of these 'phrases' were long indeed. Elsdon Best, who spent many years among the Tuhoe people of the Urewera, detailed a number of the chants, or karakia, that tui were said to recite. He also wrote that only the male tui made a good talker and that attempting to teach the female to speak was a waste of time.