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Introduction | Travelling North | Whangarei | Bay of Islands | Puketi Forest | Cape Reinga | Waipoua |
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This kauri forest has been partially logged but one of the most magnificent trees in the north, Te Tangi o te Tui (the Lament of the Tui), is found here. This beautiful name was given to the tree by hunters of the Rahiri tribe who were hunting kereru. The forest, besides kauri, also has manuka and kanuka growing on the logged land where the forest is slowly regenerating with good examples of matai, Hall's totara and northern rata, rimu and miro. The lower and more swampy areas are dominated by kahikatea and maire-tawake, the swamp maire. The birds here include a very few kaka, kakariki, kereru and tui as well as grey warblers, fantails, pied tits and white-eyes and at night kiwi and morepork are sometimes heard. Puketi is also home to probably the rarest of our bushbirds. the kokako. Although the kokako is not particularly secretive, the best way to locate one is by listening for its distinctive flute-like calls which vary from area to area. I have often wondered how the kokako, transferred to Little Barrier from various parts of the North Island, surmount these language difficulties. It took a couple of visits to Puketi before I found that the best time to listen for these songs is just after dawn. Accordingly, one rather foggy, wintry morning a few years ago, a friend from Kawakawa and I visited Puketi. It took about an hour along a very wet and slippery trail for us to get into a good position on a ridgetop where we could clearly hear the birds. We had only just settled into position when a pair of paradise duck flew over and spent the next halfhour circling us squawking. Needless to say, by the time they had finished every other bird had long since decamped and for the only time in my life I sympathised with duck shooters. From Puketi it is an easy run north to Kaeo where brown teals still survive in what is today the largest colony outside Great Barrier Island. You can get there most directly from Puketi by taking the unsealed road through Waiare and this joins State Highway 10 just south of Kaeo. From Kaeo north on State Highway 10, the coast has mostly gulls and terns together with shags and New Zealand dotterels, but the road runs through gumland scrub so land birds are few. Both Doubtless Bay and Rangaunu Bay have Caspian and white-fronted tems, oystercatchers, wrybills, godwits turnstones and knots but these are usually pretty wary and difficult to see if you don’t have a boat. The mangrove creeks around here are occasionally frequented by royal spoonbills, along with the kotuku, or white heron, up from their breeding grounds in the South Island. These are most easily seen when they move out on to the mudflats to feed. |
rom Paihia it is an easy drive
of less than an hour to the Puketi Forest. The most direct route is via Waimate North, 21
kilometres west of Paihia, which will give you the Opportunity of seeing the country's
oldest oak tree, a not particularly impressive specimen, a short walk from the store at
Waimate North. From here continue on to State Highway 1, turn right at Waihou Valley and
this road will bring you to the Puketi Park headquarters.