Papamoa Hills Regional Park is a protected area in the Bay of Plenty Region, owned and managed by

Bay of Plenty Regional Council Bay of Plenty Regional Council is the administrative body responsible for overseeing regional land use, environmental management and civil defence in the Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand's North Island. It was founded as part of the 1989 New Ze ...

. It is located between

Papamoa , image = View_to_Mayor.jpg , caption1 = Looking towards Mayor Island down Domain Rd from the Papamoa Hills , city1 = Tauranga , ward = , council = Tauranga City Council , established = , coor ...

and

Te Puke Te Puke is a town located 18 kilometres southeast of Tauranga in the Western Bay of Plenty of New Zealand. It is particularly well-known for the cultivation of Kiwifruit. Te Puke is close to Tauranga, Mount Maunganui, Papamoa, and Maketu, whi ...

, on Poplar Lane off State Highway 2. It covers 135 hectares of native bush and open farmland. The landscape consists of steep hills, reaching to a summit of 224 metres with sweeping views of the Bay of Plenty coastline from the

Coromandel Peninsula The Coromandel Peninsula ( mi, Te Tara-O-Te-Ika-A-Māui) on the North Island of New Zealand extends north from the western end of the Bay of Plenty, forming a natural barrier protecting the Hauraki Gulf and the Firth of Thames in the we ...

East Cape East Cape is the easternmost point of the main islands of New Zealand. It is located at the northern end of the Gisborne District of New Zealand's North Island. It can also refer to the broader Gisborne cape. East Cape was originally named "C ...

. The area is a traditional home for where

’s original Māori inhabitants, including Waitaha, Ngā Pōtiki,

Ngāti Pūkenga Ngāti Pūkenga is a Māori iwi centred in Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand. Its rohe (tribal area) extends to Mayor Island / Tuhua and Waihi in the north, to the Kaimai Range in the west, south of Te Puke and to Maketu in th ...

and

Ngāti He Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, an ...

. Its traditional Māori name is ''Te Rae o Pāpāmoa'', translating roughly as "the forehead of the woman who is the hills".

Features

The park is an operational farm several gates, located behind a

Fulton Hogan Fulton Hogan is a large infrastructure construction, roadworks and aggregate supplier company in New Zealand, which is also active in wider Australasia. The company was founded by Julius Fulton and Robert Hogan in Dunedin in 1933. In 2013 the ...

quarry with regular truck traffic. There are several walking tracks, all requiring a reasonable level of fitness. These include a 45-minute track from Poplar Lane to the trig station at the summit. Camping, motorbikes, mountain bikes, horse trekking and fires are banned, and dogs are banned at all times. There is no drinking water supply available in the park. The park and carpark is open during daylight hours, with later closing times during winter.

History

There are over 2000 archaeological and cultural sites within the park, dating back to 1650, including Te Ihu o Ruarangi Pā and six other pā. The park was established in 2003 to protect these sites, becoming the first regional park outside the Auckland and Wellington regions. Over 50,000 native plants have been planted on the trees since then. Visitor numbers quadrupled between 2006 and 2016, when about 80,000 people were visiting the park every year. An additional 25 hectares were added to the park in 2017. In September 2020, the summit track was briefly closed for an upgrade. In December 2020, Bay of Plenty Regional Council approved a concept design for a more substantial upgrade in December 2020, including a new carpark, new amenities, a new entranceway, and signage to explain the site's history and cultural importance. Work was due to start in late 2021. Local iwi and hapū were consulted on and supported the plan.

References

{{Authority control Protected areas of the Bay of Plenty Region Western Bay of Plenty District

Features

History

See also

References