Hakarimata Range

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Range of hills in Waikato, New Zealand

title: "Hakarimata Range" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["mountain-ranges-of-waikato", "waikato-district"] description: "Range of hills in Waikato, New Zealand" topic_path: "general/mountain-ranges-of-waikato" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakarimata_Range" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Range of hills in Waikato, New Zealand ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox mountain"]

FieldValue
nameHakarimata Range
photoHakarimata summit tower.jpg
photo_captionHakarimata summit tower
locationWaikato, New Zealand
elevation_m374
coordinates
mapNew Zealand
::

| name = Hakarimata Range | photo = Hakarimata summit tower.jpg | photo_caption = Hakarimata summit tower | location = Waikato, New Zealand | elevation_m = 374 | elevation_ref = | prominence = | range = | coordinates = | topo = | first_ascent = | easiest_route = | map = New Zealand ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Hakarimata2.jpg" caption="The Hakarimata range is visible in the background, with the Waikato River passing through Ngāruawāhia in the foreground."] ::

Hakarimata Range is a range of hills on the western edge of Ngāruawāhia township, in the Waikato region of New Zealand, overlooking the confluence of the Waikato and Waipā Rivers. The Hakarimata Range is separated from the Taupiri Range by the Taupiri Gorge, through which the Waikato River flows.

After the invasion of the Waikato, parts of the Hakarimatas were confiscated in 1864. 1850 ha of native forest on the range are protected as a scenic reserve. A council supported community group, the Hakarimata Restoration Trust, created in 2001, is helping care for the range.

Location

Although now usually applied to the hills immediately west of Ngāruawāhia, maps such as Hochstetter's of 1859, the 1925 geology map and 1944 one inch map show 'Hakarimata Range' as extending south to what is now SH23. Similarly, old accounts describe the Whatawhata-Raglan road as passing over the Hakarimatas.

Name

Hakarimata's name derives from a 17th-century feast, when Ngāti Maniapoto joined the local Waikatos to celebrate the birth of a child. There was a mountain of raw forest foods; hence the name Hākari-kai-mata (uncooked food mountain), condensed to Hakarimata.

Geology

Hakarimata is part of the roughly north - south Kawhia Syncline (Taupiri to the north, Kapamahunga to the south), though the Hakarimata Anticline is at about a 30° angle to the rest of the syncline, probably due to strike slip movement along the Waipa Fault, Late Triassic Newcastle Group, sandstones, siltstones and greywacke have been folded, faulted and covered by other sedimentary rocks to form the Hakarimatas.

Flora and fauna

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Pukatea_on_Hakarimata.jpg" caption="Pukatea beside the track between the summit and Rail Trail"] ::

Plants

Hakarimata is the largest remnant of broadleaf-podocarp lowland forest that once dominated the Waikato. It is near the southern limit of kauri forest and northern limit of beech forest, with plants and animals of all three forest types. Occasional large rata and rimu stand above the canopy of tawa, kohekohe, hinau, rewarewa, mangeao and pukatea. There are also some miro, Hall's totara and tanekaha. The reserve also contains several threatened plants including Alseuosmia quercifolia, or topara, which is strongly scented in spring.

Animals

Tūī, kererū, pīwakawaka, pīpīwharauroa, kārearea, pekapeka, copper skink, Auckland green gecko and peripatus are among the species in the bush. 16 species of native fish include short and longfinned eels and banded, short-jaw and giant, kōkopu. In 1995/96, to connect the Hakarimata tree canopy with the Waikato River, and thus encourage indigenous fish, three Waikato tributaries had 12 km of fences, 12 stock-water troughs, 5 bridges, and over 10,000 trees and shrubs added. By 2003, fish had increased from 63 to 80 fish per 150 m of stream and a new species, lamprey, was found.

Pests

Since the land was reserved (from 1905 onwards), the fringe areas and lower slopes have slowly regenerated after suffering light logging, fires, pigs, goats, possums, cats, hedgehogs, rats, mice, stoats, weasels and ferrets, with occasional deer and wallaby. Goats, possum and rats are controlled, with possum self-resetting traps trialled in 2011. About 200 ha of privately owned forest adjoin the reserve, some of which is protected by covenant. Kauri dieback disease is not present, so a boot cleaning station was put at the Huntly end in 2015.

Fire is also a threat. In 2017 an area of 600 by 300m on a ridge beside the quarry was burnt.

Quarry

The large quarry at 181 Waingaro Road, Ngāruawāhia, opened in a quarry reserve in 1948 and now goes well below sea-level. It was bought by Brian Perry Ltd in the 1980s and sold to Fulton Hogan in 2016. An extension which would have doubled the size of the quarry wasn't permitted in 2008. It would have taken native trees estimated to be 800 years old. The quarry then employed 13 and supplied about 35% of the area's needs. Environment Waikato granted Perry Aggregates resource consents in 2009, following which bait stations were put in the area in 2011 and the quarry was given Mimico Environmental Awards for that and, in 2018, for extending native fish passage.

Tracks

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Tomokanga_at_Ngāruawāhia.jpg" caption="Tomokanga at entrance to Waterworks Walk and Summit Track"] ::

The range has been used for recreational rambling since at least 1892.

There are two main walkways through the range, allowing excellent views of the Waikato Plains below. The main one is Hakarimata Walkway (12 km, 7 hr 30 min) along the ridge from Parker Road at the northern end to the Hakarimata Rail Trail (off Waingaro Rd) at the south.

Te Araroa follows that walkway to the summit, where a viewing tower offers vistas towards the coast, across the Waikato Basin and to Ruapehu on a clear day. Te Aroroa drops from the summit by the other main walkway, Hakarimata Summit Track (2 km, 3 hr return, 335 metres on 1349 steps), to Brownlee Avenue in Ngāruawāhia. The steps had 140,000 visits in 2016, compared to 5000 in 2011, shortly after they opened. The remainder of the track south to Hakarimata Rail Trail (3.5 km, 2 hr) can be linked by a 1.8 km walk along Waingaro Road back to Brownlee Ave.

There are several shorter walks using parts of the Hakarimata Walkway and/or the Summit Track:-

  • At the northern end, Kauri Loop Track (3 km, 2 hr return for full loop; 40 min to kauri grove) from Parker Road car park starts with a long flight of steps to one of the largest kauris in Waikato, 7 m girth and 36.7 m high, estimated to be over a thousand years old. The Southern Lookout has views of Huntly and the north Waikato lakes, Hamilton and Tongariro on a clear day.
  • In the middle, Waterworks Walk (1 km, 1 hr return) from Brownlee Avenue runs beside Mangarata Stream to the 1922 reservoir, once Ngāruawāhia's water supply. In November 2016 a Tomokanga (archway) was added near the beginning of the walk.
  • At the southern end, Hakarimata Rail Trail (1.5 km, 30 min) follows the former Glen Massey railway. A short extension leads to the Cascades.

Gallery

File:Cascades on Hakarimata.jpg|Cascades at the foot of the ascent to the summit from the south File:Mangarata Stream waterfall, Hakarimata.jpg|Mangarata Stream waterfall, just above the reservoir File:Waikato basin from Hakarimata Summit.jpg|Ngāruawāhia, Waikato basin and Kaimais from Hakarimata Summit File:Steps on Summit Track, Hakarimata.jpg|Some of the 1349 steps on the Summit Track File:Mangarata Dam, Ngaruawahia Waterworks.jpg|Mangarata Dam spillway. Parataniwha is common in the valleys. File:Hakarimata kauri tree.jpg|The platform is to protect the big tree from kauri dieback File:Waikato River from Hakarimata.jpg|Huntly and Waikato River from Northern Lookout

References

References

  1. "Ngaruawahia residents riled at columnist's 'town is rotting' comments". [[Stuff (website).
  2. (1 Feb 1865). "CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT AND THE SUPERINTENDENT RESPECTING THE SETTLEMENT OF THE CONFISCATED TERRITORY. NEW ZEALANDER".
  3. (April 2013). "Hakarimata Tracks".
  4. (27 Sep 2016). "Agenda for a meeting of the Strategy & Finance Committee".
  5. "Possum operation planned for Hakarimata".
  6. "HAKARIMATA RANGE, Waikato".
  7. "The southern part of the Province of Auckland showing the routes and surveys by Ferdinand von Hochstetter, 1859".
  8. (1925). "Geological map of Newcastle survey district /drawn by G.E. Harris.".
  9. "Sheet N056".
  10. (12 April 1930). "NEW ZEALAND HERALD, WESTERN COASTLANDS. AN OLD COACH JOURNEY. MODERN ROADS FOLLOW.".
  11. (24 Sep 1921). "NGARUAWAHIA. NEW ZEALAND HERALD".
  12. F. Spinardi V. G. Moon, A. Pittari, W. P. de Lange. (Nov 2018). "How tectonic geomorphology can be used to find a hidden fault zone: A case study of the Te Tatua o Wairere Fault Zone, New Zealand.".
  13. Edbrooke, S. W.. (2005). "Geology of the Waikato area 1:250 000 geological map 4".
  14. "Technical Report 2017/36 Significant natural areas of the Waikato District: terrestrial and wetland ecosystems".
  15. (2003-12-01). "Does stream restoration work?".
  16. "New possum traps enter Phase II of DOC testing".
  17. "Fighting kauri dieback in the Waikato".
  18. (18 January 2017). "Operations cease at Ngaruawahia bush fire".
  19. (8 March 2017). "Submission to Proposed Plan Change 1 Fulton Hogan Limited".
  20. (23 Apr 1923). "NGARUAWAHIA'S WATER, NEW ZEALAND HERALD".
  21. (2005-04-29). "HUNTLY & NGARUAWAHIA FIELD TRIP A BIG SUCCESS".
  22. "History - Perry Investment Management Ltd".
  23. "Perry Resources".
  24. (2016-05-04). "Fulton Hogan welcomes Waikato Quarries employees". Fulton Hogan.
  25. (18 Feb 2009). "Concerns over Ngaruawahia quarry plans".
  26. "Waingaro Road Quarry 2008 Consent Compliance Plan".
  27. "IntraMaps".
  28. (17 Jul 2007). "Environment Waikato approves Ngaruawahia quarry consents".
  29. (31 May 2011). "Native birds get boost as pests targeted – The Waikato Independent".
  30. (2011-07-12). "2011 AQA Mimico Environmental Award".
  31. "2018 MIMICO Environmental Award Winners".
  32. (10 Nov 1892). "The Freetrader left Hamilton WAIKATO TIMES".
  33. "Hakarimata Walkway".
  34. (23 November 2016). "Hakarimata steps lead the way for small-town New Zealand growth".
  35. "The New Zealand Tree Register".
  36. "Tomokanga unveiled at base of Hakarimata Track".

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