More holiday reading… Last week we ventured west over the hill to Kakahi on TRM’s tiki tour to introduce two inmates to the other rivers available so that they had other options if a change was needed from the Taupo rivers. TRM have often taken fishos on this loop tour to include a couple of good easily accessed fishing spots on the W(h?)anganui River, and the Whakapapa River. They are always astounded at how many scenic fishing opportunities are available on a day’s drive from Turangi.
A compulsory visit on these trips always includes “Aladdin’s Cave” in Kakahi. Peter McIntyre, author of the book KAKAHI, accurately describes it as reminiscent of a scene from a Norman Rockwell painting. It is a nostalgic step back in time and always entertaining to discover some of the old grocery items and other labels on the shelves. ( i.e. My favourite – Ballroom powder priced at three and ninepence!) These hark back to the good old days when Kakahi was a functioning railway and timber town. Now it is more of a ghost town with a rural charm of its own – see TRM’s interesting old photos from previous memorial publications and the last post on Kakahi in June 2020…
The hero of Kakahi
We realise the vast masses up in Auckland and other major population centres may struggle to identify with the “Hero” status in a small town, way beyond the black stump in a place that only keen inquisitive trout anglers can identifty with. But Manu Lala means more to small-town New Zealand than all the so-called celebrities and politicians combined. So this TRM report on Kakahi includes two other local champions.
Manu took over the shop from his father over fifty years ago. It is the only general store remaining in the town.
Kakahi is well known to anglers on the access to the Whakapapa River via the cutting – described in McIntyre’s book – “The cutting is a reminder of a futile attempt to build a railway from Kakahi to Taupo for the timber trade back in the 1920’s.”. He goes on to say “The cutting is deep with vertical pumice banks lined with ferns, making an eerie half-light inside, even on the brightest days. At night myriads of glow-worms make the walls look like a city seen from a plane at night. It is one of the star after-dinner entertainments for our visitors.”
The cutting leads to the Whakapapa River where early attempts at bridges failed – swept away during floods. An image of one of the early bridges is on the book cover above.
Even more fascinating comment in his book is about the history of Kakahi going back to the fifteenth century tribal wars. He writes the original people were the Ngati-Hotu – claimed to be a prehistoric or pre-Maori people. Maori tradition says that they were fair-skinned with reddish golden hair. In describing them the great Maori chief Te Heu Heu Tukino used the words kiriwhero meaning reddish skin, and urukehu, meaning reddish-golden hair. (Just in case they qualify for any Treaty claims I suspect I might be Ngati-Hotu?)
This red heads story is also confirmed in the above life story of Trevor Hosking who was best known as the official archeologist for MOW (Ministry of Works) during the major excavations for the Tongariro Power Project. This book refers to the early inhabitants at Kakahi as the Ngati Hotu – which translates as fairy folk. They were also white-skinned with black or reddish hair and dark eyes. He found proof that pre-Polynesian lived in the Taupo region well before 945AD. i.e. before the Maori arrived in NZ. Fascinating stuff…
For more interesting trout fishing history of Kakahi – located at the confluence of the Whakapapa and W(h?)anganui Rivers – is also illustrated in other highly recommended (?) fishing books such as “The Flies in my Hat” (1967) by Greg Kelly and “you should’ve been here on Thursday” (1961) and “try again Friday” (1963) by E.G.Webber. They were all friends and neighbours at Kakahi in the 1960’s.
The following historic photos taken from old publications celebrating Kakahi are self explanatory:
