Hidden in the mist-shrouded ranges of the Tararua Forest Park lies one of its most enduring mysteries: the sacred, hidden lake known as Hapuakorari. Steeped in Māori legend, sought after by 19th-century explorers, Hapuakorari is more than just a spot on a map—it can also be a target for some good fun adventures. To test our off-track navigation and map-and-compass abilities, and with a bit of history hunting, our group set off into the untracked Tararua wilderness to see if we could find this elusive piece of New Zealand lore. Here is how we navigated the dense bush and solved the mystery for ourselves.
It is 10 years to the day that a WTMC navigation trip set out to find the mysterious Hapuakorari*—*which they did. The story was written by Holga but it was never published in the newsletter. So now a decade later here it is….
The History of Hapuakorari
In Māori mythology Hapuakorari was a sacred lake in the Tararua, hidden in dense forest with huge rimu trees and where te hokioi (Haast’s Eagle), lived in the company of kōtuku, huia, kererū and kākā. The lake was a retreat of the Tohunga who would go there to commune with the atua and gather the rare plants that grew there for medicinal purposes.
During the 19th century there were the first Pakeha attempts to find the lake—since the lake was sacred the Tohunga would not disclose its location. The government even offered a £200 reward to the discoverers. In 1885 Charles Bannister and his two Māori friends Mundy and Akitu set out on an expedition to find the lake—but they were unsuccessful.
One of the difficulties the explorers faced was deciding in what area of the Tararuas the lake could be. Māori on the eastern side of the Tararua Range thought the lake lay near the headwaters of the Ruamahanga River, while Māori on the western side thought it was somewhere between the headwaters of the Otaki and Ōhau Rivers.
In 1898 Duckett and Harris found a small lake hidden in dense bush near Ruamahanga Forks. This lake had a small island which fitted perfectly the description given by the eastern Māori, and the mystery of Hapuakorari seemed to be solved.
But in 1920 a party of pakeha explorers found what appeared to be the remains of a small lake on Oriwa Ridge, and although mostly drained it was located where the western Māori had described it, south of Waiopehu close to Oriwa and overlooking the Horowhenua (where there is now a nice campsite). It is now thought that there is a fault line under the ridge that has moved in historic times opening a fissure that remains today and that there would almost certainly have once been a lake there but is now drained.
So, it seems the lake had a dual personality simply because there were actually two lakes that were both known as Hapuakorari. But there are differences—the eastern lake has an island the western doesn’t. More importantly the eastern lake has large flax bushes and the western doesn’t. Since Hapuakorari means Hapua (lake/ pond), Korari (large flax bushes), then the eastern lake would seem to be the real Hapuakorari.
Anyway—the two histories can be equally accepted and the stories attributed to the relevant lake.
Bannister’s diary of his attempt to find the Lake still exists in the National Library Archives and makes for fascinating reading. He started from the Waingawa Valley with his two friends carrying between them a rifle, two billies, two pounds of rice, a dozen shallots, and some home-made scones.
They travelled over Baldy (called Baldhead then) to South King and then to Dorset Creek where they tried panning for gold. Then to the Waiohine River and up the Park Valley to Pukematawai arriving after five days travel.
The next day they headed to Arete (named Hanga Ohai Tangata then) only to find stormy clouds heading their way over Dundas. The Māori guide Atiku was certain (correctly) that the lake was not too far away but with almost no food remaining and bad weather approaching they turned around and headed towards Girdlestone before dropping down a spur (probably Pinnacle Spur) to the Waingawa River and camping at a major junction (Arete Forks).
They shot a blue duck (whio) here but found it almost inedible.
Then on up Table Ridge and down to Mitre Flats via the spur next to North Mitre Stream. Here they caught and cooked pigeon, huia, kākā, and a large eel. Eventually they returned to civilisation via the Mikimiki Stream.
Bannister swore he would never go to the Tararua again—but he was back the following summer.
The WTMC navigation challenge
The ultimate goal of this trip was to practice navigation in the Tararua, so Megan came up with the idea to search for the hidden lake ‘Hapuakorari’*—*although Tony had been there a couple of times already. We all met at the Wellington Railway Station on Friday evening, map and compass at hand, to head off on our adventure. After a short dinner stop in Carterton, we drove on to the DOC Kiriwhakapapa campsite for the night.
A windy Friday night
Most of us decided not to bother with pitching a fly and instead to sleep inside the shelter while four brave people camped outside the shelter under the trees. Just after we were ready for a good night and the fly was set up the rain started. The fly survived! After the rain stopped, the beautiful night sky became visible but the wind started to pick up, getting stronger and stronger, even lifting up the sleeping bags inside the shelter. It must have been around this time that the action on the camp ground started because the brave people had to abandon their damaged fly and move into the shelter.
Into the wilderness
The next morning we started with a relaxing breakfast and headed off to the Putara roadend to finally get our feet moving. Here we were greeted by an enthusiastic, barking, farmer’s dog. We checked our maps and found that a small un-named lake was marked in the midst of the Tararua forest, not too far from the track towards Roaring Stag Hut, and we concluded that this had to be Megan’s hidden lake.
So, we started to follow the Roaring Stag track and after approximately two hours we reached the junction towards Herepai. Here we got a more detailed introduction on the use of the map and compass from the trip leaders, and we made the decision to minimize the off-track travelling distance by picking the shortest way between the track and the lake. After another hour of tramping along the path and an extended lunch we turned right, heading straight into the untracked Tararua forest.
Map and compass
Through lush forest we went, with the leaders at the back letting us roam freely, curious where we would take them. We chose to follow a little creek to drop down to Ruapae Stream which according to Tony was an interesting approach since instead of choosing the easy forest to either side to walk in we preferred squeezing through the narrow, steep and crumbling rocky creek-bed until we finally reached the stream!
Across the stream we went following further the compass bearing, climbing small ridges not indicated on the map and dropping down from them again, until Adrian, peering through the thick bush, exclaimed, ‘there’s a big hole down here so we’ll have to go around!’ to which Tony replied, ‘right—and what are big holes often filled with?’
Finding Hapuakorari
We’d found the well-hidden lake, ‘Hapuakorari’, in the midst of the Tararua forest. We were pleased with ourselves and stayed here for a quite a while enjoying the moment and taking photos.
From the lake we tramped on the ridge between Ruapae Stream and the Ruamahanga River towards the Ruamahanga Forks. Following the true left of the river, we finally saw the hut. However, here the river filled the complete valley. Initially we attempted to sidle along the tops of the river bank and thus managed to circumvent the first narrows of the river valley.
Roaring Stag Hut
With the Roaring Stag Hut only about 200 m away as the bird flies, we were left with two possibilities and the leaders left it for us to decide. Either we climb up to the nearby ridge and go down from there to the hut or we cross the river, travel through flat forest terrain and then cross back taking the bridge of the Cattle Ridge track. We wanted to practise river crossings anyway on the weekend; hence we choose the latter option, linked-up and finally arrived at the Roaring Stag Hut after approximately 8 hours of enjoyable tramping.
We had a relaxing sleep-in on Sunday with Tony and Megan awaking us with a wonderful surprise—a luxurious bacon and egg and potato fritter breakfast complete with plunger coffee before we set out for a four-hour stroll back to the van at the Putara roadend.
Again, we were greeted enthusiastically by the dog before we headed back to Wellington.
A special thanks to Megan and Tony as well as my fellow trampers for making this amazing trip so special and memorable.
Note: If you do find Hapuakorari too then treat it with the respect it deserves as tapu to Māori—and additionally that it is a very delicate ecosystem. Don’t be tempted to swim, or to try and wade out to the Island, and be very likely to damage a Tararua treasure we all want to be able to enjoy unspoilt.
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