Taharoa: Life off the beaten track

It’s about a 45-minute drive south of Kawhia along a windy, at times, narrow road that snakes around the harbour.

Arriving at a T-junction, the sign tells you by turning left you’ll end up in Te Anga. Interestingly, it doesn’t tell you where you’ll end up if you turn right. And that pretty much sums up life in the village of Taharoa.

Home to a hundred or two people, Taharoa seems to always have been off the grid, off the tourist trail, and it feels that’s that the way the locals like it.

Many spoken to say they have lived on and own large parcels of land that scatter the coastline, living a life brought up utilising the land.

It’s the water off that coast that has hit headlines all around the world this week.

We need to get to Albatross Point, and the first stop is the local Te Koraha Marae.

We spy a sign that points us in the direction of “beach access” and “Te Koraha Marae”.

Arriving at the marae, we discover it is celebrating the Ma¯ ori King’s coronation. A spokesman politely declines to comment on anything about the shootings as guests arrive.

We heed his advice and don’t make the detour down the unmarked road. We do instead stop to get images of horses grazing when we’re approached by an angry young local who wants us gone. “F*** off, get out. You’re not allowed to film here, bro.”

There are no signs stating it’s private land, or for tourists to steer clear. Perhaps they expect, or hope, people don’t make it that far. really threatening and aggressive manner and he knew it would escalate. “Just the attitude while I was there — they were really aggro.”

The Hamilton meeting of the national classic car club started in Hamilton and travelled through Pirongia, Taharoa, Mokau and New Plymouth, ending in Taupo. They