On Track for Summer
Whangamumu Track
Whangamumu Scenic Reserve, Bay of Islands
Northland has a rich human history. It’s no surprise the mild climate, numerous harbours and abundant forests attracted early Māori to settle here, then later the first Europeans.
Whangamumu Harbour is a sheltered inlet located near the Bay of Islands, south of Cape Brett. Māori once occupied the attractive natural harbour, and between 1890 and 1940, European whalers made a base here, too.
At Net Rock, north of the harbour, humpback whales were “caught” with large nets fixed by a wire cable across a narrow channel – apparently the only place in the world where this “fishing” technique was employed. Using longboats, the whalers drove the humpbacks into the nets, where the entangled whales were sufficiently slowed to be easily harpooned, then dragged back to the whaling base for boiling down.
In its peak year, 1927, the station produced some 388 tons of oil from 74 whales. It finally closed after an oil slick from a wrecked ship forced the whales to alter their migration path.
From a signposted layby on
