In every epic adventure yarn, our hero must traverse a portal of big-time danger to progress to the stirring denouement of the tale.
And so it is with visiting the Mōkau River, which debouches on the wild border (it is the border) of the west coast Waikato and Taranaki coasts. It’s little-known that this is the second-longest river in the North Island, rising in the remote bush of the Pureora Forest and winding down through spectacular limestone country and a rare remnant of lowland kahikatea forest in its lower reaches. Like so many west coast rivers, it has a dangerous bar at its entrance to the sea; so arriving on our yacht Skyborne was a definite no-no.
But still, there are mystical portals aplenty to go through when experiencing the Mōkau. First there’s getting there, as it remains quite remote: some 80km southwest of Te Kuiti (through the splendid Awakino River gorge) and the same distance north of New Plymouth (over the challenging Mt Messenger – they’re re-routing that road right now), with no top-ups on the way – our concern with our ageing electric car.
