were fat and sweet after eating miro berries.²⁰ Hapū such as Ngāti Hinerangi (whose territory extended to Tauranga Moana from the forests west of the ranges) would make early summer expeditions to the seashore to harvest and preserve kaimoana for winter consumption. Arapera Nuku of Ngāti Hangarau was told by her tūpuna that:

from there (pointing to the sea) to Kaimai is where the people of Ngati Hangarau used to travel backwards and forwards. That is where our mana whenua lay. In the new summer they came to the sea, to catch fish which they hung in the sun to dry, gather pipi and other food for drying. At night they lit a big fire and sat around talking about things relating to the sea …²¹

The resulting range of interests held by Tauranga Moana hapū is expressed in the Ngāti Ranginui whakataukī, ‘He kiekie ki uta, he tāmure ki te tai’ (‘Kiekie is found in the bush, and snapper at the coast’).²² Tureiti Stockman illustrated how this principle shaped the rohe of his hapū:

The rohe of Ngati Tapu extended from Pukehinahina all the way up to Maenene bounded by the Waiorohi Stream on the east and the Kopurereroa Stream on the west. Maenene was an important source of timber and birds for Ngati Tapu. Going back many generations all of the coastal hapu needed access to the bush for these purposes as there were no trees on the Te Papa peninsula and it was necessary to have access to these resources further inland. Those areas on the edge of the bush were also used for extensive gardens.²³

Different ecosystems such as forest, rivers, and sea were thereby connected in a seamless web, into which the lives of the people were woven. In the words of another witness, ‘[t]he maunga, the forests, the rivers, and the people are all interconnected and interdependent on each other’.²⁴ Taiawa Kuka of Matakana Island put it in these terms:

the association of land and sea is our reality; the very essence of our being as it prevails in the day to day activities of our lives. The mix is in the air that we breathe, the sounds that

20. Document J28, pp 3–4; doc D13(a), p 9; doc J31, p 8

21. Document D13(a), p 9

22. Anthony Fisher, Keni Piahana, Te Awanuiarangi Black, and Rahere Ohia, ‘The Issues Concerning the Use, Control and Management of Tauranga Harbour and its Estuaries’ (commissioned research report, Wellington: Waitangi Tribunal, 1996) (doc A50), p 110

23. Tureiti Ihaka Stockman, brief of evidence, undated (doc H6), p 4. With reference to the Kōpūrereroa Stream (or river), we note that ‘Kōpūrererua’ is the official LINZ designation. However, claimants in this inquiry have generally used the name ‘Kōpūrereroa’, and evidence from Ngāi Tamarawaho suggests that ‘Kōpūrererua’ applies only to that section of the river where it divides round an island: thereafter, as far as the river mouth, the correct name is ‘Kōpūrereroa’: Peter McBurney, ‘The Kingitanga and Other Rangatiratanga/Autonomy Movements in Tauranga, 1860–1960’ (commissioned research report, Wellington: Crown Forestry Rental Trust, 2002) (doc P15), p 172.

24. Morehu McDonald, ‘Ngati Hinerangi Mana Whenua Report for the Tauranga Moana District’ (commissioned research report, Wellington: Crown Forestry Rental Trust, 2006) (doc T2), p 140; doc A50, p 113