Matauwhi Bay/Lemon Tree Track

Matauwhi Bay at the entry to Russell is a shallow bay deepening slowly out to the principal small boat mooring area. There are small sandy beaches and large muddy areas and on a nice day when the tide is in it is very pretty and very safe for small children.

The Lemon Tree track climbs up the hill from Florance Avenue to Brind Road and offers an interesting alternative walk back to town with some nice views.

From the south side of the grassy recreation area on the west side of Matauwhi Bay near the Boating Club an overgrown bush track climbs up to the southern end of the grassy top of the high western headland of the Bay before dropping through a grove of large gum trees and then scrubby bush to a small bay with the remnants of an old slipway and winch. At the western end of that bay a short track crosses to further rocky bays on the shoreline around to the recently operational Russell Slipway on private land.

Location, Grade and Duration

Matauwhi Bay is reached by back-tracking down Matauwhi Road which is the main entry to Russell (about 900m from Russell wharf).

At low tide up to 700m of the Bay shore can be walked if you are prepared to tolerate some mud - especially thick on the eastern side.

There are pleasant sandy beaches on the west and north and a footpath on Florance Avenue connects these as well as giving access to Lemon Tree track which is quite steep but sealed.

Restrictions

Dogs are permitted on the beach and recreation areas.

No fires. No public toilets.

No walking tracks across the headland reserve which is overgrown and difficult.

At high tide take Florance Avenue footpath to cross between north and west beaches. At low tide this is a little muddy. The eastern side is very muddy.

The Lemon Tree track is moderately steep but short.

Interests

The Russell Boating Club has facilities and jetties on the northern side of the Bay and the Department of Conservation also has a base in a small valley near the carpark.

There are pleasant picnic spots on the beaches and in the recreation area.

A well-known painting, "Pohutakawa Rina" by Evelyn Page, portrays two Maori girls under the pohutakawa trees fringing the Bay. Prints are available through the South Sea Art gallery. (15 York Street)

History

Matauwhi has been spelled many ways: Mataui, Matahui, Mata Hui, Matawhi, Matawai. The present spelling means skin of the 'uwhi' (a sweet potato) and is pronounced ma-ta-oo-fee. The Maori chief, Pomare, had his pa (fortified village) on the headland to the east of Matauwhi, above Pomare Bay.

Anglican missionary Thomas Kendall conducted the first NZ Christian wedding in Matauwhi Bay. Later, after Captain Hobson negotiated the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, there was a hotel in the Bay and the Russell Boating Club was originally a boat-building business and later a fish factory.

Lemon Tree Track climbs the promontory above the centre of the Bay past Arcadia Lodge and named for a large lemon tree in its garden. Arcadia was built around 1900 by the Rev Boler, Anglican pastor to Russell. Floors, structural posts and beams are of local heart kauri and many of the components were salvaged from shipwreck and demolition timbers (totara, puriri and jarah). Some floor bearers were supported with whale vertebra and one recently replaced is displayed in the living room of Arcadia Lodge.

At its top Lemon Tree Track connects with the end of Brind Road. Captain Darby Brind owned the eastern end of Matauwhi Bay, where the road out of Russell climbs steeply up 'Constitution Hill'. He earned missionary disapproval by selling muskets to Maori. Then, although engaged to an Englishwoman, through his relationships with the daughters of prominent Ngapuhi chiefs Hongi Hika, Pomare and Rewa, he was blamed for the 'Girls War' which erupted on Kororareka Beach with the loss of over a thousand lives.

Heading north, Brind Road climbs further to Gould Street. Frank Gould was the schoolmaster between 1850 and 1860.