Pre-European Portage Route (Auckland, NZ)

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This is the over land route used by pre-european Maori to travel between the two harbours. By dragging their waka [canoes] overland they were able to avoid having to travel by sea all the way north to Cape Reinga and then south again. The use of this route over several generations resulted in a physical rut in the ground, the current Portage road follows this rut between the Manukau harbour at Karaka Bay and the head of the Whau River at Avondale. There was another portage route to the east at Otahuhu.

Maori Hunting of Birds at Blockhouse Bay:
Coastal birds that came in large flocks to feed on the intertidal harbour flats were also hunted. The chief among these was the kuaka (godwit), which was caught during March and April. Nooses made of cabbage tree leaves were strung across the feeding grounds at the
mouth of the Whau, and at night the birds were frightened by torch-bearing Maoris that made them take off and get caught in the nooses above. At other times, Maoris would wait on the Whau saddle above Green Bay and club the low-flying kuaka to death as they flew
in a flock between the Manukau and Waitemata Harbours with the changing tides."
B. W. Hayward and J. T. Diamond, Prehistoric Archaeological Sites of
the Waitakere Ranges and West Auckland, New Zealand, Auckland
Regional Authority, 1978.