By Rachel Moore, RNZ

The iwi of Tauranga Moana say the recent landslides on Mauao are their mountain telling them he’s not ready to accept people yet.

Six slips have been recorded since the weekend, near where severe storms and record rainfall in January sent a deadly load of mud and debris into the campsite below.

Work is being done to repair the tracks and give the public access to the jewel of the region, but opinions are divided on when it should be open.

Mauao trustee Jack Thatcher said some people wanted the mountain to be opened as soon as possible, but they wanted to be cautious and make sure it was safe for people to return.

Thatcher said there was an origin story about Mauao. He began as a small mountain with no name when he fell in love with a beautiful hill Pūwhenua, but her heart already belonged to another. Calling on the magical fairy people, he asked for help to get to the ocean, so that he could drown in his sorrow.

They’d only just arrived at the beach by sunrise and as beings of the night, they fled back to the forest, leaving him stranded in the entrance of Tauranga Moana.

They gave him the name Mauao, which meant caught by the morning sun, and, as guardian of the harbour, his mana grew, surpassing that of his rival.

Mauao trustee Jack Thatcher. Photo / George Novak

“When he’s in need, which he is now, it’s our job to reciprocate that love and devotion back to him, and I suppose helping him to come back to full health, and we can’t rush that,” Thatcher said.

He asked people to be patient but an opening date was not around the corner.

“We would love for that to be the summer coming, but we’re going to sit back. We’re going to listen to the experts, the geotech people who tell us just how stable the mountain is. We’re going to listen to our hearts, which will tell us when the time will be right.”

Tauranga City Council recovery manager Charlie Rahiri said the council needed to reassess its plans following the slips on the weekend, but the goal was still to reopen public access.

“That is still the ultimate aim, and I don’t think anyone is saying otherwise at the moment. But it sort of talks to our approach to taking a slow, cautious, safe remediation of the maunga.”

Tauranga City Council recovery manager Charlie Rahiri. Photo / Tauranga City Council

He said repair works had been progressing well, and while the new slips didn’t immediately affect the tracks, it showed how unstable the mountain is.

“Nature will decide at the end of the day. We can put all the best laid plans in place, but we are at the behest of nature, of Mother Nature.”

Dave Shaw had lived in the Mount his whole life and said locals were frustrated work to open the mountain wasn’t happening faster.

“I was born here in 1960 and I’ll tell you what, there’s been slips forever, it’s not a new thing. But they get fixed quickly. This is slow and they can say, oh, it’s about letting it heal and everything. Fine. But it’s not going to heal. It’s going to keep collapsing if they don’t tidy it up.”

He used to trek up there eight times a week, twice up and twice down in the early hours of the morning.

“The mountain is mental health for not just me, everyone. You know, people that are not feeling good, they’ll go around the mountain ... and now they’re blocked out.”

Mount Maunganui Ratepayers, Residents and Retailers Association president Michael O’Neill said people just want some return to normality, which was access to the mount and the hot pools.

“They’ve come up with a plan of what they intend to do, but no timelines around it, and that’s the frustration.

“We’re not moving forward very quickly.”

He said a timeline and light at the end of the tunnel would be good for both residents and businesses.

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