Like Aphrodite, our islands arose from the sea, but not as she, fair and fully formed. The shaping of our land continues, and in the process it has emerged and submerged repeatedly. It is a mere by-product of the coastal rubble of its two older continental neighbours…

The rocks exposed in the cliffs of the Mahurangi Harbour, in the highest road cuttings on Schedewys Hill, and even on the summit of Mount Tamahunga at 438‍ ‍metres, are the familiar Waitematā sandstones. Clearly they are extensive and thick, but they are not old…

Mahurangi, the name, belonged to the sea-stack between the mouths of the Waiwera and the Pūhoi, and to the pā which once crowned its summit. Percy Smith, who chronicled the history of Māori occupation, said Mahurangi applied to the small island off Waiwera, but…