Mount Drury Reserve
Quietly Serene & Near The Main Beach
Mount Drury Reserve
Table of Contents
Located in Mount Maunganui, Mount Drury Reserve is known for its early Maori burial caves. Its gentle slopes are suitable for walking and there are many different views of the surrounding area. This mountain has been used by the Maori people for many years(some history below). This reserve is well worth a visit if you’re looking for a different perspective of the city.
The area surrounding Mount Drury Reserve includes a well established loop track, two picnic areas, and a large playground for the kids to play in. The park is located a short walk from the beaches and shops of Mt Maunganui, and the reserve is a great place to take a family picnic, there are picnic tables also.
The lookout at the top of the mountain offers superb views an an alternative to the Mauao Summit and the Mauao base track. It’s a popular reserve and is a wonderful place to enjoy the natural beauty of this location.
A well established loop track leads you through beautiful pohutakawa trees as it guides you towards the lookout at the summit. The summit is around 40 metres and provides excellent views over Pilot Bay.
Brief History of Mount Drury (Hopukiore)
It is well known that Maori had occupied Hopukiore, now known as Mt Drury. Hopukiore was used by the Maori as a carving school. The name, Hopukiore, literally means to catch rats. The rat’s teeth were used as blades in the carving chisels.
It is also well documented that it was an old burial site. The early Maori used the caves as sites for burials. Information that had been received from local iwi states that a small party of Pākehā climbed the hill in the early 1900s and found two burial caves full of skeletons, greenstone drops, grinding stones, hooks, mats and some weapons.
Hopukiore, now known as Mount Drury Reserve, was also a sacred site used for tā moko. It was the bones of the native rat, or ‘kiore’ that were used to make the tatooing instruments.
Colonial forces used both Mauao and Hopukiore as bases. They were able to use these bases from which to carry out strategic military operations from around the 1840s onwards.
In 1842 and 1843 colonial troops (the 80th Regiment) were stationed there. It was during November, 1852, Commander Byron Drury arrived in Tauranga on board the HMS Pandora. He completed a Bay of Plenty coastal survey stared in 1848 by Captain John Lort Stokes in HMS Acheron.
Hopukiore was renamed Mt Drury in 1853 after Byron Drury.
