Te Kōpuke Tītīkōpuke Mount St John

Te Kōpuke, meaning 'the prominent mound', is an ancient Māori pā situated atop one of Auckland's oldest volcanoes. The site once boasted an impressive garden area, and today, visitors can still see historic food storage pits and terraces from the pā. The flattened crest is divided into several compartments with ditches and banks used for defense, while the flatter areas of the terraces would have also been used for housing.

While Te Kōpuke is one of the lesser-known maunga in the region, it is an important archaeological site and a place of significance to Māori. Keep to formed paths and avoid walking on the slopes or in the crater. Studies of identity Te Kōpuke rock have confirmed the presence of lava that had erupted from other major Auckland volcanoes, including Maungawhau Mt Eden, Maungakiekie One Tree Hill, and Te Tātua a Riukiuta Big King, suggesting that Te Kōpuke erupted well before these other maunga.

The eruption created a crater that has survived through to present day, unlike many Auckland maunga. The crater is approximately 125 meters wide and has a depth of 20 meters. Lava flows breached the north-western side of the crater and also poured from its base, flowing like a river down a valley that passed beneath present-day Mt Eden and westward to join Waitematā River valley near Birkenhead, forming Auckland's longest lava flow - 11 kilometers from source to toe.