The battle between the two eventually caused two other chieftains, Te Ikanui and Wheru, to become besieged in their pā in Pawarenga on Whangape Harbour.

The iwi of Te Aupōuri have their primary turangawaewae at Te Kao at the southern end of the Pārengarenga Harbour, with Te Oneroa-a-Tōhē (Ninety Mile Beach) to the west and Tokerau (Great Exhibition Bay) to the east.

Te Aupōuri describe the core area in which they have customary rights and associations, of varying types and nature, as running from Ngāpae in the south-west, east to Ngātū and Waipapakauri Stream, north to the mouth of the Rangaunu Harbour, to Motu-puruhi and Te Rākau-tū-hakahaka (Simmonds Islands) and north to Muri-motu (North Cape), west to Te Rerenga Wairua (Cape Reinga), encompassing Oromaki, Manawa-tāwhi, Moe-kawa and Ohau (Three Kings Islands), south to Motu-o-Pao (Cape Maria van Diemen), to Kahokawa (Scotts Point), Matapia, Waka-te-hāua (The Bluff), Hukatere and back to Ngāpae.

According to the traditions of the Aotea, Horouta and Māmari ancestral canoes, kiore (Polynesian rats) were passengers on their voyages from Hawaiki to New Zealand.

Carvings on a window frame of Te Ōhākī marae at Ahipara depict the story of Ruanui's rat, Ruanui being the captain of the Māmari canoe.