Complex sentence: Portage Road is the location of one of the overland routes between the two harbours, here the Maori would beach their waka (canoes) and physically drag them overland to the other coast, thus avoiding having to paddle around North Cape.
Split into simpler sentences: Portage Road is the location of one of the overland routes between the two coasts. Here the Maori would beach their waka (canoes) and physically drag them overland to the other coast, thus avoiding having to paddle around North Cape.