Coming back from Tauranga at the end of
January, we stopped off for a few days at Waikaremoana in Te
Urewera National
Park. We stayed in the motor
camp in a little four bedded unit.
The main feature of the area is the
stunning lake. The literal meaning of wai kare moana is the sea of rippling waters.
We did a couple of walks. The first was up through
magnificent beech forest
to
Lake Waikareiti. (There
is a stunning aerial view
here.)
We hired a boat and rowed to a secluded beach
for a picnic lunch.
The islands on the lake are closed to
visitors so we couldn’t land on Rahui to climb up to its lake, but we rowed
around it and this smaller island.
On the last day we did the first part of
the Waikaremoana Great Walk, to
Panekiri
hut. Panekiri is an impressive bluff rising 600 metres above the lake (which is
itself at 500 metres asl).
It’s a steep climb up. Luckily it was fine,
cool day and we were protected from the sun by the canopy for most of the
journey. The views get progressively more spectacular
and the bush more ethereal.
The crags look pretty scary
but afford good viewing platforms.
Finally a victory photo at the top
(courtesy of a kind Dutch visitor)
and a well deserved lie down for David.
After a break for lunch it was time for the
downhill return!
Overall the walk took about 8 hours and we
definitely slept well that night.
