Wandering Waikaremoana

Waikaremoana from Panekire Bluff

This was one very strange New Zealand summer with drought in the North Island and floods in the Deep South. These strange weather conditions saw the cancellation of my planned tramp of the Hollyford Track, which was closed because of the damage cause by severe flooding, and a switch to walking the Waikaremoana Great Walk, perhaps the least known of New Zealand’s Great Walks. As often happens with last minute decisions, it feels like the Universe has your back, leaving you with a sneaking suspicion that this was meant to be. Here are 7 reasons why I would recommend walking Waikaremoana.

1. Precisely the fact that it is not as famous as its more illustrious Great Walk cousins. You will not find yourself in a long queue of fellow walkers, nor will you be constantly bumping into people. On our first afternoon’s tramping we only came across 2 walkers during 3-4 hours walking.
2. It is in a mysterious myth clothed area of the country that not many people get to visit. It is remote with a capital R, being a three hour drive from Rotorua and a one hour/58 km one from Wairoa. I was picked up from Rotorua, and was driven first on one of the straightest roads in the country through the Kaiangaroa Forest to Murupara and then via an increasingly windy, hilly and narrower road through Ruatahuna, into the heart of Te Urewera.
3. This is the ultimate walk by water. The track essentially follows the shores of Lake Waikaremoana. There are no showers in the DOC huts, so the best way of keeping clean is to bathe in its waters, and given the weather it was a delightful and refreshing way to start the day. The views of the lake are truly amazing, both from its shores, and from the Panekiri Ridge which towers above it. There are several waterfalls too, with the most well known being the Korokoro falls, a short but worthwhile diversion off the main track.
   

   

   
4. This place just oozes its history, from the myths and legends of how the Lake was formed and named, to the events that took place here. Te Kooti hid out here during the New Zealand Wars, and it is embedded with the history of the Tuhoe people, as well as the more recent police raids at Ruatahuna. The settling of the Tuhoe Tribunal claim has seen a renaissance for this town with the newly built tribal headquarters, a cafe a petrol station and a laundrette and a planned medical centre – who would have thought that you could get a very good trim flat white here?
   

   

   

   
5. The flora and fauna – both are pretty amazing. At one stage you walk around the outskirts of a Kiwi sanctuary on a peninsular and while we didn’t actually see Kiwi you could hear them from the Waiharuru hut we stayed at that night, along with ruru (morepork). We also heard or spotted kereru, bellbirds and piwakawaka (fantails) to name but a few. The cloud forest as we walked up to Panekiri bluff was mind blowing – I saw ferns and other plants that I have never seen before, and the trees up there were absolutely ancient, and human like – you could imagine them marching. On this day I was so mesmerised by the awesomeness of these mighty trees that I took up tree hugging.
   

   

   
6. The accommodation adds to the sense of adventure. For Waikaremoana you basically have two options – the DOC huts scattered at walkable distances along the track, or camping alongside them in the camp grounds provided. The standard of these vary but none have electricity, there are no flush toilets (they are long drops but they were more or less clean and all had proper toilet seats and lids) and no hot water or showers. so this is not the place to visit if you are the luxury lodge type of person. That said the huts are clean and spacious, and the beds relatively comfortable (some, like at the Waiharuru hut are in a separate building and are individual beds) others are marae style (large communal beds that can fit 3-4 people in sleeping bags).
   

   

   

   
7. The walk is easy but not without some challenges, and I would recommend using hiking poles, as I did. The track varies from being flat and wide to narrow and criss-crossed with tree roots that at time you have to scramble over. The most challenging aspects are the short (30 mins walk) detour up to the Korokoro falls. This involves a river crossing that sees you using a cable to assist you to scramble over rocks.
   

   

   
   When we crossed it the river level was low so our main challenge was the slipperiness of the rocks, but I can imagine that after rain the challenge would be the height and flow of the water. The falls made this challenge well worth it to me. The other challenge is the climb up to Panekiri Bluff with its 478 steps. These steps are not all standard steps, and there was a lot of using tree roots as steps, as well as rocks and stones. Funnily enough this was my favourite day as the path initially wound its way gently up, with a wide but twisting path, with trees that were, as I noted previously, simply magnificent and I often found myself stopping to admire them. Gradually the bush gradually changed to forest, and then once the climb was conquered we were able to stop and enjoy our lunch in a sunny spot amongst the dappled shade provided by these ancient trees.

   

   

   

There are two ways you can do this walk – either by making all the arrangements yourself, driving yourself there – probably from Wairoa, although Rotorua is an alternative, booking huts through the Department of Conservation, estimating how far you would walk in a day, as well as booking water taxis to either the start or finish, and carrying all your own gear and food. The alternative is to book a guided tour through Walking Legends who make all the arrangements for you. Their tour departs from Rotorua early on the first morning and they drive you to Waikaremoana. For the first two days walking (10.5 kms on day one and 18.3 kms on day two) we carried day packs, with the rest of our gear being transported by boat. On the third day, which while the shortest at 7.6 kms was also the steepest with a 600 metre climb up onto the Panekire bluffs, we also had to carry our sleeping bags and clothes for our overnight stay. The views from the top were nothing short of amazing and were the highlight of the trip for me, as was the swim in the lake at the end of the trail. Food was provided and it was a real treat at the end of the day to sit and relax while your delicious meal was cooked for you. 

I really loved this walk, and enjoyed the fact that I was completely off-grid (no wifi, internet or cell phone coverage). I didn’t mind the fact that alcohol is banned once you enter the park, and I also supported the ban on single use plastic – both requirements set by  Tuhoe for visitors to come into this sacred place.