Lake Waikaremoana Great Walk

Once again, I'll be skimping on the details here and I'm not posting any pics because the internet in the first world is so expensive!

We arrived in Auckland on Mar. 12 or something, and stayed for several days, checking out the sights, the birds, an island nature reserve, and a mainland "island" reserve which has active predator controls in place (see, when the first humans arrived on NZ's shores about 600 years ago, the brought with them dogs, cats, and other mammals, none of which lived here before, so they all just preyed on the flightless birds and other precious critters 'round there parts).

Then, when we were totally prepared and had bought all our food for our 5-day 4-night trek around Lake Waikaremoana (sounds like "why-CARE-uh-moe-on-uh"), we drove for about 6 hours to Te Urewera National park. We stayed the first night in a motor camp near the track entrance, and took a boat across the lake to start off.

First, we had to climb the ~600 m to the top of Panekiri bluff, a huge stone wall that faces the new rain-water lake (it was formed only 2200 years ago when a landslide blocked up the valley). This was not only a tough climb, but the winds were absolutely crazy. We walked through an exposed saddle point, emerging from the coverage of the forest into 100+ kph winds that literally knocked us over! The hut we stayed at on the top of the bluff (set back a bit, but with still amazing views) was a 30-something bunk hut with running water. We used our Jet Boil (R) to prepare some mashed potatoes, soy protien, and green beans. Delish!!

The next 4 days, the weather was perfect: sunny but cool, light breeze, minimal clouds (only adding to the drama of gorgeous sunsets), and crystal clear skies. We went through multi-varied terrain, from fern forests (complete with 20 and 30-ft. tall fern TREES), river-side beech and birch-like trees and huge old-growth forest (the area around the forest is still-virgin forest, so it's quite old and awe-inspiring to be in there). And on most nights, we listened to the Kiwis call to each other as the sun went down. Very cool.

Look for pics in the coming weeks, most likely after we get back to America in mid-April :(

For more on the lake and other tracks, check out the NZ Department of Conservation. Search for Lake Waikaremoana.

-Mike.