New Zealand is known for having incredible natural beauty. This reputation is completely justified, and I'm so lucky to be able to play here. One of the more accessible ways to enjoy the outdoors in New Zealand is to do Great Walks. There are nine Great Walks total, and only three of those are in the North Island. These are really popular and well-maintained tracks that take about four days to do. Our mid-semester break was two weeks, so we chose to spend a few days of that doing the Lake Waikaremoana Great Walk. Like many of the other Great Walks, it wasn't a loop. The trail goes halfway around the lake and a road goes around the other half of the lake. The shuttle was very expensive, so we opted to just hike halfway in and then hike back out. A little disappointing, but not terrible. I went with Rachel (Canada) and Rachel (Minnesota).
map of the Lake Waikaremoana track
We finished our classes Friday night and did all of the normal prep for a tramping trip and left early the next morning. We stopped in Rotorua at an award winning bakery for too many pies and headed southeast to the lake. It was a long drive through very rural parts of New Zealand. We passed through seemingly endless timber farms on a perfectly straight road. One of the last places we could have a pit spot in was a tiny town named Marupara. It was absolutely tiny and was one of the few places where I asked for a bathroom and people thought that I meant I wanted a shower. It sounds kind of crude to Americans, but in New Zealand if you have to pee you ask for a toilet. Shortly after leaving Marupara, we left the paved road and had three hours of twisting dirt roads to get to the lake.
Rosie at the trailhead
Our tramp began at what would usually be the end of the trail. We were prepared for wet weather, and just as we expected it began to drizzle just as we left the car. We hiked through beautiful forest and along the shore until after dark. As we were approaching Marauiti, the first hut, we saw a boat come in to dock. We thought it was probably a ranger coming in to check if we all paid for our stay in the hut. To our happy surprise, it was a huge kiwi family. It seemed like there were three separate families all there together. They said they were on a fishing and hunting trip. It was warm and cozy and loud. They had a ton of gear and small children with them and it made the hut feel so homey. One of the little boys was telling us he caught his first possum and how it earns money for his school. Possums are a huge problem in New Zealand because they eat massive amounts of native forest and kiwibird eggs. I know I should be happy that there's one less possum causing damage, but it was so damn cute and scared I just couldn't hate it.
Rachels make good hiking buddies
Marauiti Hut
The second day was our easiest bit of trail. We stayed mostly along the shoreline of the lake and got to the Waiopaoa Hut in good time. I really just can't describe how gorgeous the place was, so instead I'll show pictures. At the hut we met a very nice German couple. They were on a multiple month trip and were travelling in a campervan and had their 6 month old baby with them. I was partially horrified, mostly impressed. We figured they were able to take this trip because of maternal and paternal leave. Their van was at the other end of the track, and we asked if they would be able to give us a ride back around the lake to our car so that we'd be able to do the whole track. The father was more successful than I was at getting a fire going in the fireplace because he had filled his backpack with wood he had dried out at the previous hut. So clever!
leaving Marauiti Hut
style is crucial
Waiopaoa Hut
The next day of hiking to Panekiri hut was the most beautiful and most challenging. We were so stoked to be able to do the whole hike. The father asked us to help carry dry wood to the next hut and of course we obliged. There were places where we were dwarfed by trees in fog and saw the greenest green. It was a cold wet day and was almost entirely uphill. The hut itself was very disappointing, considering it was at the highest elevation and was supposed to have views of the whole lake. In reality, it was completely covered in fog, the hut had huge windows which made it very cold and the ceiling leaked. We got to spend a bit more time with the Germans that night, and talked about language barriers and the quirks of the kiwis. That night the baby fussed more than it had before, and we didn't have a very restful nights sleep.
where's the lake?
Our last day on trail was entirely downhill. We descended quite a lot before the fog finally cleared enough for us to see the lake again. It was our first time seeing it from high up and we felt so triumphant to see how much we had climbed. The downhill was pretty rough on Minnesota. Her boots weren't broken in, and now (2 months later) she's definitely going to lose toenails. The Germans passed us on the trail and waited for us in their campervan at the end. They gave us a much-appreciated ride back to my car and we were happy to discover that the car hadn't been broken into and started just fine! That night we drove all the way back to Hamilton and slept better than we had in a while.
so many different bryophytes on this tree!
No comments:
Post a Comment