Explore the breathtaking Mount Tarawera with Kaitiaki Adventures

“We have a saying on this tour - it’s easier to stop than to mop!” Everyone in the van burst out laughing. The van had reached the start of the 4WD track on our guided tour to Mount Tarawera and Dan, our guide, was letting us know that it would be a bumpy 30 minutes ahead of us. He wasn’t joking, but luckily no one gave him a reason to bring out his mop on our tour.

I had wanted to do the guided walking tour on Mount Tarawera with Kaitiaki Adventures for a while now. After months of procrastination, I found myself booking on the Friday morning (I booked through bookme.co.nz) and just like that, I was climbing a volcano the following afternoon. There were seven of us on the tour with a couple of guides, Dan K (our main guide and driver) and Jordie aka Wade - he was so new they didn’t have time to get him a shirt with his name yet.

The van picked up three of us from the car park on Hemo Road and made our way to Ash Pit campground to pick up the last couple. It turns out they lived just down the road and after four years of waking up to the mighty maunga/mountain, they finally decided to climb it. Even though I spent most of the drive talking to them, I actually forgot to ask them their names! They were originally from Auckland and were originally looking to retire in Taupō, but luck would have it that their property popped up on the market and they haven’t looked back since.

New Zealand Great Walk - Lake Waikaremoana

It was a drizzly Sunday when I drove along the gravel road towards Lake Waikaremoana. There were a few days left of 2020 and this was my last adventure to see in the new year. I had never driven past Ruatāhuna before that and was told to expect a windy gravel road...a lot of narrow corners and dust.

Lake Waikaremoana is in the Hawke’s Bay region, about an hour from Wairoa. I think it took me about four hours from Whakatāne (SH 38), and that’s with a few photo stops. It was slightly faster on the way home, or at least it felt like it. Ngai Tūhoe (the iwi/tribe of Te Urewera) call themselves the children of the mist. The mist certainly followed me all the way up the Panekire Ranges towards the hut.

Te Papa Exhibition - Gallipoli: The Scale Of Our War

We had studied World War I in school. There was a lot of focus on Gallipoli - teaching us about the brutal ANZAC campaigns and how it (and subsequently World War II) had robbed many towns and cities of a generation of men. No community escaped the melancholy of war - and even those who survived the bullets and shrapnel, their minds did not. For myself, born in a generation that has never experience a world war (or lived in a war torn country), I hope that we are not naive enough to think it won’t happen again. Exhibitions like Gallipoli are necessary to remind us that war is futile - the great loss of life is no victory for either side.

Road trip: Winter through the Desert Road

We left Whakatane around 8am - in the midst of a quiet morning fog and crisp Winter air, I grabbed a quick coffee at Z Petrol Station where I ran into an old friend. He was moving down south, where he had been studying for almost two years. The woman who made my coffee recognised me from the other day, and was nice enough to give me an extra stamp for a new coffee card. Small towns are great like that!

There’s something fascinating about our reaction to fog - it’s beautiful as long as it isn’t too thick that it becomes a real driving hazard. This was the case as I drove past Hell’s Gate in Tikitere, just outside of Rotorua. Geothermal tourism is big money in this area, and I would have loved to go in and take photos, so I settled for a roadside snap instead.

Motiti Island: Walking In The Footsteps Of A Local

Myths, legends and folklore - there are plenty on Motiti Island. A rugged paradise that’s just a 15 minute flight from Mount Maunganui, yet it’s a world away, and a stark contrast to the hustle and bustle of the mainland. Here, time is as slow as the 4WD truck that is driving us to the other side of the island, and so far the only real hazards are the deepening dirt roads, gates and wandering cows feasting on the wild fennel.

The private island is home to around 20 permanent residents, mainly retirees who have come home to honour their roots. They are Ngati Awa, and their hapū, Te Patuwai, have such a deep, long-held connection to the land that it’s hard to picture this place being any other way. This is an old place, and that day I walked in the footsteps of locals, history and time.

Discover Our Local: Nga Tapuwae o Toi - Kohi Point Track

My energy levels have been more down than up in the last couple of weeks, so I haven’t been able to get out to explore. Sundays are my ‘switch off’ day, or at least for a few hours, and because I haven’t been well, I thought I would check out a local favourite, Nga Tapuwae o Toi, or the Footsteps of Toi. I walked the Kohi Point walkway from Seaview Road, but didn’t walk down to Otarawairere Bay as my energy levels were getting a bit low. This will have to wait for another day.