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.

Walking the Tarawera Trail and camping at Hot Water Beach

Usually, I like to go somewhere remote on long weekends, you know, to get away from the crowds. This time I decided to stay closer to home and walk the Tarawera Trail instead, adding a night’s camping at Te Rata Bay (Hot Water Beach). I had walked the trail before, the first time back in 2019. It was a humid and scorcher of a summer’s day - pretty much like this one.

A couple of days before, I made a last minute decision to join the Pinoy Adventurers NZ group on the trail. The last tramp I did with them was the Tongariro Alpine Crossing last winter. Unfortunately, 6:30am meeting time at Te Wairoa car park was too early for me (as I was driving from Whakatāne that morning), so I let them know I would be starting later and hoped to catch up with them along the track. That was a good decision in the end since I was the only one walking with a pack. It took me 5.5 hours to walk the 13.5km trail, and they got there an hour before me.

The colourful Crater Lake and the Maunga Kakaramea (Rainbow Mountain) summit tracks

I watched the raindrops bounce off the windscreen as I drove towards Waiotapu on SH5 for a spontaneous Saturday hike. Maunga Kakaramea, or more commonly known as Rainbow Mountain, is famous for the vibrant ochre in the soil and surrounding cliffs. It may not be as colourful as the other more famous ‘rainbow mountain’ namesake, Vinicunca in Peru, but it’s definitely a must-do walk when you’re in Rotorua.

The rain only made the steam on the mountain rise higher - there was no mistaking that Rotorua is very much an active geothermal zone. A wet hike was clearly no deterrent, because although the car park wasn’t quite full when I arrived, it was close to it when I came down.

Putting on my boots in the front passenger seat felt clumsy and cramped, and took long enough that the windows were fogged up by the time I left.