Aongatete has been popping up on my social media for awhile now, and I didn’t realise how often I had driven past on my way to do other tracks in the Kaimai-Mamaku forest. It’s a small, rural community between Omokoroa and Katikati, just an hour and a half from Whakatāne. There are three track options: The short or long loop, as well as a short 15-minute nature trail (this links up to the short loop). There’s even a swimming hole half an hour from the car park, but I ran out of time to check it out.

The car park was close to full by the time I arrived mid-morning, though there was plenty of room to park along the side of the road too so I didn’t mind. I saw a couple of small groups already heading up the track as I stopped to use the toilet - I ended up passing a couple with three young children not far into the track. One of the boys, who looked about six years old, started walking behind me as he got ahead of his family. After about ten minutes I could hear his dad calling out to him, so I made sure he turned around before I passed the track junction.

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