The Whirinaki Te Pua-a-Tāne Conservation Park is a place of immense, natural beauty and I invite you to see it for yourself as you walk amongst the giants of the forest. Located near the village of Minginui, it’s about an hour and half from Whakatane, where I live.

I have wanted to do this walk all Summer, and with Autumn’s shorter days, I didn’t want to leave it too much longer. It took me almost two hours drive just to get to the River Road car park, mainly because I didn’t want to risk a flat tyre in the pot holes on the gravel road. I’ve learned to add at least another 30 minutes to my driving time vs Google’s estimate, especially if there’s a gravel road along the way. If you’re experienced in back country road driving, this probably won’t affect you, but if you’re mainly an urban driver like me, you will want to keep this in mind. River Road is a single lane gravel road, so make sure to take extra care.

Exploring Lake Tikitapu and Lake Rotokakahi

Lake Tikitapu (Blue Lake) and Lake Rotokakahi (Green Lake) are one of four smaller lakes between Lake Rotorua and Lake Tarawera. The other two are Lake Okareka and Lake Okataina. I have been to three of the four now (the other being Lake Okataina), though lakes Tikitapu and Rotokakahi are pretty special in my books. Access to Lake Okareka is on the same road as the blue and green lakes, so you can easily do these three in one day.

Discover Our Local: A Morning Walk At Latham's Track

A couple of weeks ago I saw a picture of my friend Taryn on top of Latham’s Track and I knew straight away that I had to do it. My friend Taryn said the track itself is a loop, but the path which leads to the hot pools is much steeper. The path does run on private farmland, and even though there are plenty of roots, the track itself is well maintained.

Discover Our Local: The Fairbrother Loop Walk

The Ngatapuwae o Toi is a loop track from Whakatane to Ohope. This morning I walked the Fairbrother Loop Walk at Ohope Beach. They say the walk should take about an hour and half, and that’s taking it easy. There were some steeper uphill sections, but if you powered through it I say you can do it in an hour. I was alone for most of the time - the track was also a bit muddy as we’ve had quite a bit of rain over the last few days. I can see this track being busier in the summer.

Craters of the Moon

Taupo is a geothermal wonderland - though I could picture Craters of the Moon literally once being a large paddock until developers realised people would pay money to walk in this paddock. You could say it was the perfect place to be on a cold winter’s day - after ten minutes of walking I was breaking into a sweat and by the time I reached the lookout, I wished I was wearing shorts.

© 2015 Five Foot Ronna

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