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.

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.

Sunrise at The Pinnacles, Coromandel

Watching the sunrise from The Pinnacles summit is the closest I’ve come to waking up on a mountain. We got lucky with the weather - even though we went to sleep with overcast skies, by the time we started walking to the summit just before 5am, the Milky Way was there in all its glory, daring us to turn off our headlamps.

Our hike to The Pinnacles started the day before, having met up with Kuya Rommel (my cousin) and his friend Ian at the Kauaeranga Valley Information Centre car park.

Turns out the track car park was another fifteen minutes away, and my poor Betty (my Rav 4) was to get an even thicker coating of the dusty gravel road. The car park was pretty much full by the time we got there, and I ended up parking on the side of the road a couple of minutes away.

It was already midday by the time we started hiking towards The Pinnacles hut. There was no rush really, the hut was three hours away and with daylight savings, we had plenty of light left. I was already sweating even before we started hiking - the temperature was in the mid-twenties but felt hotter because of the humidity.

Lake Tawera trail from Hot Water Beach to Te Wairoa carpark

The Lake Tarawera trail in Rotorua is on many ‘someday’ lists, with the 15km track taking you lakeside as well as deep in the bush. It’s a beautiful yet challenging walk that shouldn’t be underestimated as the walk does require a good level of fitness. Being a solo adventure, I booked the water taxi to Hot Water Beach and walked back to Te Wairoa car park, where my car was waiting for me.

Totally Tarawera runs a regular water taxi service to Hot Water Beach from The Landing. If you plan to walk back to the car park from the beach like I did, there’s also a free shuttle to The Landing - just make sure to choose this option when you book the water taxi. The water taxi takes about 20 minutes, and owner Terry is a fantastic host. I share the taxi that morning with two friends, Anahera and Manaakitanga.

Bay of Plenty: Sunshine, rock hopping and cinnamon pinwheels

This was an unplanned, random adventure - unplanned because we had actually planned to go in the opposite direction, yet it turned out pretty cool in the end. Sunshine, rock hopping and cinnamon pinwheels at McLaren Falls was an awesome half-day adventure with my friend, Jem, her daughter Amelia and Vlado (Jem’s flatmate).

I know what you’re thinking, why go rock hopping when you can chase waterfalls, right? It turns out that rock hopping in the sunshine is good for the soul, not to mention a great workout for your quads! It certainly brought out Amelia’s sense of adventure, who was still to be convinced that road trips with adults (particularly with her mum’s friends) can actually be fun.

Bay of Plenty: Learning about te ao Māori in the Ōtanewainuku Forest

The connection I feel when I’m in nature, be it in the bush, on a mountain, lake or coast isn’t something I find easy to describe in words. It’s a language we are all born with, yet will lose over our lifetime unless we continue to build on that connection.

Up until a few days ago, I had never heard of the Ōtanewainuku Forest. It's just over an hour's drive from Whakatāne, tucked away in Oropi, just inland of Te Puke. Basically, right on my doorstep!

For my Sunday hike, I was lucky enough to be joined by Te Reiroa, a local whose knowledge of
Te Ao Māori exceeded his years. This was his hau kāinga (a forest he grew up in) and I felt privileged to be given a personal guided tour, learning about various Māori folklore. He took me to Whataroa Falls, where it's believed to be a gateway between 'noa' or the land of the living, and the spirit world. It's a rare sharing of old world knowledge and insight into Te Ao Māori that most people may never experience in their lifetime, and for that I was most grateful.