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Published: April 26th 2009
Monday 13th April 2009 Was there an earthquake this morning? Not a huge one, we would have heard about that, but maybe a little one? Sometime this morning the van moved like someone had come along and pushed it, only without the someone pushing it. Or like there was a huge gust of wind, but of course without the wind.
Anyway, after breakfast and some good byes, we headed back off on our road trip. We took the Pacific Coast Highway back north for a while, as far as Wairoa. On the way, just before the road starts twisting and turning, we stopped at a reservce we;d seen on the way down. Its the Tangoio Scenic Reserve, and there is a short walk (50 minutes) to two waterfalls. The first one, Te Ana Falls, was neat, you could get right up to it and swim in the pool at the base if you so chose, if it was warm enough! The second, Tangoio Falls, was still good but as you only got to see part of it from across the valley, it didnt seem as nice. Neither were spectacular, but still a lovely walk through the bush.
At
Te Ana Falls
Tangoio Scenic ReserveWairoa, we left the PCH and hit SH38. This road goes through to Rotorua, although we wont be going that far at all. For now we are headed as far as Lake Waikaremoana, a climb of about 600m from Wairoa (sea level). Lake Waikaremoana is part of the Te Urewera National Park and has heaps of walking / tramping tracks. The main one is the Lake Waikaremoana Great Walk, but we arent doing that one this time.
We stopped at Onepoto first, this is where you get the first sight of the lake, and where the Greal Walk starts or finishes (depending on which way round you walk). As we hadnt picked up our walks leaflet yet, we didnt realise there was a shorter walk here, so we just admired the view.
Next stop was the DOC visitors centre at Aniwaniwa. The museum side was closed for renovations so we missed all the displays of local taonga. But we did find out about a free camp, and get the booklet of walks.
So back the way we came...we first stopped at the Onepoto Caves. The leaflet has some good info...
”The caves were well known to the Maori people of the lake. Oral history tells of Tuwai, a warrior chief of Ngati Ruapani, who slew five men who tried to overcome him as he slept in one of the caves.
“Another story tells of the time that Tuwai and some of his people took refuge from a taua (war party) in one of the caves named Te Ana-o-Tawa. Tuwai, placing himself at the narrow entrance to a cave, disposed of the emeny one by one as they tried to enter.”
The caves were formed
Map of the Lake Waikaremoana Great Walk
It doesnt show all the walks we did, but it will give you an idea of what is there at the same time as Lake Waikaremoana, about 2200 years ago. The Waikaretaheke river used to flow through a deep gorge between two sets of ranges, the Panekiri and the Ngamoko. The river was dammed when an earthquake triggered the collapse of the Ngamoko side of the gorge, with debris over 200m thick and 4km long thick blocking the river. Shortly afterwards a second landslide of similar size occurred when the end of the Ngamoko range slid down to ram into the earlier debirs and settle in an almost intact block on top of it.
The Onepoto Caves were formed in this second landslide, the 'intact block' of strong sandstone fracturing and bending under the stresses of the slide and impact. They are certainly impressive, ranging from small holes to larger caves that we couldnt see the back of. Some entrances were big enough for us to walk through, others we would have needed to really squeezed our way into. Some of the caves inter-join, with smaller cracks or caves forming tunnels between other caves.
From the caves we went back to Onepoto, where we had been earlier. We followed the Great Walk track for about 10 minutes
Momahaki and Te Tangi-o-Hinerau Falls
The lower two falls in the Aniwaniwa group to the site of a redoubt built by the Armed Constabulary. It was started in 1869 and remained manned until the Armed Constabulary was disbanded in 1887. It one point, buildings included a block house, barrack room, orderly room, sergeants quarters, forage store, library, cook house store, canteen, gym and officers quarters. All that is left to see now is the remains of the redoubts stone walls by the old parade ground. Or at least, all that you can currently see are the remains of some stone walls. There is a sign up asking for volunteers to help clear the area. Can we? Can we? Again, not this time!
We track passes a fenced rock overhang where the soldiers stationed there carved their names. There are also some dates and what look like army numbers.
Just beyond the parade ground, we left the Great Walk and wandered down to another lake, Lake Kiriopukae. A nice little lake in an area of low turf and wetland. It had the look of a place that could get very cold and bleak. Just by the lake was a little cemetery with some graves of soldiers and early farming families.
That
was enough walking for one day for us, especially as it was starting to get dark, and was getting cold. We drove back to the free camp the DOC lady told us about, in a small cove called Rosie Bay. There were a few other people camping there, many more and the place would have ben crowded.
Tuesday 14th April 2009 More walking! What else!
We started with a short walk round Whaitiri Point, the site of the old Government Tourist Hotel. Nice, but nothing to see, not even any decent views of the lake through the trees.
Next was the Hinerau walk, a 30 minute round trip past some waterfalls. There are three waterfalls and are collectively known as the Aniwaniwa Falls. Aniwaniwa here is translated as rainbow. The first set of falls is called Bridal Veil, the second Momahaki and the last is described below.
”Hinerau was a Tuhoe woman of high rank famed for her beauty, who once lived at the foot of the Huiarau Range. One day, while gathering food in the forest, she was trapped between a chasm and a cliff by a violent earthquake. In an attempt to get help, she tied an ornament to a flax leaf and cst it into the Aniwaniwa River. The flax leaf was caught by a magical “rakau tipua” (spirit log) which carried it off. Hinerau gave herself up in despair, thinking that she would never be rescued. In her grief and fear she began to cry. Very soon these tears became a rivulet and then a torrent, cascading over the rocks of the nearby chasm, forming a beautiful waterfall.
Luckily for Hinerau, the rakau tipua carried her flax leaf message to Te Toru, a chief of Ruapani, who was walking along the shores of Lake Waikaremoana. Te Toru rescued Hinerau from her prison and was so smitten by her beauty that they were married.
The lower part of the Aniwaniwa Falls commemorates this event and is called “Te Tangi-o-Hinerau” (the tears of Hinerau).
The track wound its way through the forest. There were trees we get up north, but also a lot of others that we dont see. The bush was great and thick though, plenty of undergrowth, ferns etc. There were a few views through to the lake
Karen busy rowing
while Colin is busy relaxing too.
On the other side of the river was another track we followed to get different views of the falls. This track went down to the bottom of the river, and we could have continued to the lake but the riverbed track was a bit soft and overgrown. The water has seemed pretty low everywhere so far.
The next track was up to Lake Waikareiti. This lake is about 300m higher than Waikaremoana, and was apparently formed about 18,000 years ago by another massive landslide. A thick slab about 10km wide slid off high ridges in the north west, depositing uneven debris over a wide area. Lake Waikareiti and several lakelets formed in the hollows in the debris.
The lake is free from pollution and introduced aquatic plants, and is really clear. The water looked so inviting, a beautiful cool blue, just right to cool down after the climb up. Of course, the water wasnt cool but cold as we expected, but it did look so good!!
We hired a boat through the DOC visitors centre (carrying the lifejackets up the track with us!) to take us out onto the lake. There are several islands on
the lake, but only one where you can land. And even there, only on one small part with a board walk. The islands are believed to be predator free and so allowing rare plants to flourish.
Rahui Island, where you can land, feaures a “lake-on-an-island-in-a-lake” ie it has a small lake on it. There is a landing stage and short track to the lake, “Tamaiti”.
So apart from visiting this lake, all we could do was explore the shorelines from the “comfort” of our 12ft aluminium dinghy. Great fun, especially when we both tried to row at the same time (we took two sets of oars). Do you think we could go straight? Of course not! We clashed oars, headed left then right, splashed around, and generally had some fun.
The rest of the afternoon was spent driving to the next free camp and looking at more waterfalls. First was Papakorito Falls, near the visitor centre, pretty neat. Then Mokau Falls, viewed from the road. Not quite from the comfort of the van...!
We camped at the end of the Hopuruahine Stream where it entered Lake Waikaremoana. A beautiful spot, lovely view, only two other people there
(both fishing), and heaps and heaps of black swans. Noisy creatures!
Wednesday 15th April Yup, those swans are noisy. While they didnt keep us awake, every time we woke up (parked on a slope, we woke up a few times with legs and sleeping bags tangled up) we could hear them. Sometimes sounding like ducks quacking, sometimes like puppies mewling, sometimes like something else. Maybe they were cold! Must say though, the past couple of nights up here have been much warmer than in Napier. No need to wear socks in bed!
The plan for this morning was to walk the first part of the Great Walk to the first hut, Whanganui Hut, a three hour return walk. Things went so nicely to plan until we reached the hut!
The track started off well, crossing over a suspension bridge and heading into the forest. Soon though the track fell to pieces. It wasnt until we'd hiked about 40 minutes and found that those doing the full walk and were brought in by the water taxi, didnt actually start / finish at the end of the trail. The water taxi pick up / drop off point is
Lake Waikaremoana
View from the kombi one evening - magical! along the ege of the lake and doesnt go near the stream which we'd spent 40 minutes following!
Another 45 minutes found us at the hut. Not one of DOCs newer huts, but still pretty decent. We read the visitors book and found heaps of comments about how old the place was, how dirty etc. Sure it was old, but not that old, and it looked really clean to us. It all depends on who has been through in front of you and what state they leave it in. Many of the recent comments involved the gas heater not working. I wonder how many of those who complained in the visitors book actually went round to the DOC centre and told them?!
Anyway, we decided to go a further ½ hour along the lakeside track. The views were well worth it, out over the lake. We could see down the lake to the Panekiri Bluffs (the end of the full walk) and also across to where we' camped last night. Hopefully some of the photos will do the palce justice as words cant.
That was it for us and Lake Waikaremoana this time. Back at the van
we changed out of sweaty clothes and headed off down SH38 towards Murupara.
Boy what a road! It wound round and round, up and down, some amazing views of bush clad hills. Hills might not be quite the right word, but neither is mountains as they werent really high enough. Steep, craggy, rough... again, kind of the road you need to drive to appreciate. And the idiot in the ute and trailer that sat on our heels hooting his horn to get us to either move out of the way (narrow road, few passing places) or go faster (ummm...the wedge doesnt do roads like that faster) certainly wasnt going slow enough to appreciate much, once he had got round us that is.
Finally we made it down (and up and down again!) out of the park and into flatter lands. And onto tar sealed roads. I didnt mention that the couple of hours of twisting, windy roads were all metal. Some had been recently graded and some were still full of all the bumps.
We didnt get as far as Murupara today, turning off towards a village called Minginui. Not that we made it as far as
there either without turning off again onto a narrow metal road. We were aiming for another DOC site, another free camp, called Sanctuary. Its in the bush, podocarp forest, and you are meant to have a good chance to hear (if not see, but lets not get our hopes up) kiwi and weka. Plus a list of other birds and bats but I didnt copy them down from the sign.
Right now we are about to have dinner, so I'll close up the laptop, but I'll let you know in the morning what, if anything, we heard.
Thursday 16th April 2009 Bit of a disappointment I suppose, we didnt hear any kiwi. At least, not that we recognised. We heard moreporks though, and a few other birds we cant ID. This is still a great campsite though! Getting up this morning, surrounded by birdsong, a horse and foal as neighbours...so peaceful!
We went for a walk after dinner last night. There is a track from the camp that we followed for a bit, but it was hard going in the dark, its not a well used track. Lots of rustling in the undergrowth, but all we
actually saw were some glow worms!
We followed the track again after breakfast, but again didnt see a lot! Its a fantastic walk, a little used track wandering through the bush. The birds were calling the whole time, but keeping themselves well hidden from us. We frequently stopped and tried to see what was out there, especially as we thought we could hear the kaka, an endangered NI parrot related to the SI alpine kea. All we saw for ages were kereru (woodpigeons) and tui, both of which we see pretty much every day at home. Later on we saw what we think at the moment is the North Island Robin - toutouwai - but we'd need to check and confirm later. I first saw it in a small tree just off the track and stopped for a closer look. The inquisitive little bird obviously wanted a closer look at us too! It looked at us out of one eye, then hopped round on the branch to look at us out of its other eye. Then it flew down to the ground and hopped to within about 1.5m of us. We were the only ones with a camera though.
Theres no little robin family sitting around tonight looking at pictures of humans.
From the Sanctuary DOC camp we went back up the road slightly to another DOC camp to have a look at another waterfall. The falls were ok, but the site had been made over recently and was excellent. Nice spacious (clean!) long drop, shelter with big fireplace, several BBQ pits, lots of camping spots shielded from the next spot with trees, a place to come back to. Along with the Sanctuary camp of course - still want to hear and see a wild kiwi.
The rest of the day was spent driving to a camp site with showers. We briefly stopped in Murupara for some petrol and something for dinner. A bit of North Island 'back-country'! The guy pumping the petrol asked us if we needed to sit a special license to drive a left hand drive van!! He'd never seen a left hand drive vehicle before.
We followed a sign down a side road pointing to somewhere called Fort Galatea. It turned out to be the site of initially a Maori seasonal camp that had an Armed Constabulary redoubt built on top, then
that became a larger army camp, then a school. Now its just the site of all of the above. Nothing much left, some earthworks, a chimney, a pile of twisted iron and some introduced trees (oak, walnut). Interesting, but not on the map, and probably rarely visited.
We stopped at the edge of Lake Aniwhenua for lunch, plagued by wasps, but adding another potential free camp to the map. All the signs indicated you didnt need to pay to stay there, and several other vans / tents were set up. A nice spot, if you can find somewhere without the wasps.
And that was us done with the hills. Gone was the dense bush and steep countryside. Back to the flat lands of the coast, and we've done a circle (of sorts!) in this trip, back to Awakeri, near Whakatane. From here on home we will be driving roads already driven - maybe. We might just take another detour and see somewhere else.
After a few nights in the bush, hiking and sweating, we treated ourselves to a night at a hot springs campground. And a nice hot shower! The pools at Awakeri Springs are a bit
like at Athenree, hot and vaguely mineral smelling, nothing like the colours and textures of Ngawha, or the rotten eggs of Rotorua. Just a big-ish swimming pool of warm water. A good, relaxing evening soak though.
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Mel
non-member comment
Robin Cameras
Ha ha ha, the comment of the robin family looking at pictures of humans was hilarious! ha ha... I still say Trounson Kauri park (almost directly across from Whangarei on the peninsula) is your best bet to hear Kiwi, if not see them. I saw a Kaka in the Pureora Forest Park (north west of Taupo). I didn't know what it was at the time, but have some pretty shadowy pictures and video as proof! It was quite content prying bark of a tree and looking for bugs!