Lake Waikaremoana – an unexpected journey

The Lake Waikaremoana track is actually one of the New Zealand so called Great Walks but not very well known. Hardly any tourists know about it, including us until recently. We were told about this track by an Israeli tourist we met in Holly Hut on our Taranaki adventure. It sounded nice and after doing some research we booked huts and were on our way.

View over Lake Waikaremoana.

We spent one night before the hike at the campground by the lake that also operates the water taxi you need to take to the start and from the finish of the track. It was nice to get a boat ride on the lake but the down side with the water taxi is that you have to be somewhere at a certain time which is difficult when you have not done the track before. Afraid of not having enough time you instead end up waiting for a long time. We had nice weather though so it was not so bad lingering at the end of the track. We were also in the good company of Warren who did the same hike as us. He was nice enough to then invite us to his home in Palmerston North were we later spent a few nice days. We particularly liked to try Pavlova, the national New Zealand dessert, and Shepherd’s Pie. 🙂

On the ridge about halfways to Panekiri Hut.

The first day we hiked up and along a ridge line to Panekiri Hut. It was a short walk, although including some elevation gain, and we were at the hut early in the afternoon. At the hut we met a school group from Orewa and ended up playing games with them a few hours. It made the time pass a bit quicker and we learned some new games we will probably never play again or remember for that matter. 🙂 The views from the top of the ridge were great and different from what we were going to see the coming two days.

Day two the trail took us off the ridge and down to the lake. The trail more or less then followed the side of the lake until the finish of the track. We made a small side trip to a waterfall which was actually one of the nicer ones we have seen so far. Even with this side trip we had some time to relax by the lake for a while. Our hut was hidden behind a small hill which at the end of the day felt like a mountain. Overall there had been more ups and downs than we had expected on this day. It felt good to be at the hut and be able to wash (we did not swim, it was way too cold for that) a bit in the lake. Warren was already there to welcome us and the three of us were the only ones in the hut that night.

The waterfall

Relaxing

The last day we started early to make sure we would be at the pick up point in time. It was an easy tramp to the end of the trail. We did pass one hill but it was not very steep and actually easier than we had expected.

Leaving the second hut.

Even though we took our time and made several breaks along the way we were still one and a half hours too early. Overall, it was not a very strenuous hike but our feet were stilltired and we were happy to be on our way to Taupo and a shower.

Leaving the pick up point at the end of the track.

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Lake Waikaremoana