32. Lake Waikaremoana

  • In the forest of the Lake Waikaremoana.

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    An image showing Waika-What? Nobody has ever heard this unpronounceable word unless he discovers it by chance on the map of the North Island of New Zealand. We always need to leave the beaten path.
  • An image showing We arrived two days earlier in New Zealand. Surprise! Here hiking is really easy. New Zealand government developed a vast program to facilitate hikes and the discovery of the great nature of New Zealand. The word they use for hiking is neither “hiking” nor “trekking” but “tramping”. It refers more to a kind of hikes that basically follows the bottom of valleys and goes through passes. The Department Of Conservation (DOC) equipped the National Parks with well defined and marked trails. On the way, huts provide accommodation to the trampers.
  • An image showing The forest surrounding the great lake looks old and tropical, despite the beech trees that are the main type of tree around. It includes shrubs with large and smooth leaves and a sort of fern growing like a palm tree. Our path immediately went up onto the hills, in the woods, around large trunks and stumbling roots.
  • An image showing The view of the lake was still hidden by the trees. The forest seems really old. It regenerates itself continuously. Locals say it’s full of animals: deer, wild pig. Following the paths, we came through some points of interest: a lazy lake where some ducks were swimming, a broad swamp…
  • An image showing And after four hours walking, we reached the Lake Waikareiti. Well, we only guessed it: the lake was hidden behind a curtain of large trees. Hopefully, the place we were going to sleep that night, Sandy Bay Hut, might be close to the water! But we needed to walk around the lake on half of its periphery to reach the hut. It represented two more hours, such a real challenge for tired legs.
  • An image showing Eventually, we got rewarded. We arrived on a heavenly white sandy beach. But this beach was sheltering a whole bunch of sandflies.
  • An image showing When the night fell, the unspoiled lake surface slightly troubled itself, liberating a thin misty layer that slowly danced on the water. The last moments of the day created a spectacular work of art, coloring the clouds with a golden light, while the black shadow of the woods was swallowing the sun. This amazing sunshine, this unnatural beauty could be a fair reason to cross the world just to have a glance at it.
  • An image showing A father and his son just fished a rainbow trout. In the dark night, they came to meet us. The trade was fair: they used our wood fire to cook the delightful fish and shared with us. You always deal with good surprises trekking.
  • An image showing We started late, the day after. It's easy to become lazy waking up with the sun on this perfect beach. We paid it: it was already hot, even under the trees. We continued the tramp behind the lake, on the trail going up on the hills. There were clues that the way was less frequented here: less recognizable traces, dead branches felt on the path and detours we had to do when trees were lying across the path.
  • An image showing The entire afternoon flew while we went up on a ten kilometers long ridge to Mount Manuoha. Progressively the vegetation was evolving.
  • An image showing When we finally arrived at Manuoha Hut, we rushed on the water tank. The day had been extremely hot. We had emptied our water reserves too quickly…
  • An image showing We left the place around 9am to the close top. It’s the higher point in the region. From there we can see the sea at the east side. Far in the direction of south-west, the high snowy volcano, the Mount Tongariro stands on the panorama. However, we only had a limited view of the lakes.
  • An image showing The following part of the hike was obviously the descent. We needed to slope down the whole hill we climbed the day before. Immediately the vegetation evolved reversely. It became luxuriant and verdant. We met some brave trampers attacking the mount from the other side. They were enduring a very steep way. The trial ended when we finally reached the river that flows into the lake, at the bottom of the valley. The official end of the hike followed when we crossed the paved road, 18km from our departure point.

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