About 5:30am I hopped up and headed out to Te Urewera. It is a 3 hour drive to Waikaremoana from Roto-vegas on a dirt road so I got there around 8:30. I had to wait around to be picked up by my transport. He was supposed to be there at 9 to take me to the Mt. Manuoha track, but was running late and didn't come until 10. Finally I started the track at about 10:30.
It was a steep climb through dense bush for about an hour. After that I was on a ridge that steadily climbed for about another 4 hours. I passed a group along the way. The track was meant to take about 6 hours to get to the Manuoha hut near the Mt. Manuoha summit, but I was there at 3pm after only 4.5 hours. The track was easy to follow most of the way, but at one section I thought it went out onto a big land slip, but really it turned and went back into the bush. I ended up finding the track again and things were sweet... Here is a picture of the dense, mossy forest I had to deal with:
That night it started raining. I was in the 6 person hut with 5 other guys and we had the fire going, so it was nice and warm. We cooked up our dinners and then went to bed.
We all got up about 6am and made some breakfast and coffee. I had a long walk ahead of me. The signpost said 8 hours, but I knew that most of it was downhill. I was at 1392m (the highest point in Te Urewera National Park) and I was heading to Lake Waikareiti that was at 896m. It was raining and very windy. The other guys were only heading to the silted lake near Kaipo Lagoon which was 6 hours. I set off at 8am. It was cold on top of that ridge. It was somewhat under the canopy, but the wind was coming through steadily. I didn't stop for a break until 11am. It was too cold to stop. I was bundled up in rain gear and just kept eating GORP from my pockets as I moved along. I had read that this part of the track was for experienced trampers only, but I didn't realize that it wasn't a track at all. This was only a marked route with markers on the trees, but no trail. It was difficult to follow. I was wading through knee to waist high ferns the whole way.
Eventually I reached Lake Waikareiti. It was 1pm and I had done though 8 hour trek in only 5 hours. I was exhausted and my right knee was really starting to hurt.
The lake was really beautiful. Because of the high winds the clouds were really cruising. Rain was coming on and off. I dried out and hung out with the people there. There were two familes and two other couples. Some of them had rowed across the lake and had some row boats there. One of the fathers asked me if I wanted to go with him and his son out for a look at a lake on one of the islands within the lake. I went. It was pretty weird to step onto an island, walk up some steps and see another lake...
They caught several fish that day as well. Some brown trout and some rainbow trout. We cooked those up for dinner and I got to eat quite a bit. Excellent fish!
That night we all sat around and talked. They were a really fun group of people. The sunset had a little bit of color in it...
In the morning the two families left early. I left about 45 minutes later. It was a pretty easy walk out and I had some excellent views at one of the bays:
By the time I had finished the walk and got in my car to leave it was 1pm. I had about a 5 hour drive back to Hamilton. It was a gorgeous drive for the first 2 hours on that dirt road along Lake Waikaremoana:
I stopped in Rotorua and had dinner with Marty. That was pretty much the conclusion of my Labour Weekend to Te Urewera...
First Day
Second Day
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