1 December 2010: Lake Waikaremoana and Napier

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! We had a great time on our trip out to Te Urewera National Park and Napier. The weather was awful on the day we drove out to the national park and was supposed to be awful the first day of our hike but it cleared up just in time for us to hit the first lookout on our hike up to the top of the bluffs above Lake Waikaremoana. Not our picture, but this gives good perspective on the Panekire Bluff: http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkinglegends/4070654191/

After staying Monday night at the Waikaremoana Motorcamp we took a water taxi to the start of the great walk (car break-ins and thefts are a real issue at quite a few trailheads, so at a lot of the major trailheads you leave your car at a more secure carpark and take alternative transport back and forth from the trail starts and ends). We decided for our first day that we would tackle the most difficult part of the hike, going up and over the Panekire Bluffs. This was an 18km (about 11 miles) hike with a 600m ascent and descent. We found out that about 80% of people who hike to the top of the bluffs never get to see the lake due to fog and mist. As I said, we got very lucky and had beautiful cool weather. That night we stayed at the Waiopaoa Campsite.

The Start at Onepoto

Waiting for the Water Taxi

Went up to the top of this on Day 1, across the ridge for a while, then back down to the base

Look how lush it is?!

80% of people don't get to see the lake from the top....yeah!  PS Kevin wants people to know this lake has a PAR Kd of 0.14, for the rest of the world....it's pretty stinkin clear

The 9hr hike took 7, thank goodness :)

This was a lovely campsite to stay in. Great day shelter to cook in and we slept lakeside, so we were greeted by quite a chorus of waterfowl in the morning. Day 2 of the hike was spent hiking around the lake edge and going up and over small hills that make up little arms of land that reach into the lake (about 17 km). This was another beautiful day with a couple of light showers which made the vibrant crystal clear green of the lake even more spectacular when the sun shone. This night we camped at the Waiharuru Campsite with two young German men who were hiking in the opposite direction. This site had two very new huts, which we snuck in to cook.

Cute guy on a "flexy"bridge

Fully clothed lights are more than welcome

Ate lunch at this cute little hut

Day 3 was a much shorter day with only 11km of easy trails easy several gorgeous bays. We got to the water taxi pick up spot about an hour early and enjoyed lunch on the beach. This was a great hike. We climbed through a mossy, lush jungle on our way to take in the entire huge lake at the top of the bluff, we walked through fern-filled forest that felt more like the Jurassic Park set than anything else, and we took in Lake Waikaremoana from every spectacular angle possible. Awesome!

Waiharuru Hut and Campsite

One of the beautiful bays we walked around on Day 3

Last hut before our pickup

Lunch at the Water Taxi Pick up beach

Tramp's End

So after our Water Taxi back to the Motorcamp and a slow drive down to Napier we settled into our hostel, Archie's Bunker. Nothing special in terms of accommodations but the owner, Doug, was super nice and helpful. We were given excellent recommendations for our Italian Thanksgiving Dinner, yum! Then they set us up with a wine tour for the following day. However, later that night we found out the despite our signing up for the lowest level package the other people on our tour signed up for the super deluxe package, so we got a free upgrade (in the end we both agreed we would never in a million years pay almost double for this so-called upgrade, but free upgrades are nice :) )! So Friday morning we enjoyed a leisurely late brunch at a local cafe then were picked up for our wine tour. This tour included tastings at three local wineries (Mission Estate, Crossroads Winery, Moana Park), a tour of the wine-making facilities at the last boutique winery and a stop at a gourmet chocolate shop. Overall it was a nice afternoon and a great way to find out more about the Hawke's Bay wine region. 

Oldest Vineyard in New Zealand and our first tour stop

Lots of wine at Moana Park Winery, our favorite

That's right random hot pools in the middle of nowhere

Roadside waterfalls, thank you NZ Frenzy

Quick view of Ruapehu and Ngauruhoe (Mount Doom) on our drive home

The last little tidbit we wanted to share was about the International Ski Competition that was held in town the day after we got home. The annual Bridge to Bridge Ski Competition was based in Hamilton but involves almost 85km of the Waikato River from Cambridge on north. This three day competition includes ski boat races, jet ski races, various skiing competitions, but the culmination is the 82km long race.Two skiers get behind different types of jet boats going up to 100mph along this route on the Waikato. They raced past where we sitting in Hamilton twice. It was insane! There was even one boat toting a 14 yr old and 16 yr old together. They were great! Fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon :)

These skiers are going up to 100mph! (and occasionally there are logs in the river...)

Look at how little of the boat is in the water!

Slow week of work and work here. Hope you are all doing well. Amazing that it's December already!

Love and hugs!