Hiking Lake Waikaremoana

Monday morning we walked around the Motor Camp and admired the many shelducks on the lake. The shelduck is considered an “intermediate” between a duck and a goose. The female has an all white head while the male has an all black head. We think the honk sounds somewhat like a hoarse bark but one signboard we had encountered at a native bird park had stated, “The female alarm call is high pitched ’zeek, zeek’, the male’s is deep ‘zonk, zonk’.” The description made us laugh then and still does!! We decided to do several short hikes before leaving the area. First was a 2 minute walk from a carpark to view the Papakorito Falls.

Next was the 40 minute Tawa Walk which featured (duh!) the tawa tree with its willow-like yellow green foliage as well as very large rata trees including one that is thought to be 1,000 years old. (At this point, our camera died and the extra battery was in the car, of course.)

Then it was further down the road to Lou’s Lookout, a 45 minute climb up and up along a rock bluff and around huge boulders to a very windy but sturdy platform giving gorgeous views of Lake Waikaremoana and the Panekiri Bluff.

The weather was beginning to look threatening but we were eager to explore one final stop, the Onepoto Caves. These caves, the lake, and the entire area were presumably formed by an earthquake about 2200 years ago. The area is filled with huge rocks, recesses, tunnels, and caves of varying sizes. They are geologically fascinating but the claim to fame is that cave weta are easily seen here. Various kinds of weta, found only in NZ, are ancient but mostly harmless nocturnal insects with long antennae and legs. The giant weta can get up to four inches long (NOT including the legs and antennae) but the cave weta we saw were much smaller (bodies were 1-1.5 inches) and had extra long legs.

With torch in hand, we began hiking and exploring. It was a little creepy but was also exciting--until one of the weta JUMPED. Then it was just creepy!!

 

At one point we stumbled on two metal ladders that descended to a deeper cave. Mark went down first and discovered it was very mucky. He peered farther into the cave with our anemic flashlight and decided that we weren’t equipped to go further. “Aw shucks,” said San the Wimp.

After lunch in our car due to increasing winds, we headed for home in Wairoa.