Let's travel back in time to 2013, specifically the month of December and more accurately the week before Christmas...
The better half and I had decided that to prevent us spending a sad Christmas at home away, from family, stuffing our faces and watching crap television, we would, instead, enjoy the New Zealand summer and go away. The first destination was Lake Waikaremoana (which is a slight tautology as moana is the Maori word for lake/sea). Around the south and west shores of the lake is one of NZ's "Great Walks". For background, there are 9 "Great Walks" which were picked decades ago out of the large number of trails and tracks across the country. Strictly speaking there are 8 "Great Walks" and 1 "Great Paddle" as one of the walks is actually a kayak trip down a river. They are all multiday affairs with campsites or huts along the trails (or river).
We set off on our walk on the 24th December. Lake Waikaremoana itself is nearly 600m above sea level and the first days walking is basically a sharp up to a ridge at 1300m then a long undulating ridge walk to the first hut. Having done a bit of training (see previous blog) the walking wasn't nearly as bad as expected and despite a bit of misty drizzle we got to enjoy some spectacular views of the lake and surrounding mountains. We arrived at the first hut mid-afternoon and there was only one other person there.
The huts are pretty basic; communal bunk rooms, wood burning stove and water from a rain tank; but it was warm and comfortable enough. As the day went on more and more people arrived who had obviously had the same idea as us - to spend Christmas in the wilderness. We had a very relaxed Christmas Eve chatting to other walkers, sharing stories, and drinking wine (an American couple had carried a 2 litre box up and kindly shared some in exchange for chocolate). There was a great mix of nationalities with the "immigrants" outnumbering the Kiwis.
Christmas morning we shoved everything back into our packs (already getting lighter from the food we had eaten) and set off along the ridge again. It started off misty and murky but soon cleared into a beautiful day. We had deliberately planned a short walk for Christmas Day and after a steep downhill back to the lakeside we arrived at our second hut around midday.
The second hut was on the shores of the lake itself and on arrival we found a hapu (family) from the Ngai Tuhoe iwi (local tribe) had come in by boat to spend their Christmas there. They were very welcoming and we got to share a delicious lunch with them. We felt slightly bad as they served up a huge spread with sweet potatoes, chicken, crayfish and more. We contributed, once again, with chocolate. We spent the afternoon relaxing, swimming in the lake, chopping firewood and relaxing some more. We then shared our evening meal with the American couple who we had met the previous night. Another relaxed evening was spent round the wood burner talking and sharing experiences.
We were very glad of our packs getting lighter and lighter on the third day. We had planned in a long day three to shorten our walk out the following day. There was no serious gradients but it was quite undulating and tiring on legs that already walked for two days. We had set off early and again arrived at our hut mid-afternoon. It was the biggest and newest of the huts and was right on the lake. We dumped our bags and jumped straight in. Another night in front of a fire was topped off with a few games of cards and we fell asleep listening to Morepork (a type of owl) calling.
Day four dawned, after a night of rain, fresh with the smells of the forest. We knew we had to make the water taxi pick up by two o'clock so ambled along quite happily. We reached one of the old huts about 11am just as it started to rain again. In no rush we took shelter and cooked a hot lunch as one by one all the people we had befriended over the last previous few days wandered in. We made the pick up in plenty of time and on the boat back were treated to some fantastic views of the cloud on Panekiri Bluff where we had spent the first night.
A quick mini bus transfer after the boat took us to a bach on a campsite. Beer beat hot shower to the top of the to do list (it was close) and delicious steak dinner finished off the day nicely. I fell asleep in a proper bed and dreamt of the next "Great Walk"...
...to be continued
