Woke up to a fine looking morning but it deteriorated a little once we got up to the other lakes. As we were walking on the bush tracks a lot the weather didn't worry us as it didn't rain at all. It only clouded over as you will see from the photos.
Above and below small bays on Lake Waikaremoana. The big lake.
Unfortunately when we reached the top we were greeted with onshore winds coming through the trees from the lake which meant it was too rough to see the bottom which was disappointing. Also by now the clouds had closed over.
The top three photos are up at Lake Waikareiti . Boats can be hired out for rowing. Spent about 15mins up there then attacked the down hill hike back to the the big lake.
This is showing on our way down what the track was like. Good walking surface. It was a gradual rise all the way up. The round trip was just under 12km.
We had to laugh at these Weta boxes which were attached to the tree trunks. They had been build especially for them. You could slide the front sideways go look in at the wetas through a glass window.
This was a quick ten minute walk to see the Papakorito Falls
Our next walk was the Tawa walk 30 min round trip an easier walk through the Tawa trees. The highlight is the delicate willow-like yellow green foliage of the Tawa tree.
The approach to the area.
Note the delicate yellow leaves
A tree had fallen over. Instead of removing off the tract they have just cut a way through.
The second highlight was one of the biggest Rata trees in the country above and below. It is about 1000 years old . Top picture is looking up at it and bottom picture looking straight at it. It was too big to get into one picture.
Above and below showing the rock formation along the side of the road driving back around Lake Waikaremoana.
Our final walk for the day was the most strenuous , climbing up very steeply that means extremely steep. Climbing over big boulders, steep steps and very wet and slippery underfoot. Still don't know how we did it. This climb was called Lou's Lookout taking us to a platform looking out over Lake Waikaremoana. What a way to go to get a great view even though the sun wasn't out to make it the perfect picture. PT reckons it must have been at least 5/600ft up above from the road.
Some of the challenges we had. And these were part of the track.
After 30 mins we reached the top to a wooden platform where we stood to admire the view. Saying to ourselves was it worth it after such a hard climb.
The next three photos where taken standing on the platform at he top.
Looking left
The middle
Looking right.
The whole view in one.
The was taken looking down to the road from were we started to show how high we climbed. If you look very hard you will see a red spec on the road which is our car.
If you look up the platform was sitting on top of the third boulder looking from the left. This is the road where we started our climb from. The round trip took us one hour.
This is a zoomed in shot of the boulder I was talking about in the previous photo. You can see what looks like a square box which actually is the platform. Are We Mad!!!!!!!
Now on our way back to base. This is looking down over Lake Whakamarino where we are staying. You can see the house roofs of the village bottom right.
Last photos of the lake down in front of the Whakamarino Lodge
Standing back at the Power Station looking back over the lake to the lodge.
We really enjoyed our two day stay in the Lake areas. We felt we really achieved a lot in one day. Walking up hills, down hills climbing over big boulders and steep stairs, and having a pleasant walk through the Tawa trees. Really hard work, but a really fun day. We walked 16km all up. Exhausted.
As I have posted two blogs tonight don't forget to go back to the previous day. (Sun 10th)
No comments:
Post a Comment