North Island Hike
Waikaremoana Discovery Tour Highlights: All-inclusive New Zealand walking holiday exploring the best of Lake Waikaremoana, Whirinaki Forest and Te Urewera National Park. Journey into the North Island's most remote and untouched wilderness area, where the mountains are cloaked in mist, mysticism and primordial forest. Walk some of the most spectacular sections of the Lake Waikaremoana Great Walk and world-famous Whirinaki Forest, while staying in comfortable lodgings.
Departs Rotorua
Join a small group
4 days / 3 nights all-inclusive New Zealand walking holiday
Flexible itinerary - can be tailored to suit any fitness level
Passionate & friendly guides
Carry a day pack only
Fitness level: easy to moderate
Includes: All meals, pre-dinner drinks, boat cruise, transport, accommodation
Accommodation: Old-style lodge in tranquil setting, twin or single rooms, share bathrooms
Optional activities - marae visit, fishing, amazing natural hot spring swim
| Prices: |
NZ $1290 per adult, $990 per child (12 years and under). Due to NZ Government GST increase, our prices will increase by 2.5% on 1 October 2010. |
| Dates: | 2010 Sep 30; Nov 13, 19 (full); Dec 4, 12, 28 |
| 2011 Jan 3, 16, 20, 27; Feb 13, 26; Mar 5, 12, 20; Apr 5, 16 | |
Rugby World Cup Walks 2011 Sept 15, 28; Oct 17, 29 (Special itinerary and prices apply for RWC Walks) |
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| 2011 Nov 23; Dec 7, 21 | |
| 2012 Jan 4, 18; Feb 1, 15, 29; Mar 14, 28; Apr 11, 25; May 9 | |
| Groups: alternative dates and packages available |
(If none of these dates suit please let us know, and we will do our best to accommodate you!)
Waikaremoana Discovery Tour Fact Sheet - please read this PDF before booking.
Waikaremoana Discovery Tour Full Itinerary:
The itinerary below is a general outline. Flexibility enables groups to select from numerous walks and activities, thus ensuring everyone's abilities and interests are catered for. Your New Zealand hiking guides will enhance your journey by using their local knowledge to help select appropriate walks, provide company, interpret the features you encounter, and take care of all your meals, transport, accommodation and other logistics. With door-to-door return transport, this is the most comfortable and rewarding way to experience this isolated wilderness region.
Day One
4+ hours walking (Lunch Dinner)
Pick-up from your Rotorua accommodation approx 8am. A three-hour scenic drive follows ancient Maori trails into the heart of Te Urewera National Park to Lake Waikaremoana.Stop in Whirinake Forest for a 3-4 hour walk through the best example of NZ's native Podocarp forest. Towering trees such as giant totara, kahikatea and matai, plus rare birdlife (kaka & blue duck) as the trail follows a pristine river to a dramatic canyon.
Relish a fresh picnic lunch before continuing on to Lake Waikaremoana, where a short walk leads through some remarkable forest, where your guide brings to life the intriguing story of the rata tree.
Settle in to your accommodation and savour the pre-dinner drinks and nibbles on the lake-shore.
Day Two
3-7 hours walking (Breakfast, Lunch,
Dinner)
After a delicious cooked breakfast day two of your NZ walking holiday features some of the most spectacular views from the Lake Waikaremoana Great Walk Track. A 1.5 hour steady climb through mixed broadleaf podocarp forest rewards you with inspiring views over Lake Waikaremoana and the forest-clad mountains of Te Urewera National Park, New Zealand. Spectacular sandstone rock bluffs drop sheer to the lake 600 metres below. Those wanting a challenge can continue climbing a further 2 hours to reach the highest point of the Great Walk Track, and the best viewpoint of the lake. Mt Ruapehu may be seen on a clear day.
Then visit a local marae (Maori meeting house) for an informal chat with a Maori elder about the region’s fascinating history and culture. This is a great opportunity to ask questions and provides a real feel for the culture in this isolated area, where Maori is still the first language.
Day Three
4-6 hours walking (Breakfast, Lunch,
Dinner)
Stroll through a magnificent ancient beech forest to the tranquil Lake Waikareiti. Reached only by walking track, this lake is free of introduced aquatic plants and motorised boats, so has outstanding water clarity and is blissfully peaceful!
Take a rowboat to one of the lake's pest-free islands, where a short walk leads to a tiny lake surrounded by lush forest and native birds. Returning to Lake Waikaremoana after lunch you have the option of walking around a dazzlingly clear fresh-water spring, or exploring the Onepoto Caves.
After dinner there may be a chance to walk to a lookout to watch the sunset over the lake.
Day Four
2-4 hours walking (Breakfast, Lunch)
Begin your journey back to Rotorua with a scenic boat cruise right across Lake Waikaremoana, to complete another section of the Great Walk Track. A stunning forest and lakeside trail traverses from the secluded Wairaumoana arm of the lake across a peninsula, home to a Kiwi Recovery Program that is successfully increasing the numbers of our threatened national bird. Thanks to the pest-control in this area the forest is some of New Zealand's best. The track then follows the lakeshore to an estuary, where you can see a variety of waterfowl.
Driving back you stop in a small Maori village for afternoon tea, and close to Rotorua have a soak in an amazing natural hot spring beneath a roof of native trees (time permitting). Arrive Rotorua by 6pm.
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Waikaremoana Discovery Tour Fact Sheet - please read this PDF before booking.
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We donate $5 to the Waikaremoana Kiwi Recovery Project for every person we take on this walk. |
