Not many people seem to go to Urewera, and I wonder if it is too far away, to many km on gravel road or is it just not the top ranking must see in the area? But well, tourists don’t overrun the Eastland, most of them either go to Rotorua directly from Napier or skip Wairoa for a night in Gisborne, then do the East Cape in one day and are back to Auckland in a fingersnip. Good that we’re not in a hurry, also our tyres are still OK and when the rain finally stops … ah, ignoring the rain, going for a walk. And here’s a list of short walks that can be done in the Aniwaniwa area:
Aniwaniwa (headquarter of the Urewera National Park and also big parking)
Papakorito Falls (30 min walk to the beautiful Papakorito Cascades),
Hinerau Track (loop walk from the parking at Aniwaniwa to the Bridal Vail Falls and back),
Tawa Loop Track (with a look at the 1000 yrs old Northern Rata),
Whaitiri Point (50 vertikal metres down to the Lake Waikaremoana),
Onepoto Bay (just a stop to have a last view of the lake)
What every NZ tourist fears most: Sudden gravel road attack!
And the road is dangerous, especially for the common hiker, an endangered species
… as well as for cows, which don’t seem to care much about fences hereabout.
The violet pouch fungus is a truffle-like fungus found in the leaf litter of beech forests.
The Northern Rata: This tree began its life as an Epiphyte growing high up, possibly in the fork of a Rimu tree. The young Rata grew a network of aerial roots reaching towards the ground. The Rimu has since rotted away, the Rata was probably three mail vines which have interwined. It is 13 metres around the base and aged between 800 to 1000 years old.
Lake Waikaremoana from Whaitiri Beach.
