East Coast Holiday: Waikaremoana

Leaving Napier we drove towards Lake Waikaremoana in the Te Urewera National Park. The road degraded as we headed inland, become largely gravel, and the weather came in as we drove along leaving us driving through rain under a grey sky. Still camping we were booked for two nights at the Lake Waikaremoana Motorcamp and we arrived to more rain. We found a tent site that looked like it wasn’t going to flood and set up the tent, at which point the rain stopped.

Photo by Brendon & Keryn

Rather than mope around the motorcamp we headed out for some short walks. The first walk was very short, a 5 minute stroll from where we parked the car down to the Papakorito Falls. The bush around the falls was regenerating, so the falls stuck out against the sky. For most of our time in the afternoon we saw no one else, having the views to ourselves.

Photo by Brendon & Keryn

Heading back towards the motorcamp in the car we parked next to the Aniwaniwa Visitor Centre and took the Hinerau Walk, the loop track taking us past the three waterfalls that make up Aniwaniwa Falls. The prettiest of the three is the Bridal Veil fall, set in what almost looks like a grotto of green trees and ferns. Keryn patiently waited on a convenient bench while I took photos.

Photo by Brendon & Keryn

Photo by Brendon & Keryn

The other falls had more volume of water, the upper part called Momahaki Falls and the lower part referred too as Te Tangi o Hinerau. We saw these two falls from both sides of the river, once done on the Hinerau Walk we crossed the road bridge and walked down the Aniwaniwa Falls Track to get the alternate views. The path ended next to the river near where it empties into Lake Waikaremoana and there were some nice views across to thick forest and stands of toitoi.

Photo by Brendon & Keryn

Photo by Brendon & Keryn

Photo by Brendon & Keryn

Walking back uphill we stopped a few times for more photos and then went back to the car. At the motorcamp we prepared dinner in the common area kitchen, sharing the space with a few tourists and a school group who seemed to have enough food to cater for twice their number. While it stayed damp we were lucky in that we never really had any heavy rain or wind, so a good sleep was possible. We had found our old air mattress had a leak while camping in Napier so had bought a new one from the warehouse. I’m glad the deflation occurred while we were able to easily procure a replacement.