Te Urewera NP

By Jen.

The loop around the East Cape from north to south brought us near Te Urewera National Park, where there is a Great Walk around Lake Waikaremoana. We figured it was worth a detour to go check it out. Unfortunately, the weather was forecasting lots of rain over the next week, so we didn’t know how much we would get to enjoy. Fall rains are here and days have just over 10 hours of sunlight. When we arrived, we had just enough time to run up to Lou’s Lookout before it started pouring. I am glad we did! I had picked it on a whim, but it ended up being an unexpectedly fun walk up and around and through limestone rocks to a legitimate lookout over the lake.

The next day we had rain off an on, but it started off without rain.

We decided to hit up some waterfalls first.

Toi toi plants.

A tall, old rata tree.

This one is aged between 800-1000 years old.

We then made our way to Lake Waikareiti

The sun finally came out to play right before sunset.

You can see why it is called the “sea of rippling waters.”

The next day was rainy again and so we decided to skip the last walk and kayak and just head out and down south again.

Fun Facts: Apparently NZ is small enough for them to justify counting and publishing the number of lightning strikes experienced during a storm. After a front passes through, there were be an article with a headline similar to "Over 1000 lightning strikes near Auckland last night." I just found it bizarre that they cared so much about it, as I came from the Kansas Plains where lightning was fairly commonplace and never really announced. I don't think I have ever heard how many lightning strikes occurred during a storm in the States.