This is Why You Take Extra Shoes!

The next morning, we awoke to very wet grounds, but no rainfall coming down. Fred and I grabbed our headlamps and walked along the upper Karangahake Gorge tracks, across a swingbridge, through a tunnel, and ended up along the river with amazing scenery.

We returned to the campervan and headed back to the main highway. We wanted to stop and check out Owharoa Falls. Fred stopped and was taking photos and there were some huge rocks in the river below the falls that were begging to be walked on. These were huge rocks, maybe 3-4 feet across and very flat on top. There was maybe a foot between them. But when I went to step on that last rock, it was slippery and I fell between the rocks. I instinctively grabbed my purse and held it above me, so it stayed dry. But I was soaked from my hips down. This proved to be my first of many falls that day.

After changing into some dry pants and shoes, we drove to Waihi Beach and took the track that led north to Orakawa Beach. It was a beautiful track along the coastline and we found a couple of geocaches along the way.

We got a little confused trying to find the trail to William Wright Falls. It was deemed a “tramping” track and not a “walking” track. We quickly found out the difference as this was narrow and crossed streams several times. If it weren’t for the orange triangles marking the track, we would have easily lost it.

Once at the falls, there was a group of about 5 teens from Canada high up on the rockface enjoying the waterfall. They were agreeable to us taking pictures of them and we returned to the carpark at the beach.

We stopped for a beer not far away and also had time to hike to Tuahu Kauri, the southern-most big kauri tree. Not a must do, to be honest. We live in the redwoods, so I suppose large trees don’t impress us much.

Our destination that night was Waimarino Adventure Park in Tauranga. I know that sounds like the furthest thing from anything we would do, but they offered a glowworm kayak tour. I had messaged ahead and had been given permission to park our campervan in the back of the park, along the river, in a grassy area. We found a driveway that looked to be the right one. A woman there confirmed that she was the owner and directed us down the hill to our “spot”. Then we wandered onto the grounds and saw a man around kayaks in a trailer. His name was Tim and he recognized our lost and bewildered looks right away and said he would be our kayak guide.

So with Tim driving and our kayaks loaded on a trailer behind, we made our way to Lake McLaren (with a little help from the blond owner lady to get the rig up the newly-graveled driveway). Tim stopped at Minden Lookout that overlooked Tauranga (to be honest, he was killing time because sunset was so late). It was very scenic and we could see the wreckage of the Ship Rena that had grounded in the bay only two months earlier.

When we arrived at the lake, Tim set out our dinner. It was enough for 8 people! There were some very nice salads, sandwiches, and tidbits. Wine was also offered. Tim is very energetic and we never saw him walk or stand still. He told us he was the 6^th or 7^th person to have ever circumnavigated New Zealand in a kayak. Then when dinner was finished, we outfitted in our kayaking gear and set out across the lake at twilight. At the far end was a slough we paddled up and the glowworms could be seen along the banks high above us. It was a very magical sight!

Tim drove us back to Waimarino and we bedded down for the night.

The Adventure Continues>>>