5 days, 4 friends, 3 boats, 1 lake. Much fun! Kayaking Lake Waikaremoana

Who: Shirley, Annette and two friends
When:  9-15 Jan, 2013  

Five day trip, approx. 4 hours paddling per day. 

Deep in the heart of Te Urewera National Park is Lake Waikaremoana.  This treasure is home to one of New Zealand’s great walks.  But we weren’t interested in tramping it, we were here to paddle it.  

Day One:  travelling

This is one of the most beautiful places in New Zealand, well worth the drive to get to it.  This area boasts the longest stretch of gravel road in the country. It takes time to drive with a trailer of kayaks and gear.  But let me tell you that it is worth every bump. It is about 5 hours drive from Auckland.  You can approach it from the other end and avoid the gravel road, or you can stay over in Rotorua on the down to break up the journey.  We stayed at the Mokau Landing DOC campsite.   

Tip:  We had some free time that afternoon to drive along to the visitors centre at the corner of State Highway 38 and Aniwaniwa Road.  This was a great idea as we could ask them for up-to-date weather information and also let them know our plans.  It is important to make sure that people are aware of where you plan to head in case something goes wrong.  Rescue is much quicker if people know where you are. 

Day Two: Bumpy Seas – 2 hours paddling

It took us longer to pack up the kayaks and get ourselves ready than we expected.  We have learned since we did this kayak that packing takes time.  By the time we had packed we were in need of a cuppa.  What better to use than my brand new kettle!

Tea tastes better when made in a red kettle.

Unfortunately our slow progress meant the winds picked up.  We learned from kayakers we met later on, that early morning and late afternoon are the calmest times on a lake.  If you have a difficult patch to tackle don’t do it in the middle of the day.  Unaware of this we headed off to cross a narrow part of the lake… in the middle of the day.  

Here we are waiting for the winds to die down

 across the Whanganui Inlet.

The winds dropped a bit and we decided to start our journey.  Looking back on that crossing we learned a couple of important things: 

1)      If windy weather is forecast, as I mentioned, don’t cross in the middle of the day

2)      Talk about your plans as a team and make sure everyone understands the plan – before you launch.  Once you are out in the middle of a bumpy sea it is impossible to communicate! It is important to stick together and make sure that everyone is doing okay. 

With all that said, we made it safely across and found ourselves a wonderful camping spot.  We named it ‘Best Camp’ but its official name is Otekuri Bay. 

Around Lake Waikaremoana we free camped.  This means we simply pulled into a bay and found flat ground to pitch our two tents.  We had been told about a couple of good spots that are used often, and we found a couple of new spots on the way.  Make sure you take biodegradable toilet paper and a small spade with you.  And in the absence of showers you will need biodegradable liquid soap to wash in the lake. This is a national park so putting toxic products into the lake is not a wise idea. I bought a good product from an outdoors shop that worked as a soap, dishwashing liquid and shampoo.

This is my idea of a perfect breakfast spot!

Day two: Umbrellas.  A whole day paddling.

A beautiful day awaited us so we packed up camp and headed out around the headland and through what is known as The Narrows.  This is a tricky stretch of water.  During certain times of the year this narrow stretch of water can be very dangerous.  We were cautious, but the day was lovely and our progress was good. Once we exited The Narrows, some good puffs of wind meant we were able to put Ciao’s sails up and move along at speed. We decided to try out our new toys:  umbrellas!  A good sturdy golf umbrella acts like a kayak sail. 

Mary Poppins

This was the first trip where we tried out umbrellas as kayak sails.  Kirstie achieved great success! She may not look like she is moving, but she is. 

However, we soon learned a good lesson with our umbrellas.  When holding an umbrella it is important to have this firmly attached to your kayak or life jacket by a strap.  If not, a very strong gust of wind will come along and launch the umbrella into the air and send it into the lake where it will sink to the bottom.  There it will remain no matter how hard you try to retrieve it. 

Here lies Molly the Brolly...

We abandoned Molly and headed along the coastline to a campsite we had been told about.  However, it was already occupied and those camping there were not at all keen to share it with us. This is the downside of free camping, you need to be flexible to changes of plans. So, we headed back the way we came to a flat patch we had spotted.  By the time we arrived our arms were jelly and we would go no further! 

Picture perfect?

It looks like a perfect camping spot but you cannot smell a photo… we named this spot ‘Stinky Bay Camp’. The highlight was that it was here Shirley tried out her new recipe; putting cake mix inside an orange and cooking it in the embers of the fire. Delicious!! All you have to do is hollow out some oranges, mix up a pre-bought cake mix with a bit of their juice, oil and water, (we added condensed milk too for a bit of extra luxury,) fill the oranges to three quarters, wrap them in foil and place them in the embers for about ten minutes.

Look at that intense concentration!

Night fell and we settled in to sleep.  It was then that we discovered that this is the place where the Wild Things play. Wild pigs, deer and possums all danced through the camp.  Tripping over the guy ropes of our tents, snorting and shrieking.  If you camp here then prepare yourself for a fun night!

Day three:  From Stink to Paradise – 5 hours easy paddling.

The day greeted us with a light breeze and sunshine.  Rather lacking in sleep, we packed and left our stinky camp site behind.  Hugging the coastline we explored the several tributaries off the side of the lake.  Beautiful still waters and a great way to start the day.

This bridge is where the Great Walk crosses the river.

 

After a gorgeous day paddling we found our way to a lovely white sand beach with flat ground for our tents.  What a spot to camp for the night. The definition of idyllic.

An added bonus was meeting some people on a launch who came back later on with a cooked trout for us, recently caught in the lake.  Hospitality in the wild!

Day Four: Facing the wind -  6 hours paddling

How do I describe day four?  What words can describe the feeling of extreme smallness in the face of extreme majesty? Let me try my best.

After visiting the Korokoro falls (by foot), we headed around the southern edge of the lake, hugging the shore as the winds picked up. It was hard work, each stroke of the paddles seeming to move us a tiny distance. Our only break was finding a bay that provided enough shelter for us to light the gas stove and brew a pot of tea with our lunch. It also meant riding some waves into shore, a bit of fun and exhilaration! 

We decided over lunch that we needed to push on and get through The Narrows to the other side. Our concern was that if the weather worsened we could be stuck on the Wairaumoana arm of the lake, and could wait for days for it to change. So, we worked out that we could handle it, and then headed back out into the fray.  Shirley and I were in Ciao and she does not handle a strong headwind. We were really struggling. But the day was Sunday and we were in the most majestic cathedral we knew. Tall, bush clothed mountains rising above us out of a stormy sea. So we started to sing, songs of praise to God. And as we sang we picked up pace, powering into each stroke. We discovered just the energy we needed to keep going.  We highly recommend singing while kayaking!

And then we came to The Narrows.  Facing the Panekiri bluff, we lined up Ciao, pointing her nose straight ahead.  With the waves and wind pushing us from behind we had to keep her straight and true.  And then we rode the waves! The others hugged the shore, using the hills to provide some shelter. I will never forget how very small I felt in that moment, completely at the mercy of the sea. I didn’t feel afraid, but instead in complete awe of the beauty of the scenery all around us.

This photo does not do it justice. 

Panekiri Bluff is to the right of the photo and 

is a dominating feature of the lake.

Not our best photo ever, but it captures 

the feeling of share exhilaration.  We made it!!

We arrived back at Best Camp completely buzzing. 

Day Five:the journey home - 1 1/2 hours paddling at most.

This time we faced the Whanganui inlet crossing with a lot more confidence.  We had spent five days on the lake and had arms of steel and bulging muscles!  It was a short paddle back to civilisation at Mokau Landing.  It was with very mixed feelings that we made land.  This was our first major kayak trip and the sense of accomplishment was great. We weren’t completely convinced we wanted it to end…

Tip:  We stayed in Rotorua on our way home to break up the journey.  We recommend you stay there, or at the Mokau Landing campsite, as you will feel exhausted after all the paddling.  

Evidence of bulging muscles.

Our Route there and back again:

Here’s the map we made.  You won’t see any of these names on a DOC map, but they tell our story.

What we did well:
1) We sought lots of good advice while planning this trip.  

2) We carried several copies of maps with us – laminated and in clear snaplock bags.  We attached these to the tops of our kayaks so you could access them at all times)

3) Take a copy of ‘Swallows and Amazons’ with you to read each night.  Every adventure must have a literary component.  

What we learned:

1) We can paddle for longer than we thought.   

2) When putting up Ciao’s sails it is important to avoid a sudden gust of wind that causes your boat to do a 180 degree turn on the spot.  Avoid having an audience of local fishermen watching you when you do this. Very embarrassing.