Urewera Tramp - Waikaremoana Holiday Park

Large stick insect Robin discovered

Today is a day of rest!

Tired Robin after the last two days of tramping

After two day’s of walking, today is a rest day before beginning the next three days of tramping in the Whirinaki Te Pua-a-Tāne Conservation Park.

I spent the morning writing my blog and then Julianne led us on a small adventure to see some waterfalls which were located nearby to the Waikaremoana Holiday Park.

It was surprising how wonderful some of these waterfalls were and that there was no one else in the vicinity, and there was no advertising about them – all very strange. Everyone in the holiday park is focused on the Great Walk or fishing.

For lunch we had yummy lamb and mint pies from the holiday park shop and the afternoon was spent relaxing in the water. There is a pontoon floating just off the shore which tips if there is too much weight on one side which is a lot of fun. I spent several hours in the water on this ponton with people who were also staying in the holiday park.

I already knew about a special sustainable road trial which was happening in the area through my sustainability work and I interested in seeing it; so around 5.30pm Robin and I drove the car 20 minutes up the road to see a gravel road which uses pine tree oil as its base - a waste product from the paper industry. It look a bit to find it but we finally found this small test road which is not obvious as one gravel road looks like another when driving on it. I found it interesting to physically see this sustainable road after reading about it – the base underneath the gravel is softer and has a slight bounce compared to the harder rock under a normal gravel road.

The late afternoon and evening were spent making sure everything was ready for the tramp tomorrow which is going to be a long drive followed by a long walk.