Latitude 38 Degrees South - Lake Waikaremoana - Day 1

The day began with a 3 hour scenic drive from Rotorua, We journeyed through plantation pine forests and remote villages, and then through dense rainforest into the heart of Te Urewera National Park and the secluded Lake Waikaremoana.

Firstly we stopped to pick up the "boat man", Rob. We then had morning tea alongside a marae honouring  the ancestor of a local family who had fought with Te Kuiti in the Maori Wars.
The road soon turned to gravel and was reminiscent of the mountain roads of Peru, but not nearly as bad. I had a front seat as I was picked up first, and I had warned them that I did suffer from travel sickness occasionally.
There were 7 people booked onto the hike including myself - two French speaking ladies from New Caledonia in their 60's, two other Australians - a lady from Canberra and a man from Bathurst, one Kiwi lady and a lad from US who is currently studying in Auckland. We arrived at Hopururahine at around 12 noon - the start of the Lake Waikaremoana Walking Legends Walk is actually the end of the official Great Walk Track
The walk began with us crossing a suspension bridge, (the first of many) and the track following an estuary, home to a variety of water birds, before we caught our first glimpse of the lake itself. The hike followed the shores of the Whanganui Inlet and we reached our lunch spot at Whanganui Hut after about 90 mins.

The guide, Callum had sussed us all out by lunchtime and had sensed that some of us were stronger hikers than others. He sent us off after lunch to "walk at your own pace". The track was boggy in places with fallen logs and tree roots common obstacles
I reached Waiharuru Hut completing our 10.5 km afternoon hike about 30 mins ahead of the pack where we were welcomed with drinks and a cheese platter. First things first, there was an opportunity not to be missed and a promise to keep to myself - to have a swim in the lake. The water was cold, but not as cold as I had experienced in the Aussie Alps a few years back.

Refreshed and changed into clean clothes, a hearty cooked meal awaited. Tonight - porterhouse steak with mash and salad, followed by fruit salad. A long twilight delayed the star -gazing and I was entertained by the guides strumming some familiar and not-so-familiar NZ musical tunes on the acoustic guitar. There was a possum skulking around but unfortunately (according to the guides) it did not take up any of the baits in the nearby traps. However, we were lucky to hear the night time calls of the North Island brown kiwi and the morepork / ruru.