Lake Waikaremoana

Molly had to work all weekend- so again, I went tramping (backpacking in NZ). It was a quick 3 day trip to one of NZ's Seven Great Walks. It is steeped in Maori tradition and so everything is extra-hard to pronounce including the name of the lake. I took a boat to the trailhead and they dropped me off about 2.5 hours from this awesome, massive 40-bunk hut in a beautiful bay of the lake. The weather was perfect nearly the entire time with temps in the 70s, very little wind (rare for NZ this time of year), and no rain. No rain in a place that averages 8-9 feet per year!
The first photo is Panikiri Bluff that you hike to the top of where there is a hut that I stayed at. It looks down on the entire lake and there was a wonderful sunset. Since rain was not in the forecast, I thought that I would sleep out on the porch. Some high school kids thought that was a great idea too and of course stayed up talking until 11:30 after the sun went down at 9:00. It didn't' make me miss teaching. There were some nice people at the hut from all over NZ and one guy thought that I was Jerry Seinfeld. He laughed so hard when I told him "Happy wife, happy life," I didn't have the heart to tell him that I didn't invent that saying. I have no idea how he had never heard of it.

The lake is really busy in the summer, but this was a lull before Christmas. There were few boaters or fishermen who normally come for the awesome trout.

These falls were a nice side hike but unfortunately there was no way to get down to the base for a nice swim.

This photo is after the hike down from the Bluff. The hut is nearly at the top.

For some reason my new boots have take quite the toll on my feet. They have over 200 miles on them and should be broken in, but you can see the results. A great hike, 2 of the Great Walks down, 5 to go!

Lake