Waikaremoana

The long anticipated great walk....

It was a bit of a rough start as when we arrived it was snowing...and just to illustrate the amount of moisture from the sky we received the three days we were in the bush the lake rose one meter!


Most of the trek was just walking so there isn't much narrating to do however there were some highlights to be noted other wise the pictures will speak for them selves.

The first notable highlight was my successful conducting of a river crossing.  The whole thing was a bit sketchy in that it was raining and the river was rising at a rapid constant rate but in the end every one safely crossed the river and back again under my direction.  The prize of crossing the river??  to view the amazing Korokro water falls!

I must also mention that the rain was so torrential that we couldn't actually camp in our tents and had to utilize the trek cabins as every camp site was flooded, and that the first third of the trek was not accessible due to the snow on the track so we had to get transported by boat to skip that portion.
During the last night we spent in the bush at the cabin we were quiet bored so we had a group wrestling competition.  Well every student had an aim to take out the teachers, and after several hours of heckling I decided to take part, however none of the students lasted longer than 1 minute in the ring because I am an animal!

The last notable mention is that I nearly had to babysit an exchange student from china the entire time.  This kid showed up to the trek leaving area in jeans with a school back pack and his laptop....needless to say he moved slower than pond water.  The drive back he was sandwiched between me and another student.  He has no concept of personal space and sprawled out making the drive back miserable.  To combat this as he sprawled out and his head drooped to my shoulder I took off a nasty dirty sock and put it on my shoulder so when his drooling face hit my shoulder he was face first into my nasty sock!


Well here are the photo's of the trek I hope you all enjoy.

Waterfall on the way to the lake

Crossing a river

Wet and soggy at Korokoro falls

Entwined trees on the trek

misty lake..

me and a waterfall

NZ swans and early morning mist

Misty morning lake from the cabin

Cabin and lake

misty lake again..

on the trek...

NZ palm fern wt lake in the back ground

One of the many suspension bridges

Big smile, no rain!

moss covered log on the trek

Wild flowers...

Now sunny lake

waterfall on the last few kilometers of walking

Students enjoying the end of the trek jumping into the icy lake