We had read about a walk here which takes you to he heart of the Tarawera Forest to locate Tarawera Falls. Tarawara means ´burnt spear´named by a visiting hunter who left his bird spears in a hut, and on returning the following season, found both the spears and the hut had been burnt.
Firstly, you have to buy a forest permit to allow you to access the area, which can be brought from Karerua? at the information centre, costing five NZ dollars. From here you are given a map to direct you through the small town towards the forestry trails used by the huge logging trucks daily. The road is a gravel (very dusty) one, so you have to keep your headlights on at all times incase you are covered in a cloud by a passing truck.
From the carpark, there is a fifteen minute walk through the forest with the Tarawera river running next to you. The water is so clear it is amazing. You cross over a wooden bridge with the water flowing beneath you before reaching the falls themselves. They are amazing to see with river water gushing out from the volcanic cliff face in front of you. You can then continue the track upwards through the forest to follow the river further, behind the falls. Here you will find cascading waterfalls and deep water pools. The river actually disappears this point, from beneath the falls, and travels through the fractures in the volcanic rock ahead of it, to surge out with great force at the start of the Tarawera Falls below.
The area itself is so pretty, babbling streams, deep water pools and powerful cascading water. The birds are singing the crickets are chirping and the water is pounding. You can actually continue to walk up to Lake Tarawera, a four hour return trip, but we decided to head back and drive over to the lake (due to tender feeling feet and ankles from the last hike!) On the trip back down the native, pine forest trail, we stopped to take some photos of the river. The bottom has patches of a water moss growing on it which are bright, lime green in colour. You can see the white sand and small pebbles through the clear water…..beautiful!
At this point, Dani decided to get in and have a dip! After a few curse words whilst getting in, it was decided that it wasn´t so cold once you were in We took the forestry track back towards the lake, situated at 315m, and a little time there just admiring the view and appreciating the silence. Calm clear water as far as they eye could see. Black swans gracefully swimming with resident ducks splashing in and out of the water as they took off and landed into the lake…..surrounded by tree covered rolling hillsides and bright blue sky…….hmmm, what more can I say….idyllic!…..and tomorrow we head west to Raglan…..surf mecca