At the moment I'm located in Matamata in New Zealand's North Island and the closest area of walks to me is the south section of the Kaimia Mamaku Forest Park. It lies just east of Matamata and is about a 30 minutes drive from my location. Due to this I decided to do some short walks into the area to get a feel for it and to keep my legs functioning on the walking front. It would be good to do a full walk at some point, which usually takes a couple of days at least, but unfortunately there probably won't be time for that before I go. These are the walks I've done so far.
Wairere Falls
This is probably one of the most used and easily accessible tracks in the area, with a well maintained path and lots of wooden board walks and steps.
It is, however, still a very steep climb in places, though it does at least start relatively gentle and flat at the beginning.
You can either stop roughly half way up the walk to get a good view of the falls or you can carry on up to the top to get a pretty amazing view of the surrounding area from above the falls. I actually did this walk on a whim and wasn't wearing the most appropriate clothing for it at all, but I still found it pretty comfortable though a little muggy.
The initial plan was just to go to the first stop, but I decided to carry on up and was glad that I did.
This walk can also be the starting point for a much longer walk as it joins onto other paths that lead east deeper into the Kaimai and I plan to do that at a later date. Definitely a good walk and worth going to.
Rapurapu Kauri Track
This track starts at a 'blink and you'll miss it' car park off State Highway 29 and is a go and return track. I thought it was an enjoyable walk, not too physically difficult apart from the eight crossings over the Rapurapu Stream.
It also goes through different environments, including pine forests and mature tawa/ podocarp forests, which adds a bit of visual variation to your walk. Unfortunately I didn't make it to the end as some of the streams hadn't lowered as much as I thought they would after some rainfall and one just felt to high for me to cross safely whilst walking on my own.
I could have wadded through the stream, but I had planned to do some more walking in the afternoon and didn't want to have to deal with soaked boots. My boots actually do a pretty good job at staying waterproof through most things I put them through, I even find myself in situations where the socks above the boots are wet but my feet are nice and dry, but I don't think they would survive through full on wadding.
I also didn't have a stick with my which I could use to steady myself in the water. I will try this one again, probably in the afternoon when it won't matter so much if my boots get very, very wet.
North Henderson Tramline
This is part of a circuit you can do which includes part of the North South Track. You start from the Old Kaimai Road off State Highway 29, which is an amusing road that's half good surfacing and half full gravel track - always good.
I started this quite late in the afternoon so the plan was to only walk to the North South Track junction and back rather than doing the whole loop. There are a few relatively easy stream crossings and a few steep inclines, but otherwise it was quite a nice easy walk.
This is mostly forest with a dirt/ mud track, with some scrambling up trees roots and up banks, but it does go through some open farmland at the start. Whilst this track felt different from the first two I had taken into the Kaimai, it was very familiar to the those I walked afterwards.
North South Track to Hurunui Hut
This track starts from a much more obvious car park on the Kaimai Summit of State Highway 29. There's a small stream at the start that becomes really difficult to cross if there's been some rain, and which had actually stopped me doing this walk before, but was low enough for me to get over.
It then heads straight north up the Kaimai, all in forest and with only a few streams, real scrambling point to get over (I did get pretty dirty doing this walk, always a sign of a good walk), and some quite steep sections which made it quite a satisfying walking experience.
I walked up until the Hurunui Hut, where I had lunch, and then returned back to the car. As I said, the walk felt very similar to the North Henderson Tramline walk I'd done before and you spend a lot of time under forest cover without any other view.
If you are wanting a good view of the surrounding area, this isn't the walk to take. However, it does keep you out of the sun, just not tye heat unfortunately.
Te Tuhi Track to Mangamuka Hut
I didn't have a lot of time to do this walk, so I decided to just walk along this walk until I was half way through my time available and then walk back.
This started at a small parking spot at the end of Te Tuhi Road and walks across some private farmland until you get into the forest. You cross a few streams, but this track is mostly a pretty steep climb up the side of the Kaimai and probably is one of the quickest ways of getting into upper area of the park.
You can carry on along the path to get to the North South Track or to do a loop walk that takes you back to the lower section of the track. However I decided to follow the path south towards Mangamuka Hut, which took me on a not very used path that disappeared from view on a regular basis and which needed some thought and clambering to get through.
I actually quite enjoy this type of walking, which requires your brain to be in gear too, which is just as well as the scenery was basically identical to the scenery of the last two walks. There is a viewing point which would probably be amazing, but the e day that I walked it the whole area was carpetted in fog.
The only real issue was the fact that it was very hot and muggy that day, making the walk quite uncomfortable at times and I was glad I'd brought a spare top with me to change into when I was back at the car.
These have only been very short excursions into the park and obviously don't really give a good description of what walking through Kaimai Mamaky Forest Park could be like. They do require you to be relatively fit with quite a bit of scrambling in places, especially if you're short like me, which make them quite a physically interesting way of spending your time. The main issue for me is that the scenery on each walk has pretty much been identical. This fact is great for the wildlife and ecology of the park (and exactly what you would want for a reserve like this - ignoring the many invasive species of course), but does mean that they are not the most fascinating of walks ever. I think this is definitely an area where long distance walking trips are a much better option than day trips. The muddy scramblings were still fun though.
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