Waikaremoana Great Walk set to reopen in early January

The Waikaremoana Great Walk was closed after Cyclone Gabrielle this year. A huge combined effort has ensured the walk will reopen on January 10. Department of Conservation picture

The Waikaremoana Great Walk will reopen in the new year on January 10 after being closed for nearly a year after Cyclone Gabrielle.

An intensive work programme to repair severe damage sustained during the cyclone and previous severe weather events. has been undertaken .

“We are delighted to welcome whānau and manuhiri (guests) to Waikaremoana for part of the summer season of 2024,” Te Urewera Board spokesperson Kirsti Luke said.

“Our Wairoa, Gisborne and Hawke’s Bay communities have had a difficult year, and we hope Te Urewera can offer recreation and relief.”

Te Urewera Board will attend the reopening on  January 10 to acknowledge teams, locals and support crews who have made the reopening possible.

Waikaremoana, including the Great Walk, was closed after the impacts of Cyclone Gabrielle and excessive lake levels washed out tracks, flooded huts and dump stations, and caused significant damage to the Waiopāoa cable bridge, requiring a replacement. Te Uru Taumatua, the Tūhoe iwi authority which manages Te Urewera on behalf of Te Urewera Board, led the repair and maintenance programme. DoC contributed $550,000 from its cyclone recovery funding, as well as technical support with the replacement bridge.

“The flooding was so extensive it wasn’t possible to even inspect the damage for a month after the cyclone,” Blair Waiwai from the Waikaremoana team said.

“It has been a huge effort by our wider tribal teams within Te Uru Taumatua, with help from DoC, friends and external contractors, to get the Great Walk up to or better than DoC standards to re-open on January 10.”

“We were also stoked that friends of Te Urewera pitched in to help,” Te Uru Taumatua operations group manager Chino Apiata said,

“They included volunteers from the New Zealand Back Country Trust who together repaired and refreshed Panekire hut, at the highest point of the Great Walk. We have all pulled together to re-open and welcome locals and manuhiri back.”

The work programme comprised:

• the repair and maintenance of the huts and staff quarters  at Panekire, Waiopāoa, Maraunui/Marauiti and Waiharuru,

• hut/campsites and facilities — exteriors and interiors, shelters, water supply and toilets

• special purpose road repaired in Hopuruahine

• maintenance to short walks and structures at Lake Waikaremoana to reinstate the range of visitor experiences available at Waikaremoana — Lake Waikareiti, Black Beech Walk, Tawa Walk.

Bookings for the Waikaremoana Great Walk can be made through the Department of Conservation booking system.