Waikaremoana great walk

Sorry no, but I've used the Wakairemoana Holiday Park in the past, and they've been reliable. The best way to do the trail is to be dropped at Whanganui Hut and hike back to your car, can't really miss that way. I've never liked the idea of waiting for some boat to arrive at the end of a hike when I have no means of communication. Thankfully, the trail ends at the hut now, years ago it went about 2kms past to the old boat pickup location. Saying that, you could simply hike out to the road then hitch back if needed. But it would add probably 5-6 kms of walking to the road I would think.

We walked Manuoha-Lake Waikareiti loop in November 18. i had a very interesting conversation with the main lady who runs the visitor centre there, (not a tramper what so ever). Her words were, Ngai Tuhoe will be taking a hands off approach to the area, including removing rubbish bins from the local camp areas, installing a cell tower so people can book huts on their devices/check weather/find info rather than visit the centre itself. Their aim is to make it a "sort your own life out, dont bother us" regarding the great walk, its surrounds and road in conditions, this includes clearing the tracks and keeping the huts up and running, this from now on will be done by those who use the park. the water taxi had suddenly stopped (im guessing politics) and Tuhoe were doing road trailhead runs for free (at that time). We were the last ones transported to Manuoha trailhead, you have to hitch or add that to the great walk pick up/drop off now, or leave your car...... The reason the great walk not upgraded from storm is because cell tower was getting installed at that time and the road from there to Wairoa needed fixing before the great walk,(for workers to get in), the great walk was a low priority. The manuoha hut was in a terrible state. We met a few grumpy great walk walkers who had paid for a water taxi to divert the bad bits, only to find track was doable, only the bridges are washed out. It was like getting blood out of a stone to plan this trip and after that conversation i know why. It disturbed me greatly that this was how the area was to be run in the future, yet in Ruatahuna (spelling) there is a brand spanking new monstrosity that could sit very nicely in queenstown. A lodge, accommodation, restaurant, mini supermarket, laundry, showers etc, yet no money to spare to replace the unusable fireplace in Manuoha hut, fly out the mountain of rubbish in the meat safe or repair the great walk. the campground has EXCELLENT showers for five bucks, we prefered to camp at Mokau landing though.

This is discouraging. I've been following the discussion on waynowski's facebook face as well. I've had to reach the unfortunate conclusion that I won't be lining the Waikaremoana Great Walk up for my family. Question is - will DOC consider revoking the Great Walk status?

It would be a sensible idea to remove it from Great Walk status until it is once again Great Walk standard. In saying that i totally get where Tuhoe is coming from, they just need to let everyone else know what they are doing or not doing so we can make informed choices about the area and be prepared. The lady i spoke to said they were in the process of doing that, making new signage etc. If you were looking that way for a family walk, Lake Tarawera with its hot water beach is hard to beat with kids.

if tuhoe want to continue down this road they should stop charging the same price for the great walk when they arent bothering to put much effort into maintaining the track, few people are going to want to pay if it keeps going in this direction, then the money will just dry up completely

I thought Doc still maintained the actual walk?????

no, its all been handed over to Tuhoe, DOC just run the booking site

According to this article, the walk is managed by Tuhoe, but DOC continue to own the assets like bridges and huts. https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/110431160/large-section-of-one-of-new-zealands-great-walks-temporarily-closed-by-swingbridge They seem to be politely blaming each other regarding how long it's taking to sort out these issues.

Whatever, the prospects don't look great reading that article and the other on stuff website linked to from it, and similar on the NZ Hearlad site https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/110297191/calls-for-tougher-restrictions-at-lake-waikaremoana-after-vandalism-and-rubbish-dumped-by-visitors?rm=m https://www.nzherald.co.nz/the-country/news/article.cfm?c_id=16&objectid=12203069 I had been considering kayaking the Lake with some walking, which I have done a couple of times before (as well as walking the full track on an earlier visit) and so wouldn't have been too effected by the track closure. However apparent state of the huts, long drops and general attitude puts me off.

if you havent got staff on the ground theres little to stop people littering.