One of New Zealand’s Great Walks is to be reopened after being closed for nearly a year by flood damage. Te Urewera Board says that the Lake Waikaremoana Great Walk will take its first walkers from January 10 next year, after flood damage caused by Cyclone Gabrielle in February.

Bookings are already being taken by the DoC Great Walks website, with excellent availability from Onepoto to Hopuruahine Landing. The exception is Whanganui Hut which is being removed from the trail.

Weather damage to the trail and high waters led to trail inspections being delayed until weeks after Cyclone Gabrielle had departed. The Waikaremoana trail was the only trail without an opening date during this year’s Great Walk booking window.

The year-long recovery work and rebuilding and bridge recovery was led by Te Uru Taumatua, the board and Ngai Tūhoe, as guardians of Te Urewera forest.

The Department of Conservation contributed $550,000 of its cyclone recovery funding to the cause, according to Waatea News.

A compilation of the flooding from Lake Waikaremoana after Cyclone Gabrielle. Photo / Tūhoe

After the Heaphy Track reopened for through-hikers in October, the Waikaremoana was the last trail on the network still recovering from last summer’s extreme storm damage.

The news that the Great Walk through Te Urewera will be reopening comes days after a high court ruling that the demolition of backcountry huts by Te Uru Taumatua was unlawful, RNZ reported last week.

The 29 huts which were burned in 2022 by the DoC Director General and the Te Urewera Board acted contrary to the Urewera Act, which preserves freedom of public access and protection of its ecosystems.

Lake Waikaremoana Great Walk, how hard is it?

Te Urewera’s Great Walk in the centre of New Zealand’s North Island is a 3-night backcountry trail through Ngai Tūhoe’s ancestral ipukarea.

46km long, it follows the Western shore of the Lake Waikaremoana, and is looked after by Te Uru Taumatua, Ngai Tūhoe’s operational entity. There are four huts and five campsites, with plenty of accommodation for walkers. Despite sticking closely to the inland lake the trail climbs 600m to Panekire Ridge and walkers are advised to carry all their supplies and prepare for changeable weather and alpine conditions.

Huts on the Lake Waikaremoana Great Walk don’t have gas cooking facilities, lighting or toilet paper.