Te Urewera Mainland Island
Introduction
A walk through Te Urewera Mainland Island offers visitors a unique opportunity to view and experience a true and real New Zealand.
Te Urewera Mainland Island was created in the northern end of the Te Urewera National Park in 1996.
The fourth largest national park in New Zealand, and the largest in the North Island, Te Urewera National Park covers 212, 673 hectares.
Te Urewera Mainland Island
from Te Rangaakapua
The park is unique in that it contains the full complement of North Island native forest birds, apart from weka.
Features
Dawn chorus
Te Urewera offers a wonderful wake up call with the beautiful sounds of the kokako, tui and bellbird carrying far across the forest.
During the day
A good sign of a successful restoration programme is to witness birds such as kereru and kaka feeding and flying about. Small birds, like fantail, robin, and tomtit seem to flirt with you as they fly in front of your face.
At dusk
On warm, fine nights, keep an eye out for long tailed bats (pekapeka), often confused with swallows as the flit over the water or along the bush edge.
During the night
Although you will not see kiwi during the day, you may be lucky enough to hear kiwi calls throughout the night. You're almost bound to hear the Morepork calling at night during the summer. It has the eerily silent flight that only owls can achieve.
Location
Te Urewera Mainland Island is accessed via the Waimana Valley at the north end of Te Urewera National Park.
Getting there
Via the Waimana Valley the Bell Road turnoff from State Highway 2 is one of the main access routes to this part of the park. The road travels about 30 km up the valley to the Matahi Valley Road end. Caution is advised as most of this road is unsealed, narrow and windy.
Activities
Bird watching