{"id":321664,"date":"2025-11-27T14:28:53","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T14:28:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/uncategorized\/a-wandering-widow-solo-travel-the-stunning-te-waihou-walkway-and-blue-springs\/"},"modified":"2025-11-27T14:28:53","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T14:28:53","slug":"a-wandering-widow-solo-travel-the-stunning-te-waihou-walkway-and-blue-springs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=321664","title":{"rendered":"A Wandering Widow – Solo Travel: The Stunning Te Waihou Walkway and Blue Springs"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\u00a0New Zealand is crammed full of beautiful places but despite having lived here all my life I find there are always more to discover.\u00a0 I had long planned to walk along the Te Waihou River to visit the Blue Springs but never quite got around to it.\u00a0 As luck would have it it was a planned hike with the Auckland Global Trekkers hiking group, which I have joined\u00a0 recently, and was an opportunity I couldn’t let pass by.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

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At the start of the walk from White’s Rd end.<\/b><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

This sublime riverside walk is located in the rolling green farmlands of the South Waikato between the towns of Tirau and Putaruru and about a two hour drive from Auckland. You can enter the walk from either end, the Leslie Rd entrance is a shorter walk, taking about 15 minutes to reach the spring. It is suitable for wheel chairs and baby buggies. Our group of 42 was keen to follow the length of the trail so entered from Whites Rd to walk the 9.4 kilometres return.\u00a0 It is not particularly challenging although there were a few muddy patches, which will have dried up by summer, and a couple of steep staircases to negotiate, but all in all not arduous. Recent work on the track has provided boardwalks and new steps with handrails.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

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From the entrance you pass grazing cows which fix you with a quizzical gaze as you pass. The path then leads through wetlands along the river banks.\u00a0 The view of emerald green water plants under the crystal clear flowing water, backed by limestone cliffs, is stunning. The water, fed by the Blue\u00a0 Spring, flows at the rate of 9240 gallons a minute and maintains a constant temperature of 11 degrees all year round.\u00a0 From it’s\u00a0 source on the Mamaku Plateau it takes 100 years to filter through limestone\u00a0 before producing water said to be amongst the purest in the world and which is used for around 70% of the bottled water sold in New Zealand.<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Spectacular –\u00a0 plants under crystalline water and backed by basalt cliffs<\/b><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


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