Lake McLaren — Attraction in North Island

Our destination for the night was McLaren Falls Park. For $20 dollars you can camp in the park on three designated camp sites. There is a single loo on each site, so you don’t actually have to be self-contained. We parked at the edge looking out over the lake where there were some very noisy ducks, coots, black swans and geese.  After we set-up, a few other vans and tents arrived. It was not crowded, but probably the busiest site we had been on.

The ranger who came by to verify we had paid suggested visiting the glow worm area. This was a narrow, dank path along a river. Going up the path to the waterfall it was still too light to see the  glow works, but coming back they were out. We could see them on both sides of the river. They were an...

Our guide Estelle was so friendly and incredibly professional with regards to safety and keeping us warm/dry! Spectacular surroundings, so peaceful and magical, especially on a night with such clear skies when we were able to see the whole of the Milky Way!Went down the rapids around Maclarens Falls with a group of us for a Bucks Party. All hung over but managed to survive the...

We went on a dusk kayaking trip along the lake to see the glow worms. Apart from the magic of the glow worms I was impressed by the beauty of the lakeside fauna. The exotic trees are large and I was interested to see some growing even though they are submerged in the water! The native forest is stunning with lots of...