{"id":525031,"date":"2026-07-14T05:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T05:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/525031\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T05:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T05:02:09","slug":"lake-waikaremoana-holiday-park-sold-to-tuhoe-iwi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/525031\/","title":{"rendered":"Lake Waikaremoana holiday park sold to T\u016bhoe iwi"},"content":{"rendered":"

Te Uru Taumatua chief executive Kirsti Luke, in the statement, said the holiday park would continue to operate as usual and lake access would be maintained while \u201ccomplementing new investment and allowing for new experiences\u201d in Te Urewera.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a place where people can come to experience nature differently \u2013 where we are part of the forest, not separate and where visitors can enter the home of T\u016bhoe and feel at home themselves,\u201d Luke said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe strongest feedback we have about the Waikaremoana Great Walk now is the unique opportunity to experience and learn about the T\u016bhoe homeland and culture from our T\u016bhoe wardens. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe holiday park, which is the gateway to Te Urewera for many, enhances the connection between T\u016bhoe, Te Urewera and our guests.\u201d<\/p>\n

Te Urewera was recognised as its own legal personality by the world-first Te Urewera Act in 2014<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Luke said Te Urewera was not just the home of the Lake Waikaremoana Great Walk<\/a>, or beautiful scenery, or the largest rainforest in the North Island.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s more than all of these things. It\u2019s a place for recreation, learning and inspiration, and it\u2019s a place that changes you.\u201d<\/p>\n

DoC deputy director general regional operations Henry Weston said DoC and Te Uru Taumatua worked closely together in recent years to support the T\u016bhoe vision of Te Urewera.<\/p>\n

The transfer of the holiday park was a natural progression.<\/p>\n

\u201cTe Uru Taumatua has progressively invested in infrastructure, including upgrading water and waste systems at Panekire hut on the Great Walk, as well as new community facilities in Waikaremoana and Ruat\u0101huna,\u201d Weston said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe holiday park is in need of new investment, something Te Uru Taumatua is much better placed to deliver.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe transfer of the holiday park builds on that wholly Te Urewera experience and is something we\u2019re delighted to celebrate alongside Te Uru Taumatua.\u201d<\/p>\n

The land on which the holiday park sits is a part of the original lakebed of Waikaremoana. It is M\u0101ori freehold land owned by the T\u016bhoe Charitable Trust board and Wairoa-Waikaremoana M\u0101ori Trust Board. <\/p>\n

It has been leased to the Crown since 1967. <\/p>\n

The sale of the holiday park does not affect the lease or the underlying ownership, and lake access remains unchanged.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Te Uru Taumatua chief executive Kirsti Luke, in the statement, said the holiday park would continue to operate…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":525032,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1124,5907,1389,26034,189,50521,13207,111,43,139,69,8143,1133,3235,259825,259824,61,259823],"class_list":["post-525031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-authority","tag-completed","tag-conservation","tag-department","tag-holiday","tag-iwi","tag-lake","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-park","tag-sale","tag-sold","tag-taumatua","tag-thoe","tag-to","tag-waikaremoana"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=525031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/525032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=525031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=525031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=525031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}