A Karāpiro cruise

9 Jan 2025 • By Mary Anne Gill

Cruise ship visits Waipa.

American cruise ship tourists Joy Littleton and Lori Ionnitiu saw the excursions available to them when the Seven Seas Explorer docked in Tauranga on Sunday, and it was the Waipā experience which stood out.

Pit stop at the lake: Americans Joy Littleton, left, and Lori Ionnitiu decided on the Waipā experience for its unique opportunity to see the real New Zealand. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.

Cambridge News 9 January 2025

“I’m a novice vegetable gardener and I wanted to see what people ate,” the Tennessee woman said as she tucked into a red kūmara, part of a salad served to her and the other 20 passengers at Lake Karāpiro.

Rain and wind on the day saw numbers trimmed from the planned 36. Two days before – on the ship’s northward cruise to Auckland – 13 tourists took the tour which Mighty River Domain site manager Liz Stolwyk said was the first of several she hoped to host at Karāpiro.

Other options available for the tourists, who pay anything from $15,000 upwards for the cruise, are a Tauranga highlights and Māori culture tour, Rotorua, Lake Rotoiti, Hell’s Gate Mud Bath and private tours around Bay of Plenty to see kiwifruit operations.

Grayling Littleton, a sweet potato connoisseur said he had only ever seen orange ones before and was impressed at the red variety which his wife told him had fewer calories.

“It’s not like me to like something that’s good for me,” he said.

These 20 cruise ship passengers braved Sunday’s chilly conditions at Lake Karāpiro pictured with second right site manager Liz Stolwyk and beside her Graeme Smith. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.

Lori and husband Nick from Virginia had other reasons for choosing Waipā. She grew up in the mid-west and has always loved walking and saw the Mount Maungatautari option and selected it with very little input from her husband.

“I do what I’m told,” he said.

It was described as a walk along forest trails seeing endangered birds, tuatara reptiles and giant weta and finishing with a climb up a tower to see creatures in a tree canopy.

“I didn’t want this to be a sedentary tour,” she said.

The icing on the cake was a visit to a working dairy farm in Roto-o-Rangi where the opportunity to see cows close up and personal was a first for both couples.

Joy had already marvelled at the chance to stop on the side of the road and pat cows.

While cruise ship tourists have ventured into Waipā before, Stolwyk says this tour in association with Smith Tour Company was the first to involve Karāpiro, Sanctuary Mountain and the dairy farm.

The excursion is on the edges of what is possible – the ship docked at 8am and left at 5.30pm. A near 100km trip over the Kaimai Range to Pukeatua – via the Arapuni Dam on Friday and Putāruru on Sunday – bit off a huge chunk of that.

Graeme ‘Smithy’ Smith of Smiths Tours. Photo: Mary Anne Gill

Stolwyk said she hoped Leona and Graeme Smith – owners of Smith Tour Company and long-time associates through their agricultural connections – could make tweaks to the itinerary from feedback received.

“I’m keen on a boutique Cambridge shopping experience for those who may not want to go to Maungatautari or a dairy farm,” she said.

Safely back on board on Sunday, Joy told The News, as they set sail for Napier on their 14-day cruise ending in Sydney next week, that she loved the experience.

“While the natural beauty and scenery is spectacular, we are finding that the people are the most special part of our visit,” she said.

That was music to Stolwyk’s ears.

Cruise ship passengers about to look at the turbine runner from the Arapuni Power Station in the grounds of Mighty River Domain at Lake Karapiro. Photo: Mary Anne Gill