Te Urewera National Park (New Zealand)

Te Urewera is one of the largest and most scenically spectacular of New Zealand’s thirty-eight national and forest parks. It is also one of the least visited by tourists. The reason for this can only be because Te Urewera isn’t on the way to anywhere, unless you count the remote and sparsely populated corner of the North Island to which my friend John B has eccentrically retired, though his emailed directions on how to reach him put even that in doubt. “If you are feeling foolhardy,” he said, “you could try coming through the national park. It looks half the distance on the map but it will take you twice as long. There are places on this road where you don’t ...