Honeydew Walk

Honeydew Walk is a 1.7 km loop from Kerr Bay’s east-jetty car park; allow about 45 minutes. It’s a quick way into the beech forest of the Rotoiti Nature Recovery Project, with interpretation panels and old glacial boulders along the way. I’d choose it for the forest and its honeydew story, not a big lake view. The high-standard track is described as wheelchair suitable, though the steeper parts may need someone to help push.

From the Bellbird start, the route climbs onto an old glacial terrace, then levels out as it winds among red beech, mountain beech and podocarp. The dirt tread is often covered in leaves, and there’s one bridged stream crossing. Near the high point, look for the big, jumbled glacial erratics. The path bends back down toward the Lakehead track and Kerr Bay.

Honeydew is the sugary surplus left by small scale insects living in beech bark. The insects leave droplets on the trees; black sooty mould grows on the sticky honeydew without harming the beech. Tūī, bellbirds, other insects and lizards feed on those droplets, so the dark coating is part of a food source, not a sign of sick trees.

This walk passes through a large beech-forest recovery project. Park managers and the Friends of Rotoiti look after more than 5,000 hectares and control introduced pests so native species can recover. Tūī and bellbirds are common here; robins, tomtits and fantails may appear, and kākā or kākāriki may move through the canopy.