Hiking adventures in New Zealand
Hiking adventures in New Zealand
New Zealand hiking tramping
You have to make the most of the 'good weather weekends' during a New Zealand Winter. Even though the days are short, we are spoilt for mountain tramping adventures near Nelson. We made the trip up to the Buckland Peaks, at the Northern tip of the Paparoa Range (behind Westport) over the 'shortest day' weekend. We camped on the tops and spent a few hours on the second day exploring the peaks; a grassy undulating wonderland of rockfalls, giant boulders, and tarns. It...
... "it might be a bit muddy" my partner said casually, a few nights before we ambled up to the 1000 Acre Plateau for a Winter Queens Birthday-weekend trip. We discovered a few days later that our interpretation of "a bit muddy" is quite different. I'm a bit of a princess when it comes to tramping, and the horrors of Ratea Forest, Pirongia and Longwood Forest on Te Araroa Trail are long gone. Give me a nice dry path along a tussocked ridge with epic views on a...
We kept it pretty close to home this time and headed into the Southern end of the Abel Tasman National Park for a quick overnighter along the Inland Track. Starting at Marahau along the coastal track, we swung a left just past Tinline Campsite, up to Holyoakes shelter and then on to Castle Rock hut where we camped overnight (5 hours from Marahau). The next day we returned via the track heading towards Anchorage, lunched at Observation Beach (4 hours from...
Today's adventure was a local mission, with the aim of heading up to Gordons Knob from Inwood lookout South of Belgrove. It turned out to be an absolute cracker! Around 13Kms there and back, we started walking at 10am, finished at 3.30pm and almost made it to Gordons Knob (1592m), but the unnamed higher peak at 1685m gave much better views, so we lunched there for an hour and returned. We wondered why Mr Gordon hadn't pick that one as his namesake.
The Inland Pack Track is a great overnighter taking you into the Paparoa National Park. If you have a fine weekend on the West Coast, it's definitely not to be missed.
The track was built in 1867 during the gold rush to avoid travel along the dangerous coastline. Beginning on the coast at Fox River in the North, it winds approximately 25Kms through rivers, gorges, forests and plains, re-joining the coast at the Pororari River to the South. Long sections are...
We made the most of great weather over the New Year, and headed into the Cobb to traverse the Lockett Range and Mt Cobb tops of the Peel Range. As usual, the Kahurangi National Park didn't disappoint, and we enjoyed a superb few days exploring the glaciated lansdscape. It was one of those trips that makes you realise how many other many other possibilities there are up there, and makes you want to go back again and again.
We began with a...