Hiking adventures in New Zealand
Hiking adventures in New Zealand
New Zealand – Tasman/Marlborough
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.
In the Nelson area we are spoilt for choice on weekend overnight tramps. For a great workout and spectacular views we decided on a quick up and down of Mount Fell and Mount Richmond. It is definitely a weekend that should be on your to-do list if you enjoy a long climb, and views from the tops. There are a couple of hut options - Richmond Saddle and Mount Fell, and you can make a circuit of it or do an in-and-out the same way. We parked at Timms Creek...
We made the most of a lovely sunny Winters' day to take a day trip from Nelson over to Takaka Hill and Harwoods Hole. Quite unknown to me before now, Harwoods Hole is the deepest vertical cave/shaft in New Zealand. The opening is 50m wide, the entire drop is 357m (1,171 feet) and it is spectacular! The track from Canaan Downs car park is 2.9Km one way and took us around 30 minutes. We combined it with a trip up to the viewpoint overlooking Gorge Creek, a quick...
Winter served up a rather damp weekend, so we made the most of it by taking a local walk in the Mount Richmond Forest Park along the Hacket Track to Whispering Falls and Hacket hut. We returned via the disused Chromite Mine Track. All up, with an hour-long lunch we took 5.5 hours but no doubt in summer you would want to spend longer as there are plenty of opportunities for river swims and exploring.
The great thing about living in Nelson, is the accessability to so many great hiking spots on your doorstep. The Dew lakes and Dun Mountain loop starts from the Maitai dam just a 20 minute drive from the city. This awesome day walk is around 23Kms and takes you through a variety of forestry, bush/scrub, beech forest and open tops. Be prepared for a great workout - it's a decent climb up to 1143m over Little Twin and 1129m over Dun Mountain. With...