Hiking adventures in New Zealand
Hiking adventures in New Zealand
Thru-hikes
We all woke around 6am this morning and several of us left Porters Creek hut by 7.15am. We enjoyed a great morning's hike, and it was only 12kms to Red Hills hut.
The day began with a steep descent to the Lowther creek river, crossing the river bed and heading back up into the forest.
A few ups and downs later we were sidling along the banks of Maitland Creek in and out of the...
Christmas Day on Te Araroa trail 🙂🌲 We got up at 4am as Flo wanted to call his family in Europe on their Christmas Eve when we got a signal at the top of the mountain. We were ready to leave Top Wairoa hut just as it got light at 5.15am.
We began the day with an 800m (2600 ft) climb from Top Wairoa hut up Mt Ellis 1615m (5300 ft). It started with rock-hopping the large...
We had a great sleep in the tent last night and woke to a chorus of bird song at Tarn hut. Blair had heard birds in the night too, which he thought might be Kiwi. I was out like a light and didn't hear a thing!
There was a light mist floating across the tarn as we set off at 7.30am.
Today was all about the forest and the river. We spent the morning in beautiful undulating beech forest.. nothing too...
This was probably one of the biggest and best days on Te Araroa trail, over the Little and Big Rintoul mountains.
We had set the alarm for 4am this morning. The forecast was looking good and we wanted to see the sunrise over the mountains. Flo got up with us and we all made breakfast outside the hut - trying not to wake the others. We left Slaty hut at 5.15am just as it was getting...
We woke early and left Browning hut at 7.15am this morning. The trail was excellent and pretty much downhill all the way to Hacket hut just a few Kms away. There were a few small stream crossings and one major river crossing. We reached Hacket hut around 8.15am.
When we got to Hacket hut I got a lovely surprise!! Blair poked his head into the hut to say hello to the occupants, and it turned out that one of them...
This week's adventure brought me back onto Te Araroa Trail, nine months after I left it. If you followed my Te Araroa trail journey over the 2017/18 season you'll remember that I skipped the Richmond ranges twice due to bad weather and, if I'm honest a case of the heebie jeebies.
Knowing it would be one of the most difficult parts of the trail, with high mountains over 1500m, big drops, some scrambling and technical...