Hiking adventures in New Zealand
Hiking adventures in New Zealand
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...
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...
The Tablelands area of Kahurangi National Park accessible from Graham Valley Road or the Cobb Valley is a great spot for all kinds of weekend and multiday activities - for adventurers and beginner trampers alike. We were making the most of the weather on a quick weekend mission; over the tops of Gordons Pyramid on Saturday to Balloon hut and back along the river valleys of the Salisbury Track and the Flora Track on Sunday....
With it's golden sandy beaches, magnificent rock stacks and arches, huge sand dunes, stunning clifftop views, and rolling farmland, the Puponga Hilltop Track should be up there on your list of easily-accessible-must-do-day-walks. There are lots of options for walks in the area, ranging from just an hour or so, to a full day. Having had a reasonable leisurely morning, we didn't start walking until 11.30am and managed to cover Wharariki Beach and over half...
The Nydia Track in the Marlborough Sounds is a beautiful 27Km tramping and mountain biking track stretching from Duncan Bay at the end of Tennyson inlet to Kaiuma Bay Road, in the Pelorous Sound. We walked 19Km of the track from Duncan Bay to the Nydia Lodge DoC accommodation on a winter weekend, at a very leisurely pace. DoC times recommend 6 hours to the lodge, but we made it in around 5 hours including plenty of stops for...
We made an overnighter of this awesome Abel Tasman Northern Loop, but it would make a great day walk too. Starting at Wainui Bay at the Northernmost tip of the Abel Tasman National Park, we headed to Whariwharangi where we camped for the night. The following morning we headed around to Totaranui via Separation Point. The return journey took us up the steep inland track over Gibbs Hill. Checking the DoC distances and times for the Abel...