Hiking adventures in New Zealand
Hiking adventures in New Zealand
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...
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...
This weekend's hike took us South West into Victoria Forest Park. If like me, you haven't heard of it before, it is roughly sandwiched between the Nelson Lakes National Park to the East, and the Paparoa range to the West. The nearest town is Reefton. There are lots of walking tracks in the park, and we walked the 'Big River Track' from Waiuta to Big River.
We chose this track because it is pretty low elevation (we didn't fancy...
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...