Hubby and I compromised on another hiking trip….half my usual distance and twice his! We planned to join up the popular tongariro northern circuit with the lesser known ruapehu round the mountain track, and we almost made it happen!
Red crater
Day 1 – Whakapapa to Oturere – 24km
The advantage of starting at whakapapa is you miss the legions of day trippers hiking the tongariro crossing who start from Maungatepopo. On a busy day there can be 3000 people, most of whom are unfit, ill prepared and too many of them leave rubbish on the mountain (I picked up a lot). If you leave whakapapa late morning, by the time you head up the hill most of these guys are gone. It is spectacular!
Emerald Lakes from the top of the crossingAfter the stunning red crater (which one of the hikers described as an angry red vagina) and the gorgeous emerald and blue lakes, we descended to Oturere hut – a fabulous kiwi experience with 13 kids and 6 parents, and a few foreigners – rare these days. Graham the hut warden was a delight who regaled us with the joys of paekakariki.
Lower Emerald Lake
Day 2 – Oturere to Rangipo- 23k
We headed off early and saw no one in the two hours it took us to walk to waihohono. Sections were quite eerie, like walking on the moon with Ngauruhoe glowing in the early morning sun beside us.
After breakfast at Waihohono, we left the northern circuit trail and wandered south towards ruapehu. There were some wonderfully hairy sections, my favourites being those with signs telling you not to stop in case a volcanic mud slide starts
Ngauruhoe a.k.a Mt Doom in the dawn sunWe saw three people on the trail that day and arrived at Rangipo hut at 1pm to meet a lovely man and his autistic daughter who had been up for the night. He had told her Santa had left her some presents on the mountain and she had persevered up the trail to find the presents in the hut. Adorable!!!! They left and hubby and I had the hut entirely to ourselves so we lit a fire and enjoyed the view
Ruapehu in the distance
Day 3 Rangipo hut to Ohakune mountain road
A glorious morning and a lovely undulating walk through the forest to Mangaehuehu hut. Three hours and not one person. We then headed out to Maungaturuturu hut hoping the rain would hold off
the stream in the lahar sectionIt was chilly but the views were stunning and all went well until the descent to Waitonga falls. In typical fashion I fell over on the well formed boardwalk part of the track. I roll my ankle frequently, but this time I managed to smack the bone against a rock. Ouch! I actually had tears in my eyes…
Incognito hubby walking into the stormI got up and started walking hoping that would sort it out, but figured out pretty quickly that it was not in great shape. So we hoofed it to the road about an hour further on… weirdly I walk faster when I am in pain as I figure I may as well get it over with, so we overtook a tonne of day hikers on the way. Fortunately my lovely brother was in Ohakune so he came and picked us up and got us fully restored with cake, coffee and fritters.
the ankleWe did think about trying to finish the route the next day but it turns out I wasn’t able to put weight on the foot until five days later! Next time!!!
I have met many wonderful people on my travels who want to come to NZ, and have asked for my top tips on where to hike. Apologies for the tardiness, but here are my favourite places to run and hike in the worlds best hiking country
The Great Walks
There are nine great walks in NZ, and they are justly named as they are some beautiful tracks (what we call trails in NZ) – including the Routeburn, Kepler, Milford, Abel Tasman and Tongariro. I would no longer do any of these walks as hikes, as there are too many people on them and you have to prebook the huts. However, if you are new to hiking, and/or want to be sure of company, then you will be happy walking any of these Great Walks.
the Heaphy Track
If you are a trail runner, I can highly recommend running some of the Great Walks as the trails are all beautifully groomed, my fave runs are:
Routeburn from the Glenorchy carpark end up to the Harris Saddle or onward to Conical Hill, and back down to the carpark
Abel Tasman from Awaroa back to Marahau or vice versa using the water taxis to transport you one way – about 4-5 hours (tide dependent and with some paddling stops), 30k and pretty easy
Heaphy as a two day run, with an ultra light pack as you only need a bit of food and a sleeping bag
Rakiura is an easy 4-5 hour day run around Stewart Island
Running up to the Harris Saddle on the Routeburn
Terrific multi day hikes which are not ‘great walks’
New Zealand is a land blessed with wonderful hikes, and ones I would highly recommend are (* means trails are extremely runnable)
Near Auckland
Hilary trail which is a lovely stroll along the west coast of Auckland
Near Nelson/St Arnaud
Travers Sabine circuit in the Nelson Lakes area with optional detour up to Lake Angeles Hut
Matukituki valley tracks near Wanaka with some wonderful shorter walks based out of Aspiring Hut
Fording the Rees river heading up the Rees valley
Near Glenorchy
Rees Dart circuit * – one of my absolute favourites, simply a stunning run/hike up the rees valley and down the dart. This can be joined up with the Matukituki valley tracks in good weather with a traverse over the Cascade Saddle into the Aspiring national park. Note the Dart part of the track is currently closed
Greenstone/Caples track *- two easy day runs, or a tough one day round trip, much less crowded than its popular neighbour the Routeburn
Tuatapere Humpridge Track
If you are feeling super energetic you can join up the Wanaka/Glenorchy trails in a big long loop – hiking from Arrowtown to Wanaka on the Motatapu Trail, hitching a ride from Wanaka to Makarora to walk the Wilkins Gillespie, and if you have alpine experience traversing the Rabbit pass directly from the Wilkins to the Aspiring Hut (near Wanaka), and then taking the Cascade Saddle over to the Rees track to come out at Glenorchy. This is a pretty epic route and I am looking forward to seeing if I can make it work this summer
Near Te Anau
Hollyford track – a wonderful walk and you get to see the seals at Martins Bay. This can be a bit tricky, as the ‘demon trail’ is aptly named. If you want to go a bit upmarket and take a boat around the tough bits you can pay for a guided tour and they also chopper you out from the end
Tuatapere Humpridge* – a very good track, privately run, which means you can upgrade to a private room if you don’t want a dorm. You can also buy food in the hut, so you really don’t need to carry anything. And they have hot showers!!!
Hollyford Track
If you are looking for somewhere to base yourself for these hikes, I would recommend the quieter bases of St Arnaud, Motueka, Wanaka and Glenorchy. I tend to avoid Queenstown these days as it is too busy!
There are hundreds of other hiking opportunities in NZ, including considering embarking to Te Araroa – the long pathway which runs for 3000km from the top of the country to the very bottom, I have only picked my favourites, and I am sure others would prioritise different hikes
Rakiura on a Rainy Day
Accommodation/Transport
If hiking, you can get a great value pass from Doc for $122 which will allow you unlimited nights in back country huts for a year (excluding Great Walk Huts)
There is lots of good free camping in NZ, and I use the camping NZ app to find free campsites – many of these are pretty basic and administered by DOC.
I highly recommend that you DO NOT rent an RV and drive around the south island – our roads are not terrifically well designed for big slow vehicles and it is much more sensible (cheaper and easier) to rent a small car and stay in hostels or camp
additional information
Doc – the department of conservation is a wonderful source of info with track maps and the local office can advise you of trail conditions
Good too maps are free to download from http://www.topomap.co.nz
