At the end of January, I am going to go hike around New Zealand for a couple of weeks. Does anyone have a good place for me to start? Or a good web page I can scope out?
Sho nuf 'preciate the feed back…
1/4 of the way
New Zealand - Appalachian Trail
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#1
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#2
Did you get the Lonely Planet guide “Tramping in New Zealand”? Lonely Planet hiking guides are usually very good and easy to use. Friends of mine used it for NZ and I’ve used them for different countries. They normally list the difficulty, length and accessibility of the hikes. Very useful.
Apple Pie
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#4
If I only had two weeks in New Zealand, I would concentrate on the South island. Any NZ hiking guide will point you to some good trails and all of the multi day trails in NZ are great.
Be sure to consume massive quantities of Tip Top, the national ice cream, and see the penguins on the South island.
Zorbing and glow worms are on the North island, though. 
Jenny
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#5
New Zealand has a great system of trails set up with over 6000 miles of trails spread out over the 2 main islands. They also have great national information offices called D.O.C, check them out at www.doc.govt.nz. They offer information pamphlets for nearly every trail in NZ usually for about 25 cents. The maps on the pamphlets aren’t great but all these trails are fairly well marked and if you are an experienced hiker you should have no problem navigating them with just a pamphlet. NZ also has a great number of back country huts set up also through D.O.C, I’d rather not give a price for the huts since I was there over a year and a half ago.
NZ has a nifty system called the Great Walks set up. What they have done is take the most traveled trails and regulated access to them, you must book them in advance. Not going to take any sides on the debate whether that is a good thing or not. I’ve done some of these walks and while they are stunning, they are also a bit crowded for my tastes, and are highly regulated.
Many of my favorite hikes were a bit more out of the way. I would highly recommend all trails in the Kahurangi National Park, it can be a bit of a trick to reach the trail head without a car, but if you get there you will find an empty park, with wonderful mountain and forest. Or Nelson Lakes National Park, as the name may suggest has many stunning lakes I found it a bit more crowded then the first but access was easier even without a car. Arthur’s Pass National Park in the southern alps has some small glaciers and stunning mountain vistas in a good wilderness feeling area, resupply in the town of Arthur’s Pass is a bit difficult seeing as there really isn’t much there. But the views are amazing. Not too heavily traveled when I was there.
One hike stands out for me and that is The Rees - Dart Circuit Glaciers and an utterly stunning high pass called Cascade Saddle, make for a memorable hike.
The options are almost endless I spent 3 months on the South Island alone (Need to get back and see what the North Island has to offer) and plan to go back some day. The people at D.O.C are very friendly, you should always ask them if they have hiked a trail themselves as during the high season they hire more people to staff the offices and you can some times get some, how to put it, not so sound advice. NZ weather as well can be HIGHLY UNPREDICTABLE. It snowed on my several times at the height of summer and at altitudes of around 4000 ft. Not to mention the possibility of heavy rain storms that come through periodically, once more D.O.C to the rescue with Weather forecasts for all National Parks.
If you have any questions please feel free to Email me.
Have a great time there, it truly is a paradise for the outdoor minded person. I envy you, have a spare ticket lying around??
National Parks listing : http://www.doc.govt.nz/Explore/001~National-Parks/index.asp
Backcountry Huts : http://www.doc.govt.nz/Explore/003~Huts-Cabins-and-Campsites/Backcountry-Huts/index.asp
Have fun.
runnoft
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#6
I spend 3 mths there after the PCT last year. we mainly were on south Island which has soo much diversity in landscape. I went pretty much with my thruhiking gear and next time I go I will bring full gators wool socks and boots like ALL the Kiwis use. They know their land it is wet and muddy a most of the time. Bring trail runners because you can do some of the great walks which are really well graded if you go fast in half the time they recomend that way you stay in fewer huts which are expensive on the great walks. Kahurangi, Aurthus pass, kaikura are all great places to hit and fiordlands is pretty but a lot of tourists.
laundromat
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#7
In Nelson, just north of the ferry crossing when you reach the south island, is a hostel called the Paradiso. It is a place you’ll go for a day and end up staying a week. I think it is a great place to start and an easy jump to Able Tasman. I started there and then looped down the south side and back up toward the milford track. Some of those big hikes can be pretty expensive. That LP trekking book has so many wonderful alternatives.
good on ya,
cp:boy
Captain Patagonia
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#8
Geoff Chapple pioneered it & Eric Martinot wrote a good description of the 2,600 mile 2 island thruhike (quite noncontinuous). Stephen Pern is on it now (buy his CDT book from decades ago at abebooks.com) Google Te Araroa
for this gem to be completed in 2008 supposedly in the PCT or AT style, but perhaps with CDT difficulty. Downunderland is well on its way to its own triplecrown!
Gingerbreadman
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#9
Sorry been sleep deprived… the Te araroa trail is 2600 km long, not miles. I suspect the Brisbane to Melbourne Great Divide Trail will be also about 2600-3000 km long depending on route (Bicentennial National Trail then Aussie Alps Walking Track for me). Perhaps the Bibbulman track in West Australia could be extended to make a 3rd crown?
Or one could thruhike Hawaii; I guess you would have to zigzag alot to make lots of miles! Thanx to the German tourist (PCT 04) for turning me onto the Te Araroa… it is def in the future, perhaps after I mtn bike the high andes from Caracas to Ushuaia… any takers??? g
gingerbreadman
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#10
I did about 7 of the trails last year. All of the Great Walks are short, but this is sometimes misleading as you can often join up 2 or 3 trails together to make a longer hike. The Keppler Track (or is it Routeburn Track ?), Rees - Dart loop springs to mind, as Runnoft mentions.
The longest dedicated walk in NZ is the Northern Circuit of Stewart Island. This takes about 10 days. Personally, I haven’t done it but completed the Southern Circuit, which takes about a week. It is not a Great Walk; I did not see a lot of people on the trail and the huts are small and cosy. You will surely spot Kiwis - the birds, not the people! The famous trails are a bit of a circus in the season, it must be said.
Last year, I hiked the Bibbulmun track In W. Australia. On it I met a really nice bloke called Michael whose job it is to survey this proposed Te Araroa Trail. It sounds like it will be great, but is nowhere finished yet, these guys who hike it just have great navigation skills and know how to walk on the beach! Michael kept a journal on this site (Bibb Track, 2005) and you could always drop him a line to see how the long trail is coming along.
If you don’t like the sound of the over-organised nature of some of the NZ hikes the Bibb Track is great, just like a little AT, but quieter. Highly recommended.
Hi to Apple Pie. Seems like a long time since we last met in Troutville. I’m off hiking in Wales tomorrow. I hear the Easyjet is very cheap from Amsterdam to Bristol these days if you are craving a hill…
St Rick