Wakatipu area offers many short and longer walks of all grades, from mountain tops climbs to lakeside strolls, all with spectacular views. Having few days spare we decided to dwell on the beauty of the area while doing little walking and having lot of time for admiring and resting.
Remote wilderness, long river valleys, high mountains, majestic glaciers, clear alpine lakes in a New Zealand’s third largest national park. It’s hikers paradise with large number of short and long hikes offering breath-taking range of landscapes.
Having done few multi day tramping trips in the north of the South Island, we decided to move bit more to the south of New Zealand. We split the way into few sections stopping in some places for a day or two. We took this opportunity to do few short, one-day walks, without heavy backpacks on.
Kahurangi National Park is the New Zealand’s second-largest national park. In the Maori language, Kahurangi means ‘treasured possession’, which explains its diversity of land forms, native plants and unique species of birds. Much of the area is untracked wilderness with exceptional landscapes, the oldest rocks, shafts and sinkholes, remote river gorges, alpine herb fields and tussock plateaus.
Abel Tasman Coast Walk is one of the premier Great Walks of New Zealand. It’s easily accessible, well laid out and well-marked, with many huts and campsites offering the possibility for shorter walks for families.
Leaving Wellington for the South Island we didn’t have the slightest idea what we will be doing next. Sitting at the ferry terminal in Picton, waiting for the city to wake up, reading leaflets and looking at the map we came up with an idea to walk Queen Charlotte Track.
Acclaimed as one of the best one day walks in New Zealand, the Tongariro Alpine crossing attracts many tourists. On a good-weather day there can be as many as 2 thousands people walking the trail, majority starting at the Mangatepopo Car Park on the west side.
The morning sun did not wake us up, but only because it was hidden behind the trees. The day ahead, however, looked promising. Most importantly it was not raining in the morning, and we had a lot of things to do. We ate breakfast in our tent, and then we started sorting out our parcel, rationing the nuts, packing and repacking.
It was nice and good to wake up in the cabin. We ate a light breakfast, packed up, cleaned up, and we waited for the opening of a nearby store. At that moment we also found out that we were not alone at the campsite, because two men working in the nearby forests were staying at the campsite during the season.
That was a total change of action. In the morning we finished drying our clothes, waiting for the Sun, which was forecast for today. The Sun did not come out, but at least it did not rain. Before we left, we made an early dinner, just as we planned.
