Bushwalk Australia

Gday all,

I am a long time lurker and new time poster. I was wondering if I could get some advice from some people which have been over in New Zealand doing some hiking. I will be headng over in December and potentially Janruary and was considering doing a walk or two. I would be looking at walks less than a week long, and hopefully two of them.

I was hoping some people could suggest some so I may be able to consider them. Thanks for your help!

Matt.

to narrow down the options, you might need to be more specific on your experience, the terrain you want to do, and how challenging you want the tramp to be, do you want to be on a track with a lot of other peole. a few other people or no one at all? on track or off track?.
the information you give above gives far too many options to have the time mention on here.
lonley planet do a book dedicated to tramping in new zealand.

Most new to New Zealand tramping do the great walks and most of these need to be booked. The routeburne comes to mind which is a loveluy short walk of a few days. These walks have good huts, foam matresses and wardens! Great views but with a lot of people. There is many walks in New Zealand that are for the more experinced walkers in more reomote areas. Crossing rivers is the biggest danger I think in New Zealand. Some of the harder walks go over snow covered passes and you need the gear and experience for this.

Here's a highly recommended suggestion for NZ first timers, done a few years ago but no change other than, probably, higher volume of bookings. All streams bridged and low risk of walk-closing snow in Dec/Jan. Heaviest day is day 2, graded climb to Luxmore; then day 8, graded climb after leaving Lake Mackenzie hut.

Fly to Christchurch, rental or bus to Te Anau. Confirm Kepler & Routeburn bookings at DOC office.
Night 1: Te Anau
http://www.doc.govt.nz/upload/documents/parks-and-recreation/tracks-and-walks/southland/kepler-track-brochure.pdf
Day 2: Short bus ride to start of the Kepler track. Walk to Luxmore hut.
Night 2: Luxmore hut
Night 3: Iris Burn hut
Night 4: Moturau hut
Day 5: Short bus ride back to Te Anau. Remainder of day R&R and replenish.
Night 5: Te Anau
Day 6: Bus to Milford Sound, relaxing boat trip on Milford Sound, get the return bus to drop you at 'The Divide'. Walk to Lake Howden hut (~1 hour).
http://www.doc.govt.nz/upload/documents/parks-and-recreation/tracks-and-walks/southland/routeburn-track-brochure.pdf
Night 6: Lake Howden hut
Night 7: Lake Mackenzie hut
Night 8: Routeburn Falls hut
Day 9: Walk out to the Routeburn shelter, bus back to Queenstown

kepler isnt a good place for the inexperienced in bad weather, totally exposed alpine crossing. in bad weather, can snow any time of the year.
routeburn is also exposed, less so than the kepler but again be careful of the weather
a day off might not be enough time to recover for everyone from the kepler before doing the routeburn.

tomh, this plan you have sounds very tempting, I've never been to New Zealand before, Just had a look at the flight costs over to New Zealand, it's cheaper for me to fly to New Zealand than it is to fly to Tasmania. I've heard how great the hiking is over in New Zealand. I might have to try this one day. Maybe towards the end of this year.

Phillipsart wrote:tomh, this plan you have sounds very tempting, I've never been to New Zealand before, Just had a look at the flight costs over to New Zealand, it's cheaper for me to fly to New Zealand than it is to fly to Tasmania. I've heard how great the hiking is over in New Zealand. I might have to try this one day. Maybe towards the end of this year.

You're mad if you don't mate. NZ is an amazing place with absolutely astounding scenery. Guarantee you'll love it!

Phillipsart wrote:tomh, this plan you have sounds very tempting, I've never been to New Zealand before, Just had a look at the flight costs over to New Zealand, it's cheaper for me to fly to New Zealand than it is to fly to Tasmania. I've heard how great the hiking is over in New Zealand. I might have to try this one day. Maybe towards the end of this year.

kepler and routeburn have fantastic scenery, (some of it weather dependant) best weather usually mid jan through towards end of april.

the kepler is an isolated track, there arent any other tracks you can do from it without taking transport.
but depending on how many miles you want to do, the routeburn connects with the caples and greenstone tracks, caples being more scenic, and the rees dart can be connected to by bus, you can ford the river to get to the dart if it's dead low. but you have to be confident in your river crossing skills
the mavora also tacks onto the bottom of the greenstone

http://www.topomap.co.nz

Thanks for the advice!

They sound like some tempting tracks. I will have to do some research and check them out. The Kepler and Routeburn Tracks sound like a great option for me. I will be looking at the tracks down that end of the country. I will be prepared for the snow conditions that could develop there.

Thanks again.

Tracks & walks

http://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/tracks-and-walks/

http://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/tracks-and-walks/great-walks/

weather

http://www.metservice.com/mountain/index

http://www.metservice.com/national/maps ... cast-3-day

http://www.mountain-forecast.com/