The Vagabond Hiker

Hiking, trekking, and climbing the world

A New Zealand road trip

After completing the Tongariro Alpine Crossing (see previous post), Maggie and I continued south on the North Island towards New Zealand’s windy capital of Wellington.  While the city had its charms, including the Botanic Garden and some harbor-side restaurants, the three nights and two days spent in ‘windy Welly’ were sufficient.  Since we fortuitously stayed on the coast a few miles outside of the city proper, we did enjoy a great coastal hike on one of the two days.

Owhira Bay, south of Wellington. It was a great choice to stay here rather than in the city.  (Photo courtesy of Maggie)

After Wellington, we loaded the car and ourselves on the Inter Islander ferry for the 3-hour crossing of Cook Strait to Penticton on the South Island where we would stay for the rest of our road trip.  We essentially made a counter-clockwise loop, heading from the Nelson area down the West Coast to Haast where we turned inland and over the Haast Pass to the Wanaka area in Central Otago.  From there we headed south to the Catlins, near the southern tip of the South Island.  After three nights in the Catlins, we drove up the East Coast to the Banks Peninsula near Christchurch and then completed the loop over the Lewis Pass to Nelson.

Throughout it all we did a series of short hikes, with one day-long hike of Isthmus Peak between Lakes Wanaka and Hawea.  The following photos highlighting this road trip are, with the exception of the last one, in rough chronological order.

View along the Abel Tasman Coastal Track.  Day hikers on the most popular of New Zealand’s many Tracks need boat transfers to the start and/or from the end points.  (Photo courtesy of Maggie)
Fox Glacier and waterfall. Frankly, the glacier was not all that impressive, particularly since they only allowed you within 500 meters of the now-retreating glacier.  When I was here in 2009 the glacier was advancing.
Sun-dappled forest on the Monro beach walk.  It was a wonderful little excursion south of the two popular West Coast glaciers, Fox and Franz Josef.
View at Monro Beach.  We were the only ones there, unlike earlier in the day at Fox Glacier, where we competed with hundreds of other hikers.
A Fantail on the Monro Beach walk (zoom). The wonderful range of bird calls and song made this coastal rain forest hike almost magical.
Another false summit on Isthmus Peak. Rather than driving to the Rob Roy track, we climbed more than 900 meters up this peak separating Lakes Wanaka and Hawea.
Lake Wanaka from Isthmus Peak summit (looking NW) with some of the snow-covered Southern Alps in the background.
Nugget Point light, the Catlins. Driving along the Southern Scenic highway, we stopped at least six different times for short hikes over the two full days we spent in South Otago.
Nugget Point seascape. Though difficult to see in this photo, there were dozens of southern fur seals hauled out on the ledges below.
Ubiquitous Foxgloves, seen here along Jack’s Blowhole track
The Southern Ocean from Jack’s Blowhole track. I discovered that the blowhole itself is not very photogenic at low tide!
Papatowai beach, the Catlins. It was a great little beach and forest walk off of the Southern Scenic Highway.
The Vagabond Hiker at windy Slope Point, the southernmost point on the South Island
Slope Point view of the Southern Ocean
Macrocarpa Trees at Slope Point. No points for guessing which way the wind blows.  (Photo courtesy of Maggie)
Interesting tree morphology seen on the Cathedral Caves walk, the Catlins
View out to the Southern Ocean from the East entrance of Cathedral Cave. At nearly 200 meters in total length, Cathedral Cave is one of the longest sea caves in the world.
The Vagabond Hiker at McLean Falls, the most interesting easily-accessible waterfall in the area.
The end of the rainbow viewed from our place in the Catlins. We stayed on a rural farm south of Balclutha for three days over Christmas.
Summit Road view of Akaroa Bay on the Banks Peninsula southeast of Christchurch. I took several photos along Summit Road, but none was as good as this one taken by Maggie using her iphone.
Fur seals seen during our Akaroa harbor cruise on the Banks Peninsula
Standing on one of the Moeraki boulders, along the coast north of Christchurch.
With Maggie at Scott Base Winery, Cromwell, Central Otago. In case I gave the impression that it was all hiking….

I am settling in to my garden apartment in Wakefield (near Nelson) in the northern part of the South Island for the next month.  It is less than a 2-hour drive to four different national parks from here, so I hope to have a few more photos for my next (and last) blog post from New Zealand.

Happy New Year to all,

Kent

 

 

Comments

  1. Once again, your pictures tell a wonderful story! You look like you are really enjoying yourself. Keep it up and keep the stories coming!

  2. Fabulous photos of yet another of your great trips. You guys look really happy 🙂
    Happy New Year!

  3. Great to see you two looking well as we enjoy -42C windchill here in sunny Alberta. Happy New Year to you both!

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