Rested now after the long journey from Auckland, and already missing the warm spring sunshine of New Zealand. Here in Seattle it's back to the reality of a wet, cold Pacific Northwest winter. This final of four hiking trips to New Zealand in the past five years showed me parts of the country I had not visited before, and left me longing for the warmth of the Marlborough district.
After finishing the 71 kilometer Queen Charlotte Track I spent one more night in Picton, and the next day visited some wineries and Peter Jackson's (director of Lord fo the Rings) museum of World War I airplanes before heading to the small airport at Blenheim; the combination made for a unique final day in New Zealand.
The fact is, there are so many beautiful places to see down here, traveling and hiking in New Zealand can keep you busy for a lifetime. But it's the personal connections I make with the people of this island country that keeps me coming back. When all is said and done, that's the best part of any trip to New Zealand.
From Gisborne, I flew to Welllington on an Air New Zealand Beechcraft 1900, and then made the short hop over Cook Straight to the town of Blenheim, in the center of the famed Marlborough wine growing region. But my goal was another classic hike, so I made the half hour drive to the resort town of Picton, the South Island terminal for the ferries coming over from Wellington.
I had an afternoon to catch up on my notes at the comfortable Yacht Club in the heart of funky, laid back Picton before departing early the next morning to do the Queen Charlotte Track with Ray Waters, a guide for Marlborough Sound Adventures, and New Zealand's masters-level half-marathon champion. We caught the Cougar Line shuttle out to Ship Cove, a famous bay that became Captain Cook's base of operation, a place he stopped five times between 1770 and 1779.
Most people take four days to do this impressive 71 kilometer route up the spine of the peninsula separating Queen Charlotte Sound from Kenepuru Sound, but if you make the long trek out to Punga Cove on day one you can do it in three long days, about 23 kilometers per day. A unique feature of the route is that it's a bit like trekking in Nepal--you can do it with a day pack, while the boat, and not a yak or a porter, takes the rest of your gear onto the next stop. The light load makes the long days no problem.
Ray and I hiked up and over the ridge, then made a complete circuit around Endeavor Inlet, arriving in Punga Cove by 4. Yet another unique feature of this relatively new route, built in 1995, is that it connects a number of former boat-in only accommodations that are way beyond the level of hiking hut. At Punga Cove, as at all the stops, you get a resort quality room, with food and wine to match. It's positively sinful, but this civilized style of hiking can be habit forming.
We warmed up on a couple of uniqe routes in the northern most part of New Zealand, the Cape Brett Track, 90 Mile Beach, and the Herekino Forest walk, but it was time to take on one of New Zealand's Great Walks: in this case, the Lake Waikaremoana Track. There are only nine such designated hikes in the country, and the Lake Waikaremoana route is one of only two Great Walks hiking routes on the North Island.
Located in the sprawling 212,000 hectare Te Urewera National Park, fourth largest in in New Zealand, the route covers 46 kilometers around the deepest lake in on the North Island, set in the middle of one of the most remote regions of the country. Most people take four days to cover the route, but with a tight schedule, I had to do it in three.
Fortunately, I had the right company.
In 2002 I had hiked one of New Zealand's premier trails, the Routeburne Track, with Rob Franklin. When I learned that he had transformed his passion for hiking into a profession by forming Walking Legends, a hiking guide and logistical support service for Lake Waikaremoana area, I asked him to join me. On any big route in a far-away place, it's crucial to have someone with local knowledge along, otherwise you miss a lot of cool detail.
As we followed the varied terrain along the lake shore, through the dense forest and up onto the highlands that form the climax of this stunning route, Rob filled me in on the unique history and culture of the area. One of the few predominately Maori regions of New Zealand that never came to treaty terms with the government, the Tuhoe people of the region to this day exercise a degree of cultural and political independence that is unusual. This, after all, is the people once lead in the late 1800s by the iconic Maori leader, Takooti.
Peter Griffith, the hard bitten Kiwi who has worked for decades to save the ancient forest in the country's far north, picked me up at the lodge and drove Nick Mason and me to the trailhead for the gnarly 17 kilometer Herekino Forest Track.
While routes in the north such as North Cape to Cape Reinga, 90 Mile Beach, or Cape Brett are better known, this full on rute through one of the most diverse forests in New Zealand shows you a different side to the region. The Herekino forest contains remnants of old growth forest that escaped the loggers ax because it was just too difficult to get to. Hikers who do this newly restored trail can get a glimpse of what this part of New Zealand looked like before it was cleared for farming.
Nick, who has been tramping these woods since 1980, was the perfect companion.
A woodworker as well as an avid hiker, Nick appreciates the different qualities of the many species of trees that make up the dense forest, and brings that perspective to the hike. In about eight hours on the steep, winding trail, we saw most of the major tree species of New Zealand: tarari, tawa, rata, rimu, totara, miro, and rewa rewa, to name a few.
But the highlight comes about three hours in when you reach a grove of giant kauri trees. Prized by shiprights for masts, the towering trees once covered the west coast of New Zealand. Now only a few remain, so impressive that the Maori people of the area gave them names, like people, recognizing them for the individuals they are. The biggest of all, a little south of here, is called Tanu Mahuta. The big grove of kauris made the elevation gain and muddy trail worth the effort.
From Russell, it was a three hour drive up and over what New Zealanders call the Far North, the very northern frontier of their country, along two lane blacktop roads that are virtually empty.
Even though this is the most northern and therefore wamest part of the country, it is sparsely populated, and mostly agricultural. Tourism is a growing part of the equation, howver, not surprising, given the beauty of the beaches and green hills. I took the ferry back over to Paihia. then followed State Route 10 to Mangonui, a small town on a pretty cove on Doubtless Bay.
I stopped in for a BLT there--these are on most menus up north, and theybear little resemblance to their North American counterparts.
On homemade bread with thick slabs of bacon with lots of fresh vegetables, they make a hearty lunch.
I got to Ahipara by 1, and from there another 15 minutes to Taharangi Marie Lodge on the south end of 90-mile beach, one of the longest hiking routes in New Zealand, which starts here and goes all the way to Cape Reinga, the northern imost point in New Zealand and one that resonates with the mythology of the Maori Culture.
When I arrived, owner Ron Adams drove me south along the beaches where he regularly harvests dinner for the lodge guests, super fresh seafood meals of abalone and clams. Ron knows the area as well as anyone, and his wife Connie and young son make you feel like you've come home. This is the quintessential Kiwi lodging up here in the far north, shared when I was there by two European couples, one from Germany and one from Britain. The couples occupied the upstairs rooms at the lodge proper, while I had my own house down by the beach. I was lord of my own mannor, and it's a place I hope to return to again, when I've got more time to absorb the tranquil beauty of this remote coast.
When Captain Cook first sailed off the coast of New Zealand he spied a prominent peninsula of land, and named it after a trusted officer: Brett Piercy. Little did he know it was also the landing site of what may be the very first Polynesian travelers to arrive on New Zealand and later evolved into the indigenous Maori culture.
The rich history of the place adds interest, but the 17 kilometer hike from the Maori settlement of Rawhiti out to the cape is a great backcountry adventure in itself. There's lots of ways to do it, best is to get a lift from Russell about an hour out to Rawhiti at the end of the road, and just hike out to the cape.
The route follows the ridgelines of the seven peaks that form the dragon like spine of the peninsula.
The Department of Conservation has turned the lighthouse keepers house into a hut, with gas cookers and bunks. It's a dramatic place to spend a few days whether it's stormy or sunny. I'm on a tight schedule, so to save a day Peter Stuart of Cape Brett Walkways chartered a boat to take us out to the Cape early in the morning so we could hike back, and thereby see the whole route. Jeremy, the driver of the high performance inflatable was actually making an epic beer run out to a remote lodge on one of the islands, before heading off to dive on a newly sunken former New Zealand navy frigate. The warship was sunk just last Saturday to provide a recreational dive location for the Russell area.
Like most Kiwis, Jeremy was happy to abet the cause of fun, so was good with a short detour to drop us off before heading for the wreck. The Cape Brett track itself, which was used by the lighthouse keepers before the light was automated in 1978, is in pretty good shape, just be prepared for four or five thousand feet of elevation gain as the route follows the peaks and descends to the water on several occasions. Plan on seven to eith hours for a one-way traverse.
Hello, this is GreatOutdoors.com editor Peter Potterfield. It's Springtime in New Zealand, a good time to head down for some hiking just as the snow begins to fly in North America. I'll be flying from Seattle to Los Angeles, and from there down to Auckland. It's a long flight, about 14 hours, but well worth it when you step off the plane into a Kiwi spring.
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