Great Walks + X in 112 days?
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Hi together,
I'm very glad about this website. It's great and very informative and I appreciate most of your comments.
I'm a german guy 33 and not have not so much experience in tramping. In the end of this year I'm going to NZ and planning to do some walks for 3 and 1/2 month (112 days without flight). My first idea was to go the Te Araroa. But I think less than 4 month is impossible for me, so I made up my mind and thought about going the Great Walks and some "smaller" ones.
I assume that I'm going with public transport from walk to walk, probably nakedbus or intercity.
In detail it's Cape Reinga Coastal Walkway, Lake Waikaremoana, Tongariro, Whanganui, Around Mount Egmont, Queen Charlotte, Abel Tasman, Heaphy, Harpers and Arthurs Pass, Routeburn, Kepler, Milford Track, Breast Hill, Rees Dart, Dusky, North West Circuit (Stuart Island).
While planning this trip there came up some questions. Maybe one or some of you could get me some hints.
1) Do you think it's realistic to do that in 3 1/2 month in consideration of taking public transport?
2) Is it maybe faster to hitchhike between the tracks?
3) Would you also chose this tracks or do I forget any essential walks? Can I throw any walk out of my list because of similarity to another walk?
4) For which of this walks (especially the great ones) is it recommended to book before and how long before should I book it?
5) Are there better ways to go than by public transport and shuttle services? Renting a car is not that cheap for such a long time and brings sometimes problems with it e.g. with No-Curcuit-Tracks.
Thanks a lot in advance and best greets
alex
Bring your sack of Gold with you, cos you'll need to book & pay for a lot of those, well in advance.
Take a look here - http://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/things-to-do/walking-and-tramping/great-walks/
& here - https://booking.doc.govt.nz/Menu.aspx?sg=RBN
More likely to get to places on time, with less potential hassle if you can also book transport to fit your schedule.
If you're relatively new to tramping, then Te Araroa or sections of it, could be a better option for the South Island ?. It's a well established route. Less expensive. Takes you through a variety of country. There's plenty of online info & blogs. Every day, there's loose groups of half a dozen passing through ?.
December-January is school holidays, Xmas summer holidays for most workplaces, & peak tourist season. No guarantee, without booking, that there'll be enough hut beds every time. An air mattress & medium-light sleeping bag will be okay if under a roof if you don't want the extra of a tent.
Might be able to buy & then re-sell a cheap car from a backpackers notice board, if you're happy to self-drive ?. Other backpackers might be willing to split petrol costs ?.
The Dart track is currently closed due to erosion. It's doubtful if the damage will be fixed this year, so you might not be able to do the Rees Dart as a circuit. Your options there are to walk up the Rees as high as you feel like and then return, or cross over Cascade Saddle to the Matukituki.
Certainly in the lower South Island hitch hiking is a great option. There will be lots of fellow tourists around who are happy to offer rides or car pools. Like Pro-active says, if you look in backpackers there are usually cheap cars for sale, or rides offered.
From Queenstown it is quite easy to walk the Routeburn through to The Divide and then start the Milford by arranging the transport through Tracknet (www.tracknet.co.nz). After the Milford head to Te Anau and do the Kepler, then book the Dusky transport through Trips and Tramps (www.tripsandtramps.co.nz) which will return you to Te Anau. Its easy to bus from Te Anau to Invercargill to begin the North West Circuit. Real Journeys (www.realjourneys.co.nz) runs shuttles from Invercargill to Bluff and the ferry across to Stewart Island.
if you're new to tramping, dont do the disky or the north west circuit, they arent for the faint hearted or inexperienced, they are very rough tracks , the idsky regularly floods making movement impossible. and the north west is rough and very muddy. a lot of nz tramps are very rough underfoot and on very rough terrain, mud rocks, tree roots, hard to navigate
Sarah and I arrived in Te Anau keen to 'do' the Dusky. The DoC guy just gave us the BIG book of Dusky photos and left us to look at them. After looking at all the pics of people swimming along the track, and to and from bridges, and the hellish accounts of people being rescued we realised we were not psychologically up to the challenge. Physically we possibly were capable but -------!
Having been to Stewart Island at the end of a long dry spell, and waded through mud even then, I think we also would not have coped psychologically if it had been really wet. But then, I am somewhat older than most on this forum! lol
A few days later we were at Lake Hauroko when the boat arrived to take 4 short Japanese up to the start of the Dusky. I sidled across and asked the boat owner if the 4 knew what they were letting themselves in for. His reply was " I said to them it was just as well they all had trekking poles as, when stuck in the mud, they could raise their pole above their head and the others would be able to work out where they were!" Believe it or not but the 4 were checking the track to see if it was suitable to take guided parties through! Yee Gods!
Back in the early 70's I spent a night camped in a tree in the Seaforth River.
Dusky Law of Rainfall: "No matter how hard you think it is raining; it's about to rain twice as hard".
But having spent time in the area, while it can be challenging - if you are mentally and physically prepared - it is also enormously rewarding. The ability to make a safe and dry camp anywhere is crucial.
The Dusky was my 3rd ever tramp, I went Kepler, Greenstone/Caples, Dusky! Did it solo with no real idea what I was doing, but had a whale of a time. Went around with 3 great guys I met on the boat across Hauroko. Yes it's physically and mentally demanding, but if you keeps your wits about you you'll have a great time. Lake Roe has got to be my favourite place in NZ.
First, thank you very much for your answers!
The dusky trail sounds really pretty dusky, demanding and daunting!
I'll see whether I try it. Probably I'm running out of motivation after the first Great Walk ;).
Nevertheless I've plenty of time 3 and 1/2 month and I'll start at Cape Reinga. I think it's good starting point to get accustomed to tramping and getting a feeling of what is feasable for me.
I'll book the most (for me) important / overtravelled track huts / campsites and decide step after step where I'll go next. I hope I can develop my bushcrafting skills on the way down...
If you find you can't get a booking on some of the Great Walks, just keep going back to the book-in site and you may pick up a cancellation. We got a double cancellation, for 2 weeks ahead, on the Milford a few years back. (And then it rained and 'clagged in' for all except the last day! Saw nothing as we crossed the Pass. It really is the luck of the draw when it comes to the weather down there.)
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| Forum | Tracks, routes, and huts |
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| Started by | alexespunto |
| On | 4 July 2015 |
| Replies | 11 |
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