By: Ryan
We spent the first 10 days or so of our time in New Zealand in cities like Auckland, Picton and Christchurch. While those were really fun and interesting, we were both antsy to explore NZ's world-renowned mountains, lakes and forests. So we left Christchurch and headed up towards Arthur's Pass, a dividing point in the Southern Alps between the eastern and western sides of the south island. Little could prepare us for the grandeur we found!
We spent the first 10 days or so of our time in New Zealand in cities like Auckland, Picton and Christchurch. While those were really fun and interesting, we were both antsy to explore NZ's world-renowned mountains, lakes and forests. So we left Christchurch and headed up towards Arthur's Pass, a dividing point in the Southern Alps between the eastern and western sides of the south island. Little could prepare us for the grandeur we found!
Just driving along the highway, we were stunned - stunned! - by the scenery, and stopped frequently to take photos of the landscapes. The mountains, rivers, clouds and more all seemed to wonderfully conspire to give us breathtaking view after breathtaking view.
Fortunately for us, we also made time to get out of the car and explore! We hiked the trail to Avalanche Peak, which our guide book claims is one of the best single-day hikes in the country. The hike starts from Arthur's Pass village and literally goes straight up the mountains, ascending 1100 meters in under 4 kilometers. At times we actually had to pull ourselves up tree roots and boulders the continue up the trail - that's how steep it is. And, not having hiked at all while we were in Asia, we were not quite in tip top hiking shape, so it wasn't so easy to make the climb. We're both glad we did it though, because the view from the top was amazing!
It was a really challenging 7km, especially for our out-of-shape muscles, but the views most certainly warranted the effort. After Arthur's Pass, we continued west and headed for Greymouth, and then North towards Nelson and Abel Tasman National Park, where we had scheduled ourselves to do part of the Abel Tasman Great Walk, one of NZ's most popular and highly recommended great walks.
It didn't take long after arriving to ATNP to see why, with gorgeous beaches, coastal mountains, and epic sunrises and sunsets. Oh, and we had the great fortune to watch the moon rise over the Tasman Sea too! The two photos below are taken from the same spot just hours apart... the moon rose over the water at around 10pm, and the sun rose the next morning around 7am. Beautiful!
It didn't take long after arriving to ATNP to see why, with gorgeous beaches, coastal mountains, and epic sunrises and sunsets. Oh, and we had the great fortune to watch the moon rise over the Tasman Sea too! The two photos below are taken from the same spot just hours apart... the moon rose over the water at around 10pm, and the sun rose the next morning around 7am. Beautiful!
And that was all just from Totaranui campsite before we had even started the great walk! For lack of enough time, we only did part of the great walk, but it was still incredible. We did a 22 km loop starting at Totaranui to the Whariwharangi campsite, and back via the Gibbs Hill trail. The first day passed through mutliple lovely beaches/coves, while the second day got up higher with grand views of Golden Bay and much of the park.
New Zealand's natural beauty has truly caught us off guard. Lucky for us, we've still got lots left to see, with Fox and Franz Joseph Glaciers, the Milford Sound, and more coming up in our near future, so stay tuned!