Trekking in New Zealand

Jocelyn Timmermans
Feb 22, 2023
8 min read

One 3-day backpack + 4 day hikes -- From peaks, to valleys, to volcanoes. Past waterfalls, forests of beech trees, bogs, emrald green lakes and glaciers.

Jan. 23-25 -- The Routeburn Track: 3 days. This is New Zealand's second most popular Great Walk. It's a tramp over the Southern Alps' Main Divide.

Day 1: From the Routeburn shelter to Routeburn Flats campsite

8.6 km / 371m gain / 2 hours MT

This was a shorter, easier day. A good warm up for the next day.

As planned, Denise who'd suffered a recent injury, hiked in with us about halfway before turning back. She would later pick us up from the other end of the trail.

I figured it was good to get the backpack done first. That way there'd be less chance of getting ill from being in a foreign country while you're on the trek. By the end of the first week, our supply of Imodium between the four of us, was running very thin. We were not sick, but our digestive systems needed to adjust to different bacteria and food.

We walked through a thick rainforest of red, silver and mountain beech trees.

Much of the trail followed alongside Routeburn Gorge.

The track was in very good condition this first day. We passed many people that were out on a day hike to enjoy the cool pools of turquoise water with a small sandy beach, farther up in the gorge.

1) Viens in rock 2) New Zealand Robin

The last half an hour was fairly level walking beside an open meadow.

At the end of the meadow is where we camped.

It was so peaceful with the touch of a gentle breeze and occassional bird song. As evening approached, temperatures dropped to more comfortable levels.

Day 2: Routeburn Flats campsite to Mackenzie Lake campsite

20.6 km / 1383m gain / 1515m high / 7 hours MT

Just a 5 minute walk back to the main trail and the climbing started. This proved to be a challenging day, not only long but with much elevation gain and our heavy 35-40 lb. packs on our backs.

Looking back at the meadow we'd camped in.

Star Creeper

Just past the Routeburn Flats Hut was the open subalpine and Routeburn Falls (1005m).

Looking back at the Routeburn Flats Hut. It's one large building that has 48 bunks.

The left side of the valley.

And the right side of the valley.

1) Mountain Foxglove 2) Blackeyed Susan

Large Mountain Fleabane

Phoenix Bluff rock.

1) Mountain Harebell 2) Pearly Everlasting

Lake Harris is carved by a glacier. It's 800m long and 500m wide.

Almost at the Harris Saddle (1255m).

Hungry and ready for a sit, it was a relief to round the corner and see the shelter. We could sit inside it, use the nice outhouses and leave our heavy backpacks there while we did the side hike to Conical Hill. This added another 310m gain to the hike.

2) Strap-leaved Daisy

It was steep, but well worth it.

1) Sage Cushion Plant 2) South Island Edelweisse

Looking west towards Milford Sound (New Zealand's most popular Great Walk).

This was the highest point on the whole trek (1515m).

Harris Lake.

The middle peak is Conical Hill.

At the shelter we turned south (left), entering Hollyford Valley with a river running through it. Now the trail was more narrow and level, traversing the Hollyford Ridge.

The Darren Mountain Range.

Here we turned left, and soon came within view of the emerald colored MacKenzie Lake.

The Humbolt Mountains -- south.

Our campsite was by that small patch of beach to the left of the centre of the photo.

When I entered this beech forest, I thought, "No wonder they chose New Zealand as a location to film the Hobbits and Lord of the Rings". Almost every piece of ground and bark was covered in moss! I almost expected a dwaft to pop out from behind a boulder.

What a relief to finally arrive at camp at 4:00pm and drop our heavy packs. With throbbing feet and not an ounce of energy left, this tranquil beach with its superb views was a true blessing.

I was jealous of Janice when I found her lying there and she said she'd taken a dip. Why didn't I take an extra pair of under garments?

Day 3: MacKenzie Lake to the Divide

11.3 km / about 700m gain

We didn't need an alarm clock. The black & red Kaka bird hovering in the branches overhead, had a very loud piercing cry. And when he called out, his buddies would respond. He was the size of a chicken and had red under his wings.

Oh man. Did we have to climb again? After yesterday? Oh well. It was only about 40 minutes and the rest was downhill, with the exception of Key Summit.

Looking across the Hollyford Valley to the Darren Mountains.

Tomtit sitting on a flax branch.

Earland Falls are 174m high!

Lake Howden had a ghostly appearance.

1) Doll's Daisy

From Howden Lake the track slanted gradually upwards for a bit, till the juntion to the Key Summit side-trail.

We dropped our packs at the juntion to Key Summit (919m) to do this half hour hike.

Stunted beech trees.

Done! Denise was waiting for us when we arrived at 2:00pm.

Jan. 26: Milford Sound

11 km / fairly level track

We parked at Deep Water Basin where a 20-minute boat ride got us to the trailhead.

We went straight across but touring boats would turn right to view Milford Sounds' inlets.

The water taxi dropped us off at the Sandfly Point shelter.

This is actually the end of the Great Walk for those who do the 4-day backpack.

1) Tattered Rag Lichen 2) Mustard Yellow Polypore

A shelter was just on the other side of the bridge.

Giant Gate Falls was our turn-back point.

Jan. 28: Meuller Hut

11 km /1180m gain / 1800m high / 5 1/2 hours MT

This is a very steep trail, the last hour being on a boulder slope.

The forecast was for cloud & showers in the morning. We weren't planning on going all the way to the hut, having four consecutive hiking days behind us, with just one day off inbetween. But the day did not turn out as planned...

What would be small shrubs in Canada, are almost trees in New Zealand.

Taking the first of 2200 steps!!!

The mist and cloud clung to the slopes, keeping visibility down to about 20'.

The plan was to climb the 600m to the Sealy Tarns viewpoint. There was a sign by a junction here, stating Sealy Tarns and underneath, Mueller Hut, with a small arrow pointing left.

1) 2) Cusion Plant

About half an hour after the sign I checked the stats on my Garmin66i and realized we'd climbed 750m. That meant we'd missed the turn off to the Sealy Tarns. How did that happen? What would Wendy & Denise think if they didn't see us there?

But I was reasoning; There's only one other way to go, so they'd know where we went. And if it took us another hour & 250m gain to get to the Mueller Hut, then there's a good chance that by then the cloud would start to clear (according to the forecast).

California Buttercup are a rare species.

So we carried on to the hut. While we had lunch we were hoping and waiting for the sky to begin to clear. But after half an hour we were getting too cold. The inside of the hut was warm but was filled with registered overnighters.

So we started down. But it was only a few minutes before we got a glimpse of the Mueller Glaciers! I was so excited! We took a chance and it had paid off!

As we stood watching, a chute to the left of this slope kept rumbling with rock-fall.

Mt. Ollivier (1933m) behind the Mueller Hut. This was the first peak climbed by Sir Edmund Hillary, who trained in this area for his eventual summit of Mt. Everest.

When we got back to the sign, we realized our mistake. The little arrow was beside the Mueller Hut words but there was no arrow beside the Sealy Tarns words. Wendy & Denise had made the same mistake. We heard from a few hikers we met on the trail, that it was not an uncommon mistake to make.

Hooker & Mueller Lakes. Mt. Cook is right behind Hooker Lake.

Mueller Lake.

Mt. Sefton at the Sealy Tarn.

Back at the Hermitage Hotel we had a delicious buffet dinner.

Selfton & Cook Mtns.

Jan. 28: Avalanche Peak - We decided the night before, after looking at the forecast, to do this hike the very next day instead of the day after. But we had a late start and only got halfway up before the dark rain clouds closed in.

5 km / 711m gain / 1050m high / 2:50 hours MT

We didn't start the hike till 3:00pm. We'd been driving all morning to get here. Shortly after we started a very loud alarm went off in the village. It sounded like the kind they used in war to send the whole city to shelter. Later we found out there was a fatal accident a few km up the road and they had to call in specific volunteers who do the search & rescue work.

This hike was even more challenging than the Mueller Hut hike. Not only was it also very steep, but it often required all fours, scrambling up rocks and roots.

When we emerged from the forest at about 1000m altitude, we set eyes on Avalanche Peak for the first time. I checked my stats and realized we were only halfway. Dark clouds were closing in. Janice & I agreed that it would not be wise or safe to continue. And we were both starting to feel pretty tired. This was our 7th hike in 8 days.

Carpet Heath

The long line of cars had not moved since we'd started out. They ended up at a stand-still for 3 hours.

We met Wendy & Denise at the tree-line. That's when it started to rain.

Very cautious steps were taken on these wet rocks.

Feb. 5: Tongariro Alpine Crossing -- This one is said to be New Zealand's greatest day walk and is a World Heritage area.

19.4 km / 904m gain & 1126m loss / 1886m high point

Wake up call was at 4:30am. By 5:15am we were in the van driving 10 minutes to the trailhead at the Mangatepopo car park. We had our headlights and rain gear on.

Would we have a day of no views or would the sky open up as my forecast said, just after sunrise?

I was sooo excited when we did indeed see some of that yellow light peeking through the clouds and exposing the shapes of the mountains that surrounded us.

Mt. Ngauruhoe (right) or more commonly known as Mt. Doom, in the Lord of the Rings movies.

Leaving the valley and starting a steeper climb up the Devil's Staircase.

A strong smell of sulphur permeated the air.

Looking to our left, at Soda Springs (the little waterfall at the base of the mountain) and at Tongariro Mt. (1967m).

At the Mangatepopo Saddle.

An alien landscape.

Looking back at Mt. Doom (2287m).

Back on the ridge after a flat black gravel field.

Almost at the Red Crater (1886m) which is the highest point on the trail. Unfortunately we did not have many views beyond this point anymore.

Proud to have made it.

At the base of the Red Crater are the three Emerald Lakes.

Beyond the Emerald Lakes our view was very limited. We walked right by the larger Blue Lake but didn't see it. Tussock grass covered the slopes. The path had alot of the honeycomb plastic inlay to prevent falling on the slippery mud.