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STORY AND PHOTOS BY ANNE JEFFERY Have you dogeared the pages of the local hiking guides? Are you looking for new routes to explore? The South Island of New Zealand is worth a look. My husband and I took a bucket-list trip to the South Island of New Zealand this past March. We had been hearing and reading about the great hiking there and wanted to experience it for ourselves. To whet your appetite for a similar trek, here are some hiking appetizers:
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Key Summit Lake
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Routeburn Track Not to be missed is the Routeburn Track, one of New Zealand’s “Great Walks.” The Great Walks are premier hiking tracks that pass through some of the country’s most spectacular scenery. They are not only gorgeous, they are well constructed and maintained. We did day hikes, but the tracks have huts and campsites for folks who want to do longer treks. We did a 13-mile round trip hike from the eastern start of the Routeburn track to Routeburn Falls. With the exception of the last mile or so to the falls, the hike was a gentle grade and easily done as a day hike. On the western side of the Routeburn Track there is a side hike to Key Summit topped by a picturesque lake. It is a 5-mile roundtrip from the Routeburn western Trailhead and has great views of Fiordland National Park when the clouds part.
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Trap on Kepler Track
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Kepler Track The Kepler Track is another of the “Great Walks.” In my photograph, you can see one of the many predator control traps that you will see on the hiking trails of the South Island. The traps, like this one, are designed to trap introduced predator species, such as rats, possums and stoats, which prey on native birds. Many of New Zealand’s native birds evolved to be flightless and thrived in the absence of predatory land mammals and are now are in danger of extinction from loss of habitat and predation from introduced species.
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Crossing Awaroa Inlet
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Stewart Island We extended our South Island trip to Stewart Island. It’s off the southern end of the South Island and home to the Rakiura Track “Great Walk.” For our Rakiura hike, we took a water taxi from the town of Oban to our starting point at Port William. Port William is now just a hut and campsite on the Rakiura Track, but it was an early Māori settlement and a harbor for whalers and sealers. The Rakiura track takes you through a forest of tree ferns and ground ferns out across beaches and then back again into the forest. Of all the places we hiked in New Zealand, this hike had the richest diversity of birdsong. We did not see many birds, but we could hear them.
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A sneaky Weka comes looking for food, or maybe a shoe.
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Abel Tasman National Park In the north of the South Island is Abel Tasman National Park with its tropical climate, sandy beaches and coastal trails. The park is popular for sea kayaking and you are never far from water. Trail heads and camping spots can be reached by both car and boat. We hiked part of the Abel Tasman Coastal Track starting from the beach at Totaranui. Our hike was timed so that we could cross the Awaroa inlet at low tide. It is NOT to be attempted in bare feet nor at high tide. I guess you have to watch for thieves wherever you travel, but the flightless Wekas in Abel Tasman National Park were adept at sneaking up and stealing things out of your pack before you realized they were even there.
We went in March, which is fall in New Zealand. It was a perfect time for hiking. It not only had the benefit of fewer travelers, but it had mild temperatures with temperatures in the high 60’s to low 70’s.
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