Reviewing walks from around New Zealand with stories, photos, videos, and helpful information you need to get walking and exploring!
In March 2020, I was incredibly fortunate to have the opportunity to do the inaugural Trek for Life, a wonderful week long event that brings together a fabulous community of walkers, bikers, and horse trekkers to explore Aotearoa New Zealand while raising funds for first responders in the regions.
The Pouakai Circuit is one of the best multi-day hikes I've ever done. The views are phenomenal. The huts are great. Sunrise from the Pouakai Tarn was stunning. The track is technical enough to be interesting. It's not super full of people. The terrain varies greatly. The only downside were the many, many, many stairs that had to be climbed on day one (but more on that later).
This is a popular walk, and for good reasons. It's free, has stunning views, great picnic spots, has historical significance, and takes less than two hours to do! Cook's Cove Walk is in Tolaga Bay, home of a famous wharf, and enormous ice creams from the dairy (seriously, their single scoop icecreams were double scoops!)
If you like dogs you will ADORE this walk. It's one of the few walks on DOC land I've come across where dogs are allowed and because of that there were so many cute puppies around every corner (disclaimer: every dog to me is a puppy whether they are a couple of months old or not!)
I first went to Morere Hot Springs when I was a kid. In the decades since I last visited, it has changed from childhood memories but it still has great hot pools, incredible bush, and is a wee slice of paradise in the middle of nowhere!
Want a waterfall you can wade out to, a meandering river, a bush walk, and then another waterfall you can admire from a quiet lookout? Have I got the place for you! The Tangoio Walkway which encompasses Te Ana Falls, which you can swim at, and Tangoio Falls which you can view from a lockout, in Hawke's Bay is the place to be.
800 steps up. Sounds like a lot but it goes surprisingly quick and the view at the top is absolutely worth it. The East Cape Lighthouse walk also has quite possibly one of the most picturesque drives to get to it, following the road around the coast and I almost guarantee you'll start to imagine yourself owning a bach (holiday home) here as the beaches are glorious and it's so easy to find a wee spot away from the other 10 people that happen to be on the beach at the same time as you!
White Pine Bush is home to Kahikatea, and not just any Kahikatea, but an 800 year old one! Thinking about the things has endured to still be here in our lifetime is pretty impressive.
A hut where you are guaranteed to have the whole place to yourself? Where you have to cross a river numerous times to get there? Where you don't have to carry crockery or cooking equipment, leaving room for a bottle of wine in your bag? Sign me up!
This is by far the most popular walk in the New Zealand. Every international visitor seems to know about it and want to do it. I'd first done it 10 years ago and was keen to see it during good weather as the last time I'd done it the weather was shocking and we saw pretty much nothing. I also wanted to see if it lived up to it's moniker as the best day walk in New Zealand, as this is the walk that many international visitors to New Zealand do in their limited time that they have here, due to the relative ease of access, the interesting terrain, and that it only takes a day!
Patuna Chasm has to be one of the best kept secret day walks in all of New Zealand. The fact it's on private land and there is a entry fee involved probably accounts for that - but let me tell you that this walk is absolutely worth every dollar!
A walk on a predator free island (well, apart from humans), less than a hour's drive from New Zealand's capital city? A walk that starts and ends with a boat trip? The opportunity to see birdlife up close and personal? If all of the above appeals to you, then you need to get yourself to Kāpiti Island, ASAP.
I don't know of many capital cities where you can drive 10 minutes from the city centre and see seals. And not just one seal, but heaps of seals, sunbathing themselves on rocks and generally just being rather adorable!
We lucked out big time with this walk - a few days before we were due to start walking the middle section of the track was closed due to snow. And two days after we came off that section it closed again due to bad weather. Which is completely understandable as there is no way I'd want to be on top of those ridgelines in windy and/or snowy conditions!
This wasn't a typical walk. It was a 50km mountain race around a volcano, that started and finished in darkness. I'd gone into it knowing that I'd already completed a 50km before (and that included running and walking, whereas this one was only walking), so mentally I knew I could do it. It was whether I could physically do it again.
The number one reason I like this walk is because it starts in the heart of the city, but within 30 minutes you can look around and not see any sign of people. That's my kind of walk! The second reason is that it ends at the beach. And not just that, but a beach with seals! If those aren't two fantastic reasons to do this walk, then I'm not sure what would be.
If you like stairs, you'll really like this walk. There are lots of them. And they are perched on hillsides where if you slip, there is nothing to stop you until you hit the ground far below. So my hint for this walk? Take it slow going up and down the many, many stairs.
This is a slight detour from normal on the blog as this walk took place half way around the world from where I normally walk - in Italy! And not only that, it took place on a different surface than normal - snow.
