My three favourite short hikes and viewpoints in New Zealand
We spent a month roadtripping around New Zealand in a little campervan, and the scenery was pretty much constantly breathtaking. It’s such a dramatically beautiful place, especially in the South Island, with its rugged coastlines, brilliant blue lakes and rivers, and snow-capped mountains.
There is a lot of mountainous terrain, so we spent a lot of time walking (or tramping as the Kiwis call it) up steep tracks to take in the views from the top. The scenery was always worth the effort and it also made for a good (and free!) day out!
In no particular order, these were the three views that blew my mind the most:
Rocky Mountain Summit walk, Wanaka
We only spent one day and night in Wanaka because we had to rush on to make use of a good discount and good weather forecast for a Milford Sound trip. But it was a beautiful place that I could easily have stayed longer in. We arrived late afternoon on an overcast day so headed to the bizarre Puzzling World to enjoy the illusions and the outdoor maze, which was great fun! The next day we had lovely sunshine, which made the lake look even more beautiful. It’s surrounded by snowy mountains and is a deep, crystal clear, blue. We spent some time marvelling at its beauty and skipping stones from the beach (well George did, I failed on most attempts), before heading off to see the lake from higher up.
There are a number of treks around here but many get closed for safety because of the snow in winter, and a few were also closed to us because of the spring time lambing. But, luckily, we were able to take on the Rocky Mountain summit track. I can’t lie, this was hard going at times, especially as I very stupidly wore jeans! It takes about 45 minutes of uphill hiking and step climbing to get to the Lake Wanaka viewpoint, which shows you most of the lake and is just stunning. Then it’s about another 45 minutes of climbing to get to the Rocky Mountain summit. I felt like a mountain goat scrambling up the narrow rocky trail! The scenery at the top was sensational with 360 degree views of the surrounding snow-capped mountains and, of course, the stunning Lake Wanaka. We spent a good half hour taking photos and just sitting to enjoy the view before heading back down the other side to what we came up. We came up the track closest to the lake and I’d recommend doing it that way. The other route goes through the bush and is lovely, but both are steep and I personally needed those lake views as motivation to keep me going!
Okarito Trig Track, Franz Josef
A short 15 min drive down the road from Franz Josef is the little town of Okarito. From here we took the Trig Track, which was a 1.5hr walk. It took us an hour of actual walking (return) and we spent a good half an hour at the top in absolute awe of the view! You could see the ocean on both your left and right, with the rainforest in between running right up to the snow-capped mountains. You could even see the Franz Josef glacier nestled in between the peaks! Truly amazing. It was well worth the 40 minute climb, which was a bit of a mission. The pics just don’t do it justice!
Lakeside to Mount John Summit walk, Tekapo
From the Tekapo hot springs car park there are two walks up to the summit of Mount John. One goes up through the trees and takes an hour, the other winds alongside the lake and takes two hours to get to the top. You can also drive to the top, but where’s the fun in that?! 🙂
We took the two-hour lakeside route up, and the shorter forest walk back down. The shorter one was a lot steeper and a lot less scenic so I’d definitely recommend doing it this way! The majority of the lakeside walk was a gentle gradient and wound alongside the beautifully brilliant blue waters of the lake. With snowy mountains all around, the view just got better and better as we got higher. From the top you can also see Lake Alexandria and the small Lake McGregor, which was where we camped. And if you turned around you could also see the brown grassy plains of the Twizel area that were the setting for Gondor in Lord of the Rings! It was a beautiful view and the walk made for a lovely afternoon out.
