WALKING MUST-DO’S Tongariro Crossing © Getty Images
NEW ZEALAND’S 10 GREAT WALKS What to expect: • Multiple hours of walking per day. • DOC huts and/or campsites: no thrills, back-to-nature accommodation. • To carry your every provision for the duration: food, drink, tent, toilet roll! And more... • The unexpected. Walks are at the mercy of Mother Nature so check what’s open beforehand at www.doc.govt.nz. • An easier option: travel companies offer itineraries with guides, pre-arranged accommodation, luggage transfer services, car relocation, pre-prepared food and gear that you can hire.
Get off the wellbeaten path and sign up for an adventure. New Zealand’s 10 Great Walks are a collection of multi-day trails that pass through some of Aotearoa’s most startling landscapes.
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TONGARIRO NORTHERN CIRCUIT: NORTH ISLAND IS AN ADVENTURE OF TOLKIEN PROPORTIONS Most walks on Earth don’t look like this. With desert plains that crash into red craters, steaming blisters, neon-bright lakes and three enormous volcanic peaks, this is doomsday meets the great Gates of Mordor. In fact, Mt Ngāuruhoe towers one-kilometre overhead and when it’s not brooding silently, poses for The Lord of the Rings’ fans as the ominous Mount Doom. This three-day circuit initially follows the popular Tongariro Alpine Crossing, but when the path splits, a barren, lunar-like landscape dares you to go further. For track tips Sam and Frodo could’ve done with, see page 48.
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LAKE WAIKAREMOANA: NORTH ISLAND IS MAGICAL TALES ALONG MAGICAL TRAILS No one can resist the promise of a goblin forest, ethereal waterfalls and Patupaiarehe (forest fairies). Lake Waikaremoana is located in Te Urewera, an area long considered the ancestral home of the Ngāi Tūhoe tribe – the ‘Children of the Mist’, and since 2014, an independent legal identity. This means that Mother Nature is 100% in charge here. Since Tūhoe were made legal guardians of Te Urewera, the land has been allowed to flourish. It’s a highly spiritual place that fully enchants walkers over the course of three to four days.
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Read the complete low-down on
Lake Waikaremoana on page 39.
