Lonely Planet Hiking & Tramping in New Zealand

Andrew Bain

Description

Lonely Planet: The world's leading travel guide publisher Lonely Planet's Hiking & Tramping in New Zealand is your passport to the most relevant and up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Spot seals and laze on golden sands along the Abel Tasman Coast Track; explore The Lord of the Rings scenery on Tongariro Northern Circuit; and tramp through ancient rainforest and along gnarly ridges on the Lake Waikaremoana Great Walk. All with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of New Zealand's trails and begin your journey now! Inside Lonely Planet's Hiking & Tramping in New Zealand: Colour maps and images throughout Great hiking and itineraries sections show you how to tailor your trip around the best trails Special features on clothing & equipment, hiking safety and other non-hiking outdoor activities Essential info at your fingertips - hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, prices Budget-oriented recommendations with honest reviews - including eating and sleeping reviews of towns and hiking destinations Cultural insights provide a richer and more rewarding travel experience - covering history, landscapes, geology and wildlife Covers Northland, Auckland, Coromandel, Tongariro, Urewera, Central North Island, Taranaki, Whanganui, Around Wellington, Queen Charlotte, Marlborough, Abel Tasman, Kahurangi, Nelson Lakes, Canterbury, Arthur's Pass, Aoraki/Mt Cook, West Coast, Mt Aspiring National Park, Around Queenstown, Fiordland, Stewart Island/Rakiura. The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet's Hiking & Tramping in New Zealand is our most comprehensive guide to hiking in New Zealand, and is perfect for those planning to explore the country on foot. Looking for more information on New Zealand? Check out Lonely Planet's New Zealand guide for a comprehensive look at what the country has to offer. About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company and the world's number one travel guidebook brand, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since 1973. Over the past four decades, we've printed over 145 million guidebooks and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travellers. You'll also find our content online, and in mobile apps, video, 14 languages, nine international magazines, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more. 'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times 'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves, it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media (Australia)

Sujets

• Nueva Zelanda
• New Zealand
• Walking
• Nouvelle-Zélande

Informations

• Publié par: Lonely Planet
• Date de parution: 01 décembre 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781788681643
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 46 Mo

Extrait

Hiking & Tramping in New Zealand

Contents

PLAN YOUR TRIP

Welcome to New Zealand
New Zealand Map
New Zealand’s Great Walks
Need to Know
If You Like...
Itineraries
Choosing Your Tramp
Outdoor Pursuits
New Zealand’s Birds
Safety in the Outdoors
Clothing, Equipment & Food
Regions at a Glance

ON THE TRACK

NORTHLAND, AUCKLAND & COROMANDEL
Te Paki Coastal Track
Cape Brett Track
Rangitoto Island Loop
Aotea Track
Coromandel Walkway
Kauaeranga Kauri Trail
Karangahake Gorge
Towns & Facilities
Auckland
Kaitaia
Russell
Whangarei
Thames
TONGARIRO, TE UREWERA & CENTRAL NORTH ISLAND
Tongariro National Park
Tongariro Alpine Crossing
Tongariro Northern Circuit
Te Urewera
Lake Waikaremoana Great Walk
Towns & Facilities
Taupo
Turangi
National Park Village
Wairoa
TARANAKI & SOUTHERN NORTH ISLAND
Egmont National Park
Around the Mountain Circuit
Pouakai Circuit
Pouakai Crossing
Mt Taranaki Summit
Ruahine Forest Park
Sunrise Track
Tararua Forest Park
Mt Holdsworth–Jumbo Circuit
Cape Palliser
Putangirua Pinnacles
Towns & Facilities
New Plymouth
Napier
Palmerston North
Masterton
Wellington
QUEEN CHARLOTTE & MARLBOROUGH
Queen Charlotte & Marlborough Tramps
Queen Charlotte Track
Pelorus Track
Kaikoura Coast Track
Towns & Facilities
Picton
Kaikoura
ABEL TASMAN, KAHURANGI & NELSON LAKES
Abel Tasman National Park
Abel Tasman Coast Track
Kahurangi National Park
Heaphy Track
Tableland Circuit
Nelson Lakes National Park
Lake Angelus Track
St Arnaud Range Track
Travers-Sabine Circuit
Towns & Facilities
Nelson
Motueka
Takaka
Karamea
CANTERBURY, ARTHUR’S PASS & AORAKI/MT COOK
Banks Track
St James Walkway
Arthur’s Pass National Park
Avalanche Peak
Goat Pass Track
Harper Pass
Bealey Spur
Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park
Mueller Hut Route
Hooker Valley Track
Towns & Facilities
Christchurch
Akaroa
Hanmer Springs
Arthur’s Pass
Mt Cook Village
WEST COAST
Old Ghost Road
Paparoa National Park
Inland Pack Track
Westland Tai Poutini National Park
Welcome Flat
Towns & Facilities
Westport
Greymouth
Punakaiki
Fox Glacier
Franz Josef Glacier
MT ASPIRING NATIONAL PARK & AROUND QUEENSTOWN
Mt Aspiring National Park
Routeburn Track
Greenstone Caples Track
Rees-Dart Track
Cascade Saddle
Rob Roy Track
Gillespie Pass Circuit
Queenstown & Wanaka
Ben Lomond
Roys Peak
Diamond Lake & Rocky Mountain
Towns & Facilities
Queenstown
Wanaka
Glenorchy
FIORDLAND & STEWART ISLAND/RAKIURA
Fiordland National Park
Milford Track
Hollyford Track
Kepler Track
Gertrude Saddle
Hump Ridge Track
Stewart Island/Rakiura
Rakiura Track
Towns & Facilities
Te Anau
Invercargill

UNDERSTAND

Understand New Zealand
New Zealand Today
History
Environment

SURVIVE

Directory A-Z
Accessible Travel
Children
Climate
Customs Regulations
Electricity
Emergency & Important Numbers
Entry & Exit Formalities
Food & Drink
Health
Insurance
Internet Access
Legal Matters
LGBT+ Travellers
Maps
Money
Opening Hours
Post
Public Holidays
Safe Travel
Telephone
Time
Toilets
Tourist Information
Volunteering
Women Travellers
Transport
GETTING THERE & AWAY
Entering the Country/Region
Air
Land
Sea
GETTING AROUND
Air
Bicycle
Boat
Bus
Car & Motorcycle
Hitching & Ride-Sharing
Local Transport
Train
Accommodation
B&Bs
Camping & Holiday Parks
Farmstays
Hostels
Pubs, Hotels & Motels
Rental Accommodation
Booking Services
Glossary
Behind the Scenes
Our Writers
Welcome to New Zealand

There may be no country on earth as naturally diverse as New Zealand. Here glaciers leak through rainforest, volcanoes form a beating heart, sun-blazed beaches frame coastal national parks, and ice-tipped mountains hack at the sky.

Jewels of Nature
It’s the extraordinary natural architecture that lures trampers, but NZ also comes jewelled with one of the planet’s finest and most extensive track networks. The natural drama all around the country is worthy of the theatre, but the boards you’ll tread are tracks that climb through mountain passes, or trace the lines of rivers or lakes, or disappear momentarily into the soft sand of long beaches.

Hut Havens
Almost 1000 huts dot the trails, which are headlined by a Great Walks system that has long been envied and mimicked by the rest of the world. Even in the most remote reaches, huts await – often with historical tales as engrossing as the views. DOC maintains more than 950 huts in its national parks, conservation areas and reserves. While many were purpose-built for trampers and climbers, others stand as a legacy to industries such as forestry, farming, mining and deer culling. Today they form a network that offers cheap, character-filled accommodation in the most unlikely places, a unique and highly treasured feature of the NZ backcountry.

Easy Does It
Reward here doesn’t always require effort. Certainly, you can slog it to the top of hard-earned alpine passes such as Cascade Saddle for mountain views beyond excellence, but there are equally worthy prizes that can be found in committing just a few hours to walk to points beneath the hanging terminus of Rob Roy Glacier, or along empty and wild bays around the northern tip of Coromandel Peninsula.

Space Invaders
Evidence of what awaits comes in the numbers. There are just 4.8 million New Zealanders, scattered across more than 260,000 sq km: bigger than the UK with one-fourteenth of the population. Filling in the large gaps in between are the sublime mountains, forests, lakes, beaches and fiords that have made NZ one of the world’s most desirable hiking destinations. Stand on a Fiordland pass with mountains rearing above, beside a dazzling volcanic lake in Tongariro, or on an Abel Tasman beach lined with forest, and you’ll see why NZ tramping tracks have labels such as ‘finest walk in the world’ and ‘best day walk in the world’. And yet those very tracks may not even be the best in the country.

Mt Taranaki | RONNIE LI/500PX ©

By Andrew Bain, Writer
They call them Great Walks for a reason, but any time I’m on one of these showpiece tramps, I find my eye wandering elsewhere on the map. The New Zealand landscape reads like an open invitation to explore on foot – into that valley, onto that pass, along that beach. Like few other places on earth, you can wake with a hankering to hike a particular landscape – be it mountains or beach, forest or alpine – and find that there are possibilities in quick reach of wherever you stand in the country.
For more about our writers
New Zealand’s Great Walks

Abel Tasman Coast Track
Routinely touted as New Zealand’s most beautiful Great Walk, the Abel Tasman Coast Track is also the most popular. Located in the country’s smallest national park, this track brings together great weather, granite cliffs, golden sands and a bushy backdrop. Spot seals and birds, explore fascinating estuaries, hidden inlets and freshwater pools, study bizarre rock formations and significant trees…or simply laze around on that beach towel you packed. Water taxis and kayak trips offer endless options for maximising enjoyment.

GUAXINIM/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Great Walks
Tongariro Northern Circuit
New Zealand’s oldest national park is also home to one of its most dynamic and imposing Great Walks. The Tongariro Northern Circuit loops among a trio of volcanoes that provided one of the most dramatic backdrops in Lord of the Rings, and wears dazzling lakes, steaming vents, lava bombs and craters like bling. Add in a couple of waterfalls and the country’s only desert and you get a sense of what makes this a truly great walk.

Taranaki Falls , Tongariro National Park | NARUEDOM YAEMPONGSA/SHUTTERSTOCK ©


Great Walks
Lake Waikaremoana
Remote, immense and shrouded in mist, Te Urewera encompasses the North Island’s largest tract of virgin forest. The park’s highlight is Lake Waikaremoana (‘Sea of Rippling Waters’), a deep crucible of water encircled by the Lake Waikaremoana track. This tramp passes through ancient rainforest and reedy inlets, and traverses gnarly ridges, including the famous Panekiri Bluff, from where there are stupendous views of the lake and endless forested peaks and valleys.

WESTEND61/GETTY IMAGES ©

Great Walks
Whanganui Journey
The Great Walk you can have when you’re not having a walk, the Whanganui Journey is actually a canoe or kayak trip along the Whanganui River, NZ’s longest navigable waterway. It’s a journey through sheer gorges, where the reflections can almost induce vertigo, and over short bouncy rapids. The forest is dense and the views are immense. Along the way it passes the folly-like Bridge to Nowhere, numerous bush campsites and the only DOC hut in the country that’s also used as a marae (Māori meeting house).

JANETTEASCHE/GETTY IMAGES ©


Great Walks
Heaphy Track
This wild and wonderful historic crossing from Golden Bay to the West Coast dishes up the most diverse scenery of any of the Great Walks, taking in dense forest, tussock-covered downs, caves, secluded valleys and beaches dusted in salt spray and fringed by nikau palms. It’s a mighty wilderness, and if time’s at a premium you can always mountain bike it (in winter and spring, at least)…

SAM LANE/SHUTTERSTOCK ©

Great Walks
Kepler Track
One of three Great Walks within Fiordland National Park, the Kepler Track was built to take pressure off the Milford and Routeburn. Many trampers now say it rivals both of them. This high crossing takes you from the peaceful, beech-forested shores of Lake Te Anau and Lake Manapouri before bumping across the alpine tops of Mt Luxmore. Expect towering limestone bluffs, razor-edged ridges, vast views and crazy caves. The Kepler is a truly spectacular way to appreciate the grandeur of NZ’s larges