The Vagabond Hiker

Hiking, trekking, and climbing the world

Day hikes in New Zealand’s Nelson-Tasman area

While the Great Walks such as the Milford and Abel Tasman Coast tracks garner most of the acclaim, there are many shorter hikes in New Zealand that offer some of the same scenery without all the trampers and with the prospect of a hot shower at the end of the day.  The Nelson and Tasman districts in the north western portion of the South Island of New Zealand were on my doorstep, with a widely varied range of hikes and walks within an hour or so of my apartment.  Spending six weeks here gave me a great opportunity to experience much of what the area has to offer.

Cable Bay track looking back to the hamlet of Glenduan with Tasman Bay behind. Some of the Cable Bay Track meandered through old growth forest; the rest traversed pine plantations and ranch land.
Foxgloves along the Cable Bay track north of Nelson. Another attempt to get a good photo of these colorful flowers.
Cable Bay track view to Sentinel Lookout and the privately-owned Pepin Island, about 20 km north of Nelson.
Nelson as seen from the “Center of New Zealand,” a marker on a small hill near town that supposedly is the geographic center of the country. Nelson itself is a wonderful town, with many cultural amenities within a beautiful setting.
Patio view from my Garden apartment in Wakefield, about 30 km south of Nelson. Ewan and Valerie cultivate more than two acres of flower and vegetable gardens and fruit trees.
First view toward Mt Arthur from along the popular Mt Arthur track, Kahurangi National Park, about an hour west of Wakefield.
A bold Weka near Mt Arthur Hut. These native birds remind me of wild chickens.
View along the Mt Arthur track with the summit visible as the long ridge in the background. The track gains about 900 meters elevation in 9 km to the summit.
Sub-alpine wildflowers along the Mt Arthur track
Vista from Mt Arthur summit (1795 meters) towards Tasman Bay. The track is partially visible on the right side here.
Hacket track, Mt Richmond Forest Park.  This park is just to the east of where I have been staying in Wakefield. Although it offers some nice hiking, lots of logging and no real vistas detracted from the one hike I did here.
Lake Rotoiti from Paddy’s track, Nelson Lakes National Park. The village of St Arnaud is just past the lake, about 45 minutes’ drive from Wakefield.  It is considered to be the northern-most portion of the Southern Alps.
Fantail in flight, Pinchgut track, Nelson Lakes Park. Another of my series of blurry fantails. . .
St Arnaud Range track, Nelson Lakes Park. Much of the track climbed through beech forest, with Red Beech, Silver Beech (shown here), and Mountain Beech predominating at different elevations.
Lake Rotoiti view from Parachute Rocks, St Arnaud Range track, Nelson Lakes Park. I hiked this track on my second of two day hikes in the park.
St Arnaud Range vista, Nelson Lakes Park. I stitched together 9 photos for this (admittedly a bit distorted) panorama. . .
Lakeside track view of Lake Rotoiti, Nelson Lakes Park. The entire lakeside track is a very long day hike, one I did not do as I prefer hikes that get above treeline.
View along Motueka sandspit. About 45 minutes from Wakefield on the Tasman Bay, the sandspit is about 3 km long and very popular with migrants – birds, that is.
Horse Mussels, Motueka spit.  Along with other mulloscs, thousands of these mussels washed ashore here during the storm last week, much to the delight of the shorebirds.
A White faced heron seen at Motueka spit. Along with oystercatchers, terns, gulls, stilts, red knots, etc., I saw three dozen bar-tailed godwits.  They have the distinction of making the the longest non-stop migration in the world, a single flight of more than 7000 miles in September each year from Alaska to Motueka.
For my final hike in New Zealand, I chose the challenging Parapara Peak track in Kahurangi National Park.  It was deceptively easy at the start . . .
The Pariwhakaoho River. This was the first of many creek crossings along the Parapara Peak track.
The Parapara Peak track along the Copperstain Creek. Many landslides and washouts have disrupted the track, making for some slippery going in parts.
Golden Bay from Parapara Peak, Kahurangi National Park. After more than 1100 meters and several hours of often steep and slippery ascent, the track finally emerged into a sub-alpine zone with amazing vistas.
On top of Parapara Peak at about 1300 meters above sea level. The view was certainly worth the effort, and I only saw one other hiker all day.

It has been a great 11 weeks here in New Zealand. In 2009 when I visited I counted myself lucky to spend 8 days on the South Island!

Tomorrow I depart for Sri Lanka.  It is a country I have wanted to visit for many years.  I will spend two weeks on a group cultural/trekking trip and then the final 5 days scuba diving off the west coast. From there back to Europe for the spring.  My calendar is updated to reflect some planned trips between now and July, including trekking the Huayhuash Circuit in Peru.

Keep hiking!

The Vagabond Hiker

 

Comments

  1. Beautiful pics (as always). Looks like some fun and warm hikes. We had snow & ice yesterday 🙂 hugs…moi

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