UKC

Anyone got any decent bouldering sites or ideas for NZ?
I've seen the stuff on castle hill and I will be going but looking for more as we will be travelling around. I've seen the destination articles but they are over 5 years old.
I'm off over there end of March for 4 weeks. Have a wedding to attend in Wellington but other than that I plan to stay on the south island.
Anyone tried to take a matt that far? I hear climbign gear is ridiculously expensive so wondering if its better to take my Phud with me

In reply to Croakinglizard:
There is pretty good bouldering in NZ, in addition to castle hill. Around wellington, places like Baring Head have a fair amount of bouldering (there is a guide to bouldering around wellington - I think it's called "wellington bouldering" but I could be wrong). On the south island, places other than castle hill include: Elephant rocks (very similar to castle hill but smaller, so you might as well go to castle hill), Long Beach (near Dunedin - it's okay), Wanaka has some bouldering as does Queenstown. www.mojozone.co.nz is NZ's climbing forum so you can get better answers there.

Climbing gear is stupid expensive in NZ (Lived there for 6 years and it's almost always been cheaper to order from the states and have it shipped over, including express shipping). If you are going to Castle hill - you can rent boulder pads from the pie shop in Springfield (a black cafe on the right side of the road as you're headed up to the hill). $20 for the first day, $10/day after that. If you're not going to be doing heaps of bouldering, that might be an option too. The pads are a bit beat to shit, but better than nothing.

Bring rain gear and a good book. Don't plan on buying any climbing gear in NZ. In fact, you may even be able to bring some desired items from the UK and sell them at a profit.

In reply to Croakinglizard:

You should check out flock hill, its not as well known as castle hill, but is nearby, just an extra 10 mins from chch. you need to ask permission from a guesthouse nearby. Better rock, less polished, but no guidebook, so you dont really know what ur climbing, I like it that way tho.

In reply to Croakinglizard:
Long Beach has a little bouldering in the caves, which is decent but probably not worth making the trip for.
Elephant Rocks and Hulk Hogan are both about 30 minutes drive inland from Oamaru. Elephant Rocks is like a smaller, less polished, quieter version of Castle Hill. Hulk Hogan is two minutes up the road from it and is about 150 problems of very very steep limestone. Big holds and big moves...pretty fun, but after a while it all gets a bit samey. The two venues together make for a good day or two bouldering.
Jardines (10 minutes drive from Queenstown) has some very good bouldering in an incredibly spectacular location (under the shadow of a mountain range, views of more mountains and a beautiful lake)...I'm not sure if it's in the South Island guide book though, so might be best to try and get a local to show you (NZ climbers are super friendly).
Wanaka has worldclass sport climbing and a few boulder problems, as does Paynes Ford (top of the South Island, near Takaka).

The North Island has some decent stuff near Wellington (Baring Head and Turakirae) and a few other bits and bobs, but I think South Island is probably your best bet for bouldering.

Oh and you could spend a month at Castle Hill and not get bored!

In reply to Croakinglizard:

Another shout for Turakirae near Wellington, you don't have to wade a river to get there (unlike Baring Head). Can be a bit hard to navigate around though. Some guides here: http://powerband.org.nz/guides

In reply to Nick White: There are a number of locations in Q'town which have landowners who have agreed to allow access but do not wish to publicise the venues. Jardines is one of these venues.

The local climbing club is Queenstown Climbing Club and members do post on UKC - if you're ever in Queenstown, they're a very friendly and welcoming group!

Forgot the link!

http://www.queenstownclimbing.com/

In reply to Croakinglizard: Thanks for the responses. As I'm in work for today I'll use this info to start planning a route.

In reply to Croakinglizard: Regarding bouldering mats, when I was there about 3 years ago, there was a small town called Springfield about 3 miles from Castle hill and the small grocery shop there rented out mats. It cost me about £15 to rent two large mats for the whole week...

In reply to Croakinglizard:

Its been just over a year since Kath and myself wrote the UKC article on Castlehill and Flockhill.

We lived out in NZ climbing for 11 months. If we had to do it again, go to Castlehill/Flockhill first, take your own mat, do not rent the ankle breakers from Springfield. These bits of tired foam need retiring. If you wanted to make some money, get a big mat, take it over there climb on it then sell it for more than you bought if for/shipped it for. And go to Flockhill at every opportunity possible, you will need to speak to some of the locals and register at the flock hill lodge station but these guys are a great help.

There is bouldering around both islands and the scenery is absolutely stunning.

Contact myself or lil'kath if you want more info about the island.

Cheers
Alex

In reply to Croakinglizard: lots of the stuff at baring head near wellington has sandy landings so you can get away without a mat if you don't take one.

Depending who you fly with the bouldering mat should be fine. never taken one but flown out there with a surfboard a lot. normally goes free on singapore air, Malaysian air, quantos and air NZ as part of your weight limit. just read the small print in the baggage under sports equipment. internal flights within NZ may be different though.

In reply to Croakinglizard: You can rent decent pads and a guide for Castle Hill from Drew and Trudie based in ChCh www.basealpine.com/