UKC

Hi,

I'm planning to go to New Zealand for a couple of weeks, maybe around the end of November. I suspect I'll be wanting to spend most of my time on the south island but I'll be in the north for a few days to visit a friend so looking to fill those days as well.

Been looking at the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, Franz Josef/Fox glaciers (and probably more but I forget... there's so much to do!) and wondering if I can do any of these (or similar) without forking out for the usual guided tourist trips? Does anybody have any recommendations on what can be achieved (whether alpine, climbing or trek). Also, is there an NZ equivalent of UKC or another alternative for hooking up with people?

In reply to batterj2:

Hello mate.

The Tongariro Alpine Crossing is a hike, you won't need a guide. In November there will still be snow and ice on the summits on the volcanos, which are optional but recommended detours from the main track. Apart from the summits it is basically a highway, loads of other people, you really can't go wrong. Will you have a car? If so you can save money on a transfer by parking at the usual starting point, hiking up to the plateau, then heading back the same when when you've seen enough. The walk down the other side is long and boring, just endless switchbacks down a grassy hill, and you end up miles away from your car! I wish we'd just done this, instead of paying for a transfer!

A fun route I did was the Grand Traverse of the Remarkables, the famous ridge above Queenstown. It's essentially a scramble, perhaps the hardest bits would just about be worth Diff. Well worth doing if you want something easy and accessible that still feels a bit alpine. Having said that, I did it in February when it was clear of snow, I imagine it would be a bit more mixed in November.

There's loads of hiking around, the most famous ones being the Great Walks, which you have to book well in advance. Search for New Zealand's DOC to get more info on hut bookings, etc. There's tons of good hikes other than the ten or so classified 'Great Walks' which are nowhere near as busy and probably just as good anyway.

Definitely hire a car if you weren't already planning to.

Send me an email through here if you want any advice/info on anything specific.

Cheers, David

In reply to batterj2:

There's not much of an active online forum any more here: probably the best option is to join the Montaineering NZ Facebook page, it's quite active.

There's a lot to do here! Do you want to do alpine route, peak bagging, tramping, climbing?
Queenstown and Wanaka are good bases, with lots of choices. The Remarkables have a good range of climbs, scrambles and walking with easy for NZ access, as long as the ski road is open.

In reply to batterj2:
Hey
I did just short of a month in nz last October, it was amazing. I'd love to go again and see what I missed. We started I. North island, did around two weeks before crossing South for about a week and a half.
We hired a car in Auckland, so I'd totally recommended that, much better than trying to get onto bus tours and stuff.

I'll try keep this brief, but some notable points and stuff we did were
In the northlands (the peninsula above Auckland) visit paihai. Hire a kayak, and take yourself around the bay of islands, camping one of them.
Waitomo caves in Hamilton (north island midland area), black water rafting was ace, you can do more comprehensive caving packages in you have the cash, but we didn't the basic glow worm cave package.
Rotorua! Best place in the north island, white water rafting, and mountain biking, and soak up some culture too, visit the moari village
Tongariro crossing, the weather dropped a bit, so shuttle busses were off (it's a straight line, not a loop, so shuttles run back to the start) we walked to half way and back again, dead easy walking, well recommended.
South Island straight to queenstown, I fell in love with it there, adventure capital, too much to do, not enough time, so plan to spend at least a week there, and book what you fancy. Canyoneering was awesome.
Didn't have time for the glaciers, but that's deffo on the list for next time. You can get a chopper with a guide right into the glaciers, but it's pricey.

There's some epic drives, so we spent so much time on the road, but it was great.
Avoid Wellington, Christchurch and Auckland if you're not arsed about samey same big cities.

Let me know if you want to know more about the itinerary I wrote for me and my mate to follow.
It was very much a touristy visit, so my plan is to return with a view to have a more trekking style adventure next time!
But the touristy visit was amazing all the same!

In reply to batterj2:

I am a current NZ local, what are you wanting to do exactly?

walking
climbing
etc

Able Tasman national park is beautiful and generally good weather that time of year

Glaciers have a walk track to the base of them well sign posted, and technically it is open access onto the Glaciers themselves, however without crampons etc it is highly dangerous so there is a lot of signs deterring people from walking onto or below the ice (there have been many fatal incidents involving tourists ignoring the signs and getting out of there ability)

In reply to batterj2:

in addition to the above, I would look at a one way hire and fly into (or get connecting flight) Christchurch, fly home from Auckland. Don't pre book the ferry north, as you can then decide how long you want to spend on the south Island.

It really depends what you want, big mountain walks using the great NZ hut system, or single pitch bolted climbing at places like Froggat. There are also great kayaking and canoeing rivers, companies that will drop you off and pick you up, if you want long or multi day trips. Or some great surf. One month long trip, is simply not enough time.

In reply to batterj2:

I've been twice for a month each time.
In my opinion, 2 weeks isn't long enough to do both. I say pick an island and stick with it, there's plenty to do in both islands so either go and stay with your mate, using that as a base to the North island. Or try and get him to take a trip down South and meet you.


Tongariro is great. Agreed about the 'boring walk out. The ranger hut just on the other side is about where you should turn back. Leave early so you'll have time for the scramble up Mount Doom! (Ngauruhoe)

Waitomo caves, Mt Taranaki. Orakei Korako. All worth a visit.


Yes Queenstown is awesome but it's easy to haemorrhage cash on activities.

The glaciers are cool to visit even without the gear. The raw beauty of the Frank Glacier face is mesmerising, if you just do the tourist footpaths.

Christchurch is still a bit of a warzone to be honest. Nice place to visit for the less adventurous traveller. But the drive there from the west coast is lovely.

Te Anau is picture perfect, and a good place to do the Kepler and Routeburn Trails. Milford Crossing is the other popular one a bit further North.

Whatever you choose to do will be awesome, don't fret too much about missing out on a certain thing as you will want to go back again. And you should!

In reply to batterj2:
Thanks all for the recommendations, even more than I realised! There's never enough time for NZ it seems but I do have limited holiday unfortunately! My friend emigrated from the UK to NZ about a year ago, may end up following suit!

In reply to summo:


Return flights are generally cheaper than two singles, annoyingly. And one way hire usually holds a cheeky fee. This was cause of much debate during my visit. Debate between me and myself. My buddy was more than happy to let me plan!
We actually were given ferry tickets as part of the car hire , and they were more than happy to make multiple last min amendments to ferry journey back up north.

But the cost balance of all the fuel used to return north. Not too sure.

Doing it again, I think I'd agree with you and go one way hire, and fly back to Auckland, so you can still get a cheap uk to Auckland return.

But all depends on timings and locations really.

We drove from the ferry down the eat coast of South Island, and up the west coast on the way back to the ferry, so it worked out nicely.

Sticking to one Island is all well and good, but if you don't know if you'll never get chance to be over that way, I'm glad we limited time and saw both. If I do geezer return, I know I'll go straight to South.