We flew into Christchurch from Wellington, discovering to our surprise that there wasn’t any airport security at all, and that we were on a prop plane. Upon arrival we picked up our rental car and drove the four hours to our first stop, Murchison.
Murchison is close to Nelson Lakes National Park, a couple of huge lakes edged by mountain ridges. Our initial plan was to do a backpacking route through here, but since we elected not to buy gear we were just day hiking. This may have been a great decision because it absolutely downpoured our first full day.
We hiked the length of the lake one day, and spent another day doing a long hike called Robert’s Ridge, which climbs steadily up and then follows a ridge to Angelus Hut in a basin. This was a nice long hike with great scenery the whole way.
Our hostel in Murchison was cow themed, very small and quiet with a resident cat and a few jigsaw puzzles that we spent our downtime working on (and finishing). It was nice to spend four nights and move a bit slower.
After Murchison we drove north to the Abel Tasman area (this is the namesake of the first European to arrive in New Zealand, though he didn’t stick around and no one else arrived for about 100 years). Abel Tasman is home to one of the great walks, which are popular and well established trails.
We hiked part of the Abel Tasman trail along the coast, admiring the extremely blue water. One of the days we spent relaxing at our accommodation, swimming and playing pool and another day was spent driving through the mountain area of the park.
Lucky for us, my cousin’s brother in law and his wife live in the area and we were able to arrange to meet up. They treated us to a great dinner followed by homemade brownies and ice cream. It was great to get some good recommendations and meet extended family.
After Abel Tasman we started driving down the west coast, stopped at two very nice hostels along the way. The second hostel was near the Franz Josef glacier, which we saw about one third of after hiking a hard trail to a view point. Unfortunately in an area with a lot of rain and alpine conditions, clouds are just part of the deal.
The next day I had planned for an additional hike early in the morning, but when I got up the fog was only about 10 feet off the ground. We decided to have a lazy day, get some tasks done and hang out in the hot tub while it rained.
The following night was our first hut hike to Welcome Flat Hut which sits about 10 miles into the Copland valley. This was a beautiful area, and we hiked up past the hut for better views. There are hot springs near the hut which is a major draw, but when we walked by people were wearing bug nets so we were not enticed.
The huts in New Zealand range from very small backcountry bunks to expensive great walk huts with full kitchens. In most of them the lodging are bunk rooms. Welcome Flat hut slept 31 people in 4 rooms, and luckily our room ended up pretty empty and quiet. Admittedly, I don’t really enjoy the huts because it takes away from the peace and quiet that normally comes with backpacking but this was a pretty good experience.
Two days later we had another hut booked, Brewster Hut, which only sleeps 12 and sits high up in an alpine area. This time we came armed with advil PM to improve the experience. The trail up to this hut was pretty aggressive, and felt more like climbing roots and rocks but the views from the top were great.
Despite feeling a bit worn down and both battling a cold, we decided to hike up past the hut along a ridge to views of a glacier and some stunning glacier lakes. This was one of my favorite spots in New Zealand and was worth the effort.
Not Sew Fancy Travels 