Great Walk plans for 2023/2024

 Great Walk adventures for the new season

 It is that time of the year when my mind turns to thoughts of the Great Walks and what kind of adventures I would like to have on them. 

Crossing the Falls River back in August 2022

I didn't get out on any new Great Walks over the last season but I have plans for two adventures on the tracks over the coming spring and summer months of 2023/2024.

Abel Tasman Coastal Track:

As is my custom I am in the process of planning an adventure on the Abel Tasman Coastal Track. I go up to Abel Tasman NP every year and go for some kind of walk along the track. It is a fantastic place to visit with the Coastal Track, Inland Track, Canaan Downs and a number of tracks on the Takaka/Wainui side of the park. 

Golden sandy beaches at Anchorage

I am planning a trip for late August 2023...this year I am possibly looking at walking from Bark Bay out to Marahau. Bark Bay is my favorite hut in the park and I like that section of the coast. Alternately I might redo the walk from Wainui to Totaranui that I last covered back in 2021.Both are awesome options with some of the best scenery on the track.  

Wainui Bay from the Abel Tasman Coastal Track

I have yet to decide which I will undertake...it depends a lot on transport to the track, weather and hut availability. I'm in the planning phase at the moment and will soon have bookings and a solid plan for my visit. I may chuck on a cheeky side trip to Wainui Falls while I'm there but I will have to see how things pan out. 

Milford Track:

Karen and I are booked to walk the Milford Track in Fiordland NP over the last week of December 2023. this will be my second time on the track and Karen's first visit. 

Surprise...we will be going the guided route!

We get to stay at historic Glade House, Fiordland NP

Some spare money became available and as Karen is keen to walk the Milford Track we decided to use it for the slightly easier guided tour option. We will be staying in the Ultimate Hikes lodges, will have meals prepared for us each morning and evening and only need carry small packs with our clothing inside. 

Altogether a more civilized way to tramp!

DOC sign along the Milford Track

It is incredibly expense way to walk the track but we both see it as a once in a lifetime opportunity so we just decided to go with it. We have completed all the planning and bookings and I will be writing a post about going on a guided walk in due course. 

Marlees Stream on the Milford Track

I was very envious of the guided walkers I encountered back in 2019 when I last walked the Milford Track and have long wanted to return to bag the new Mintaro Hut (...it should be hut number 333 for Jon...). 

I am itching to get down there and revisit one of the iconic New Zealand tracks. 

The new Mintaro V Hut  just opened in late 2022

Hopefully everything goes to plan and late December will see us enjoying Grilled Salmon and a medley of seasonal vegetables with a nice glass of wine at Pompoloma Hut.

No other plans for the Great Walk tracks at this stage but I have schemes up my sleeve...

Great Walk Adventures over the 2022/2023 season....

 Future Great Walk plans...

 With my completion of the Routeburn Track in March I have now completed all of the original Great Walks of New Zealand. I will now shift most of my future attention to walking some of the lesser known but just as good tracks around the country. In particular I will be looking at some tracks like the Aotea Track, Rees-Dart, Caples-Greenstone, Rakuira Northern/Southern Circuits. 

A return to the Greenstone Valley is on the plans...

I would also like to move my Te Araroa Trail Campaign along with some of the track section in the South Island. In particular I would like to knock off the Richmond Ranges and the section from Queenstown to Bluff over the next couple of years. I was planning to walk Harpers Pass over Christmas but family commitments nixed this plan so it still needs to be completed. 

The Two Thumb Range along the TA

Despite this I still have one future Great Walk to complete and that is the Humpridge Track down in Southland. DOC and the Humpridge Track Trust have just started the track and hut upgrades to turn this into the newest Great Walk. It is expected that all works will be complete by the start of the 2022/2023 Great Walk season and that the track will be on the GW booking system from this June.

Humpridge Track becomes a Great Walk in 2022...

I have been waiting to walk the Humpridge Track as I wanted to be able to use the new hut planned for the first/last day of the tramp and the track upgrades. I will be looking to secure a booking for December of 2022 to walk the track although this is going to be difficult as the tourist hordes pour back into the country. I will try none the less...

Percy Burn Viaduct on the Humpridge Track

Apart from the Humpridge Track I will be doing my annual pilgrimage to the Abel Tasman Coastal Track in June or July. I'm looking at a trip from possibly Bark Bay to Anchorage as Bark Bay and Awaroa are my two favorite huts on that circuit. 

Bark Bay Hut is my favorite on the Able Tasman Coastal Track

I am also keen to revisit the Tongariro Northern Circuit although that is the most quickly booked out Great Walk in the country so again we will see. I walked the North Island Great Walks before they even had the name so it would be good to see them once again after so many years. 

I would like to revisit the Tongariro National Park

The Routeburn Track was not the end of my Great Walk journey but perhaps just the beginning of the end...

Great Walks for the 2021/2022 Season

 

My 2021/2022 Great Walk season....

 I am planning to walk sections of three Great Walks this year if I am able to secure hut bookings. The bookings for the coming season open next week with the Heaphy Track opening on Tuesday 15th June...Routeburn Track opening on Wednesday 16th June and Abel Tasman Coastal Track opening on Thursday 17th June.

Abel Tasman Coastal Track:

I have an overnight trip on the Abel Tasman Coast Track planned for late July- early August 2021 or in about six weeks time. 

Totaranui Beach with Gibbs Hill to the rear, Abel Tasman NP

The Abel Tasman can be walked right through the year as the weather and conditions are fine for much of the time. By utilising the huts you can have a comfortable and much warmer nights sleep in winter as they all feature wood burners with a good supply of fuel. 

Wharewharangi Hut in Abel Tasman NP

I will only be walking a short section of the track from Wainui Bay to Wharewharangi and from there to Totaranui. The first day is about 6 kilometers over 2-3 hours and means you climb up and over Gibbs Hill to the hut down on the coast. 

Start of the Abel Tasman Coast Track at Wainui Bay

The next day I will walk 10 kilometers of the Coast Track back along the coast via Mutton Cove & Anapai Beach to a water-taxi pick-up at Totaranui.

Anapai Bay from the Abel Tasman Coast Track

I have walked both of these sections before BUT I have no photos of my 1993 trip from the Wainui end of this track.... I would like to complete the full Abel Tasman Great Walk and feature it on these pages.

Update: There were huts available for my chosen date but no transport. Therefore this trip will take place on the 15-16th October 2021.

Heaphy Track:

Let me say up front that planning a tramp on the Heaphy Track is really difficult. Booking the track itself is not that difficult if there are places available but organising transport to and from the track ends is diabolical. I will be writing a post about booking the Heaphy Track soon as I found it so bloody difficult to organise so watch for that...

Brown Hut marks the northern terminus of the Heaphy Track

I have actually walked the whole of the Heaphy Track before but have long wanted to have a second bash at it. Back in 1990 I was doing an Army exercise near Karamea when they asked if anyone wanted to walk the track so we were dropped by helicopter at Perry Saddle and walked out to the Kohaihai road end. 

On the Gouland Downs, Kahurangi NP

Later in the early 1990's my then girlfriend and I walked in from Brown Hut to Perry Saddle Hut for an overnight trip. 

View down to the old Perry Saddle Hut, Kahurangi NP

I am looking at walking the Heaphy Track in November 2021 from Brown Hut (Tasman end...) to Kohaihai (West Coast end...). I am going to fly to Nelson and then Karen is going to come collect me from the Karamea end of the track. This will make getting back to Christchurch a lot easier...

Nikau Palms along the coast en-route to Kohaihai, Kahurangi NP

I will be taking five days on the track staying in Perry Saddle, Saxon, James McKay and Heaphy Huts. This will mean I have one short day of roughly 3 hours walking and four days where I am walking from 5-7 hours. The shortest distance will be 7 kilometers and the longest on day four will be just under 20 kilometers.

The Kohaihai bridge marks the southern terminus of the Heaphy Track

I am really looking forward to revisiting this gem in the north west of the South Island. 

Update: booked for first week of December but only just....bloody DOC Great Walk booking system!!! 

Routeburn Track:

I have unfinished business with the Routeburn Track...when I attempted to walk it in December 2019 a massive storm blew in so I didn't get any further than Howden Hut. The rivers flooded so the track closed and so much rain fell that DOC had to helicopter people out of Lake Mackenzie, Routeburn Falls and Routeburn Flat Huts.

Howden Hut on the Routeburn Track (damaged and removed in 2021)

 Admittedly I did get to go down the Greenstone Valley to McKellar Hut for a couple of nights so that was something. It is only two odd hours from Howden Hut and I spent two days there with about 15 other people before walking out to the Divide Shelter and a shuttle to Te Anau.

Heavy rain falling in the Greenstone Valley, Greenstone-Caples Recreation Area

I would like to...as the man once said.."...knock the bugger off..."

DOC weather report at Howden Hut...spot on!!!

I am looking at the Grand Traverse...you start at Routeburn Shelter walk the Routeburn Track to the turn off to the Greenstone Valley and then walk right down the Greenstone Track to a shuttle pick up point near Lake Whakatipu. It is almost a circuit albeit with a 30 odd kilometer gap between the two trail heads. 

McKellar Hut in the Greenstone Valley

Depending on hut availability I will be walking the track in mid February 2022 (...man that sounds so wrong...2022...). I will probably start from and finish in Queenstown if I do the Grand Traverse but if I decide to just do the Routeburn I would start and finish in Te Anau. 

The Routeburn Track starts near Glenorchy on Lake Whakatipu

Update: I am booked to walk the Routeburn Track the first week of March 2022. I am walking the standard Routeburn Shelter to Divide option....

So those are my plans for the Great Walks this year...come back later to see how each of the trips progressed.