Australia & NZ

Tongariro National Park is located just south of Lake Taupo in the centre of New Zealand‘s North Island, and is home to the Tongariro Northern Circuit, one of New Zealand’s Great Walks. The Northern Circuit is a 4-day circumnavigation of Mt Ngauruhoe, and one of those legs is individually famous as a one-day hike called the Tongariro Crossing, which crosses the saddle between Mt Tongariro and Mt Ngauruhoe (these two mountains, along with Mt Ruapehu, form the massif around which the national park is based).

This was the hike I’d come to Taupo to do, following a ski season in Queenstown – I would have liked to do the full Northern Circuit, but as it was Spring there was still a lot of snow up there and doing the full circuit would have been a fairly serious undertaking which I wasn’t equipped for (and certainly didn’t fancy tackling by myself!). On the other hand it was easy enough to join a guided group hike for the Tongariro Crossing (arranged through one of the outdoor companies in Taupo), with crampons and ice axes provided and a guide with the appropriate know-how and gear to cut the ice steps which were necessary at one point.

Whilst it isn’t compulsory to have a guide to do this hike, in winter and spring I think the only way you can arrange transportation to and from the trailheads is by joining a guided group. In the summer months, there shouldn’t be any issue with arranging transportation from Taupo and then just doing the walk by yourself – just make sure that you have the map, the proper equipment, and know what you’re doing in an alpine environment. The Tongariro Crossing has proven fatal for a number of hikers over the years who underestimated the potential dangers of alpine conditions, so if you’re a backpacker who fancies trying a famous and beautiful hike but doesn’t have much mountain experience, it would be wise to go with a guide even in summer (the Tongariro Crossing official website has all the relevant safety information and advice)

As for the track itself, it’s 19.4 kilometres long and takes up to 9 hours depending on the conditions. We were hiking in snow at the higher elevations, with very strong winds at one point and delays while our guide cut new ice steps, so it did take the best part of a day. The usual direction is from Mangatepopo Valley to Ketatahi, and the first part of the hike is actually the toughest as it involves a steep scramble up to the south crater. The quads definitely got a workout, and as we sat resting at the top of the climb a couple of English lads explained to the group that they’d recently climbed a volcano in Nicaragua which was much harder, so this didn’t seem too bad in comparison! They also said that the volcano in question – Volcan Concepcion – is on a very beautiful island in Lake Nicaragua, and that it was well worth the effort… as I was on my way to Central America after NZ, I immediately put that volcano on my to do list – and, a few weeks later, climbed it. After the climb up to south crater, the second part of the hike sees you crossing an alpine plateau with the main crater and several beautiful lakes (which we couldn’t see as they were still frozen and covered with snow), before finally descending down a forested path on the other side. It’s said to be one of the best single-day hikes in the world, and to be honest it probably did live up to its billing. I don’t think I’ve done a better one, anyway. So if you’re heading to New Zealand’s North Island and keen for some hiking, put the Tongariro Crossing on your list.

Have you done the Tongariro Crossing, or the full Northern Circuit? How was it? Any questions? Leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you.

See my NZ overland travel page here

To search & book accommodation in Taupo click here

Airbnb also has plenty of options in Taupo, if you’ve never used it before you can get a 30 dollar discount if you sign up with this link

Also, make sure you have a good insurance policy. World Nomads offer flexible travel insurance you can buy even if already overseas – most travel insurance companies won’t cover you if you’ve already left your country, and this can be a crucial point as I once found out the hard way in Thailand.

(These are affiliate links i.e. if you use them to purchase insurance or book a room, 4corners7seas will receive a commission – this commission comes out of their profit margin at no extra cost to you. I’m recommending them because I know and trust them from personal use; thank you in advance should you choose to use my links)

After spending the ski season in Queenstown, I needed to get up to Auckland for my onward flight to Fiji. One must of course fly to Fiji (unless you’re on a cruise ship or you happen to have a yacht), but I had no intention of flying from Queenstown to Auckland when there was an interesting overland route available! Having already travelled around New Zealand’s South Island a few years earlier when I visited Kaikoura (for whale watching), Aoraki (Mt Cook), Milford Sound, and Franz Josef Glacier, this time I headed straight up to the Abel Tasman national park at the South Island’s northern tip to do some hiking & sea kayaking before making my way over to North Island for the first time. Once on North Island, the plan was to travel from Wellington (New Zealand’s capital) to Auckland (New Zealand’s largest city) via the usual tourist spots of Lake Taupo (to do the Tongariro Crossing hike) and Rotorua (to go caving in the nearby Waitomo Caves).

Abel Tasman national park is located near Nelson, which is the northernmost city on South Island. Getting there by bus from Queenstown involved two legs, with an overnight stop at Fox Glacier. But that was fine by me, as South Island’s west coast road is one of those spectacular drives that you never forget – I’ve been fortunate enough to do it twice and I highly recommend it.

South Island’s stunning west coast road

The alpine scenery between Queenstown and Wanaka is followed by some nice lake views (of Lake Wanaka and its close neighbour Lake Hawea), and then you reach the coastal stretch which really is incredible.

The Southern Alps are right on top of the west coast, so as you drive north you have the ocean to your left and the mountains towering up immediately on your right, with the road spanning a series of rivers as they drop down from the Alps through spectacular valleys, canyons which quickly open and close their jaws to you as you drive past – have your camera at the ready and try to be faster with it than I was! (or better yet, skip the bus and get your own wheels for the drive)

(I used Atomic Shuttles for this trip up South Island, and the driver for the first leg was a typically jovial Kiwi who had a grand old day chatting away to his handful of passengers – and who, as it turned out, was married to a Japanese woman and had spent many ski seasons in Japan… the stories he told of waste-deep powder snow certainly helped plant the seeds for my eventual decision to go chasing powder in the Land of the Rising Sun)

In 2005 I’d visited Franz Josef Glacier and tried a spot of ice climbing, so this time at Fox Glacier I just stopped for the night and continued on the next day without visiting the glacier itself. I would’ve liked to see it, but I was budgeting for the upcoming trip to Fiji and Central America so had to give it a miss. The drive from there up to Nelson wasn’t nearly as spectacular, but still nice enough.

The Abel Tasman Coast Track

Upon arrival in Nelson, I arranged (through my hostel) a hiking & sea kayaking trip along the Abel Tasman Coast Track with a local adventure sports company – this entails an early morning pickup from your Nelson accommodation, a roughly 2-hour drive to the park, and then into the kayaks for half a day paddling your way north along the coast in turquoise waters past golden beaches with nary a soul on them.

Eventually our guide led us to pull into a beach where we had lunch, and then we hiked back the other way along the Abel Tasman Coast Track, which is famous as one of the designated Great Walks of New Zealand. The whole track is a 3-day trek (or longer), and though we only walked 3 hours’ worth it was stunningly beautiful.

The fine sand beaches and clear waters really do look like they’ve been imported directly from a tropical paradise brochure… not the kind of scenery for which New Zealand is known internationally, but every bit as gorgeous as the more famous lakes-and-mountains views.

Then it was on to Picton and the Interislander ferry across the Cook Strait to North Island, a couple of nights in Wellington, and then up to Lake Taupo to do the Tongariro Crossing

Have you been hiking or kayaking on the Abel Tasman Coast Track, or driven the South Island west coast road? How was it? Any questions? Leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you.

Search & book accommodation in Nelson here. Airbnb’s also a good option, if you’ve never used it before you can get a 30 dollar discount if you sign up with this link

Make sure you have a good insurance policy – World Nomads offer flexible travel insurance you can buy even if already overseas (most travel insurance companies won’t cover you if you’ve already left your country, and this can be a crucial point as I once found out the hard way in Thailand)

These are affiliate links i.e. if you use them to purchase insurance or book accommodation, 4corners7seas will receive a commission from – this commission comes out of their profit margin at no extra cost to you. I’m recommending them because I know and trust them from personal use; thank you in advance should you choose to use my links.

Overland Track overview

The Overland Track is a multi-day trek through Tasmania’s Cradle Mountain – Lake St. Clair National Park, which I walked with a couple of visiting hometown friends (my frequent travel companions Mike & Ross) towards the end of my time in Australia following a ski season in Thredbo. It’s a 65km trail which is usually done in five days, but we did double legs on the middle and latter days to make it a 3-day job (my companions were pressed for time, squeezing in as much as they could on a one-month round the world trip). Once you reach Lake St. Clair there’s a ferry to the visitor centre at the far end of the lake, or an optional extra day’s hiking around the lake. We took the ferry!

It’s a cracking walk, with each section taking you through completely different scenery – the terrain on the first day is mountainous as you round Cradle Mountain, and then the middle part is mostly crossing alpine grasslands (which I thought almost looked like Africa – not that I’ve been to Africa!), before a final section of forest trails. We also had the good fortune to see a tiger snake up close, and the even better fortune that it didn’t bite Mike as he almost stepped on it.

Where to sleep on the the Overland Track

There are a series of maintained huts along the route providing dormitory beds and with campgrounds outside. It’s first come, first served and you have to carry a tent in case the huts are full when you arrive. We didn’t even attempt to score beds and elected to camp both nights as a matter of preference. Doing the trail from north to south in the usual five days, you would overnight at Waterfall Valley Hut, Windermere Hut, New Pelion Hut, and Kia Ora Hut; then if doing the optional walk around the lake you would also spend a night at Narcissus Hut (where the ferry jetty is located).

On the first day we walked a single leg as we had to travel from Launceston in the morning and didn’t have time for any more, meaning we camped at Waterfall Valley Hut. Then on the second day we covered two legs to reach New Pelion Hut, and on the third day we walked two legs to Narcissus Hut and made it in time for the last ferry of the day – just as the heavens opened following three days of perfect hiking weather – and were gorging ourselves on Hobart seafood a couple of hours later! I was happy enough doing the long days that we did and covering the distance in three days, but of course it would be a good idea to take five days and go at a more relaxed pace, unless you fancy a tough walk. There are also a number of interesting-looking side trails, including to the summit of Cradle Mountain near the start and a number of peaks within reach of New Pelion Hut in the middle, so you could even turn it into a one-week affair. The Overland Track and its side-trails certainly justify taking however much time you’re able to take.

Transportation for the Overland Track

In terms of transportation and other practicalities, unless you’re doing it in winter it’s compulsory to do the Overland Track from north to south, meaning you must first travel to Launceston. From there you can take a bus to the park visitor centre (where you have to register and pay the entry fees), and then from there there’s a shuttle bus to the trailhead. There are no waste disposal facilities on the trail and you must carry out all that you carry in, so be a bit smarter than we were and don’t carry any canned food – empty sweet corn tins become a real chore to carry. Gas camping stoves are forbidden so you have to take a (liquid) fuel stove with you if you want to make hot food and drinks. We visited an outdoor shop in Launceston where we rented our tents and a stove (and whatever else we didn’t already have), and they also arranged our bus tickets and we made use of their baggage-forwarding service. This is definitely worth doing, as you can send ahead everything you don’t need for the trail and pick it up in Hobart after you’ve finished the trek, meaning you can continue straight on to Hobart from the end of the trail instead of having to backtrack to Launceston.

Safety… and Tiger Snakes!

We were lucky with the weather and it only rained just as we were waiting for the ferry, but you definitely need to be prepared for all kinds of weather. The Tasmania Parks & Wildlife Service’s Overland Track page has all the information in greater (and more up-to-date) detail than I’m giving here, so do take the time to read it and heed the safety warnings – and make sure you’re up to date on snake bite first aid! I remember them giving us an A4 sheet at the start of the trek describing the three types of snake found in Tasmania – the white-lipped snake (not so venomous), the lowland copperhead (dangerously venomous), and the tiger snake (extremely venomous!) – and what to do in the event of a snake bite. I recall reading that sheet and thinking that we almost certainly wouldn’t see a snake anyway. But on the third day of the hike, I was walking immediately behind Mike along a narrow trail as we were carrying on a conversation, with Ross a short distance behind us… and as Mike rounded a bend in the path, he froze in place with one foot up in the air, a huge black snake coiled up right there on the path in front of him. I didn’t see it straight away and bumped into Mike’s back, knocking him forward just as the snake bolted off into the bush, his foot coming down right in the spot where it had just been snoozing! Of course, the vast majority of snakes are never intentionally aggressive and only strike when surprised or left with no other choice… but if Mike had been a little less alert, or the snake had been a little slower to bolt, it would’ve been surprised all right, as he’d have trodden on it! So there’s probably a pretty high likelihood that he’d have been bitten. Given the distance from there to the nearest hut (I think it was a good 3-hour walk, so probably a good hour’s run) he’d have been in serious trouble in that event – and the huts don’t have medical facilities and anti-venom anyway, so there’d have been further delay while waiting for evacuation (by helicopter?)… in short, it would definitely have been a touch-and-go emergency situation. Thankfully that didn’t happen, and instead we just gawped at this enormous black snake as it thumped away through the undergrowth – moving at speed, its body was only making contact at the points where it was sidewinding off the ground, with most of the snake actually just in the air as it moved side to side – with each twist as it pushed against the earth, it made an audible thudding sound. The thing was huge! According to the Tasmania Parks & Wildlife Service snake page they measure from 1m to 1.8m when fully grown, and this one was at the upper end of that range. It was also really solidly built, and by far the largest wild snake I’ve ever seen. But it was really a beautiful creature, a shiny jet black from tip to tail, and I’m glad we encountered it without anyone (man or snake) getting hurt.

Have you done the Overland Track? How was it? Any questions? Leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you.

If Tasmania isn’t on your itinerary you could hike up Australia’s highest peak near Thredbo in the Snowy Mountains, Mt Kosciusko. See my Australia overland travel page here, and more Australia posts here.

Search and book accommodation in Launceston (we stayed at Launceston Backpackers, which was decent – spacious, with a garden and a beatup old upright piano in the common room you can tinkle) & Hobart (we stayed at Hobart Central YHA, which was exactly what you’d expect – cheap, no frills, clean, central location, did the job).

Airbnb’s also a good option, if you’ve never used it before you can get a 30 dollar discount if you sign up with this link

Make sure you have a good insurance policy – World Nomads offer flexible travel insurance you can buy even if already overseas (most travel insurance companies won’t cover you if you’ve already left your country, and this can be a crucial point as I once found out the hard way in Thailand)

These are affiliate links i.e. if you use them to purchase insurance or book a room, 4corners7seas will receive a commission from them – this commission comes out of their profit margin at no extra cost to you. I’m recommending them because I know and trust them from personal use; thank you in advance should you choose to use my links.

(Snake photo credit: David Becker, Flickr. Used under Creative Commons license)

At 2,228m Mt Kosciuszko is the highest mountain in Australia, located in the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales. The nearest town is the small ski resort of Thredbo, where I was based for the ski season of 2004. Towards the end of that season, a group of us who worked together at the Denman Hotel (be sure to visit the Denman’s Apres Bar – where I earned my keep – for a few post-hike cocktails!) decided to hike to the summit from the ski area’s top lift station with our snowboards strapped to our backs and then ride back down to the village. So this is really more of a snowboarding post than a hiking post, but if you’re reading this because you’re planning on hiking Mt Kosciuszko from the Thredbo side in summer you’ll hopefully still find this write-up useful.

The trail starts from the top of Thredbo’s main Kosciuszko Express chairlift (which runs year-round), and as it’s entirely on a raised walkway (for environmental protection) there should be no navigational issues at all when doing this hike outside of the snow season. Just ride up the chairlift (or walk up the Merritts trail under it if you don’t want to cheat!) and then follow the trail to the summit. The NSW National Parks website has more information, including the estimated walking time of around four hours for the 14km round trip.

Hiking Mt Kosciuszko in winter

It’s a different proposition during the snow season (i.e. both winter and well into spring until the snow eventually melts), as the trail is covered by snow and the conditions can be very dangerous. A number of skiers and snowboarders have lost their lives in the Thredbo backcountry, so you really shouldn’t go there if the conditions are wrong or you don’t know the area – in fact I wouldn’t usually recommend going into the area at all during the winter, and ski patrol will block access from the top lifts during periods of heavy snow. But Mt Kosciuszko is popular with cross-country skiers, and if you do want to get up there on skis or with boards you should do so on a clear blue-sky day in spring with no clouds on the weather forecast and no avalanche warnings for the area. If any of that isn’t right, don’t chance it. Furthermore, if you don’t have someone with you who knows the area (and therefore which mountain you’re aiming for), don’t chance it! With all that said, we had an absolutely cracking day even though it involved a lot more hiking than it did riding. Rather than it being one single slope, the route for hiking Mt Kosciuszko takes you up and down over a series of ridges, so we found ourselves hiking up one side, riding down the other, and then unstrapping to hike up the next.

Kosciuszko Ridge Avalanche

As we were taking some group photos on the penultimate ridge before the Kosciuszko summit, we spotted another group hiking along the Kosciuszko ridge – and they actually triggered an avalanche, sending huge boulders of ice breaking off the cornice and tumbling down the ridge. The main thing I remember about it was the incredible noise, a deep rumbling almost like a couple of fighter planes were making a low pass somewhere in the near distance. Watching and listening to it, it was pretty clear that to be caught in one of those would almost certainly be fatal, and in fact we couldn’t tell at first if any of the figures we’d seen on the ridge had fallen. But they continued on their way, having heard it but not been able to see it from their position (in the bar that evening it turned out that we knew one of them – a local photographer who was out there to shoot some backcountry skiing – and he told us how it’d sounded from where they were i.e. they shat their pants and ran for it!)

After seeing that we continued on to the summit, took some more group photos and took in the beautiful views and clear air, and then set off back to the village. The return journey was obviously easier with more of it being downhill, but we still didn’t really manage any extended runs. The longest single downhill section was dropping off the main Kosciuszko ridgeline just below the summit – but obviously we had to stay well away from the overhanging cornice we’d seen avalanche a short time earlier. So, while it was a great day out in the mountains with great friends, it wasn’t really a day of great snowboarding – if you want a good day’s riding you’re better off sticking to Thredbo’s pistes, and if you want to climb Australia’s highest peak you’re better off doing it in summer! But if you do want to combine the two, take due care and have an awesome day.

Have you been to Mt Kosciuszko? How was it? Any questions? Leave a comment below and I’ll get back to you.

For more hiking ideas, another great walk I did in Australia was Tasmania’s Overland Track. Also see my Australia overland travel page here, and more Australia posts here.

Search & book Thredbo accommodation here, and make sure you have a good insurance policy – World Nomads offer flexible travel insurance you can buy even if already overseas (most travel insurance companies won’t cover you if you’ve already left your country, and this can be a crucial point as I once found out the hard way in Thailand)

These are affiliate links i.e. if you use them to purchase insurance or book a room, 4corners7seas will receive a commission from them – this commission comes out of their profit margin at no extra cost to you. I’m recommending them because I know and trust them from personal use; thank you in advance should you choose to use my links.

One of the best things you can do in New Zealand is just simply drive somewhere a few hours away. This is especially true if you have your own wheels (though the bus rides are lovely too), and especially true on South Island (especially on the west coast).

The scenery’s gorgeous throughout the country, but a few roads in particular which stick out in my memory are the road linking Queenstown to Wanaka over the Crown Range, the road to Milford Sound from Te Anau, and that jaw-dropping section of Highway 6 down the west coast of South Island which I already wrote about on one of my hiking pages here, quote:

as you drive north you have the ocean to your left and the mountains towering up immediately on your right, with the road spanning a series of rivers as they drop down from the Alps through spectacular valleys, canyons which quickly open and close their jaws to you as you drive past

Instead of writing any more about it, as I recently finished scanning the rest of my old analogue photos here’s a bunch of pics of NZ’s stunning scenery as seen on various road trips I took there. They’re scanned from faded old hard copies and were taken on a shitty old camera by a rank amateur, so the quality sucks; but the scenery speaks for itself and these pics should give you an idea of just how epic it is.

View of the Queenstown area from the Crown Range road:

The only pic I actually have from the west coast road is this one (which doesn’t include the full drama of the mountains but is still very pretty):

Franz Josef Glacier (not visible from Highway 6, but a short detour off it):

Milford Sound Highway from Te Anau to Milford Sound:

And a few pics of Milford Sound itself, swapping the road for the sea (our boat was accompanied by a pod of bottlenose dolphins):

Another cracking drive is the road between Greymouth and Christchurch via Arthur’s Pass – I did this one too (on a public bus) but failed to take any pictures.

Thinking of heading to New Zealand? It really is one of the best places I’ve been – stop thinking and get it booked! Check out my main New Zealand page here