Backpacking New Zealand: Adventure Awaits – There is so much to see, do and experience in Aotearoa – the land of the long white cloud. If you already know where you want to spend your vacation, see what active adventure we offer there.
As avid hikers, mountain bikers, canoeists and all-rounders, we can use our own personal knowledge and experience to create route plans and guidance to ensure your trip expectations are exceeded.
Backpacking New Zealand: Adventure Awaits
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Exploring New Zealand’s South Island
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WIDE RANGE OF NEW ZEALAND TOURS Our unrivaled range of tours and extensive outdoor adventure expertise allow us to match you with your perfect active holiday.
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Go explore the treasures of Aotearoa New Zealand, where natural wonders await your discovery. There’s no better time to experience the wilderness.
Santiago, The Lakes & Patagonia: An Intrepid Adventure
The joy of traveling in small groups allows you to see things without large crowds. You also get to travel with like-minded people.
No need to worry about anything. By seeing all the best, you’ll stay away from all the popular vacation spots and avoid all the tourists. You don’t have to worry about where to go or where to eat – everything is done for you.
See a huge selection of different attractions on the South Island. With the help of an experienced guide, you will definitely get to the highlights. Maori culture is incorporated into the tour.
Voting is officially open and in addition to Bird of the Year, voters will also decide New Zealand’s Favorite Bird of the Century!
Zipline New Zealand
Christchurch is full of entertainment and inspiration! We’ve rounded up our must-sees in this vibrant city steeped in history.
What is the best season for a hiking adventure in New Zealand? Get detailed local information from Hiking New Zealand outdoor enthusiasts.
Blisters can ruin a great hike, so unless you can convince someone to give you a piggy back, you need to know some blister prevention tips.
Claire asked for another top selfie, as the haze had momentarily cleared to reveal the stunning backdrop of Fiordland. The Neverending New Zealand Story Planning an epic hiking and paddling adventure in New Zealand’s South Island.
Best 20 Walks In New Zealand (multi Day And Day Hikes)
18 JUNE 2018 – I would never recommend anyone try paddling New Zealand’s Marlborough Sounds on a packet ferry, I think as I paddle furiously but futilely across Blackwood Bay in a brutal 20 knots (37km/h) pack. ) headwind. This might be the worst adventure idea I’ve ever had.
For the past six months, I had been dreaming of a real adventure on my own – one that would test me both physically and mentally and give me the opportunity to use my backpacking and kayaking experience. After brainstorming and extensive research, I decided that a two-month self-powered trip across New Zealand’s South Island would be an excellent choice for my walk due to the island’s natural beauty, difficult terrain, and extensive network of lakes and rivers. .
A newly constructed 3,000km Appalachian trail-like hiking trail called Te Araroa stretches the length of New Zealand, and I began planning my trip using the trail as the backbone of the trail, then changing the trail as needed. so I can explore more remote areas and follow natural waterways on my packraft, a small inflatable boat designed to fit in a backpack. Te Araroa hikers heading south on the South Island start at a small harbor in the far northeast called Ship Cove, which seemed to me an obvious place to start my journey across the island. But after looking at the intricate map of the Marlborough Sounds, I realized I’d rather paddle the Sounds than hike them, giving me the freedom to explore the bays.
So after flying 21 hours from Los Angeles to Christchurch (the largest city in the South Island), driving four hours to Picton (the main port in the Marlborough Sounds) and taking a 90 minute water taxi to Ship Cove, I pulled out a parcel plate. out of my backpack, deflated it and jumped into the water.
New Zealand Travel Guide
My first day on Queen Charlotte Sound went exactly as I imagined it would when I was browsing the topo maps of New Zealand in my apartment in Los Angeles. The sea was calm, and although my hands were quickly grilling and my almond-white-chocolate snack mix melted into a messy mess under New Zealand’s relentless sun—the ozone layer at Earth’s surface is particularly thin—I had no problem paddling nearly four miles. per hour through Endeavor Inlet. At times I stopped paddling completely to relax, looking at the unfathomable water, watching blue-grey specks (birds) walking along the rocks on their funny orange legs, and taking covert photos of lazy brown seals sleeping on rocky, barren shores. . In the early evening I paddled to a primitive campsite in Ratimera Bay, where a middle-aged New Zealander and his wife immediately appeared from their tent to see my raft.
“Are you sure it’s seaworthy?” the man asked. And then, without waiting for an answer, he offered, “Have you seen those big brown birds? Weka? Watch out for them—they’ll steal anything.”
He was right. After falling asleep in my tent, I woke up at 3 in the morning to the sound of someone rummaging through my gear, only to see a weka bird running with a plastic bag in the blink of an eye. In the dark, I tried to chase the bird, but it ran into a dense forest, where I quickly tripped over a fallen tree, allowing the bird to escape. Returning to my tent, I discovered that a half-eaten bag of precious white chocolate had been stolen.
Now, just five hours later, paddling frantically against a 20-knot headwind with a GoPro camera strapped to my head, I’m learning why a paddleboard isn’t always a good substitute for long, streamlined sea kayaks. On the front of my raft I have tied my large backpack, which acts like a big, stationary sail at sea. While a “sail” on a raft can sometimes prove useful in a downwind, paddling forward in a strong headwind is nearly impossible. Even though I’m paddling hard, the strong wind pushes me back. As I lean back for a few minutes, the GoPro falls off my head, and before I can react, it immediately sinks to the bottom of the deep ocean. My frustration turns to fear as I begin to wonder if the wind will push me out to sea, making all the places I could camp for the night inaccessible.
Active Outdoor Adventures In Queenstown, New Zealand
Keep calm, I guess. There’s no way I’m going to Mistletoe Bay tonight, but maybe I can camp on a nearby beach until the wind dies down. I look at the maps on my GPS device and notice a possible campsite not too far away. There I realize that I could expect windy conditions until the next day. Then, as my spray skirt comes off, a big wave crashes over my boat without warning, partially filling it with water. I notice that my “dry bag”, which contains warm clothes and a headlamp, has not lived up to its name and is now full of water as well.
Despite the strong wind, I reach the bay with my new choice of campsite early in the evening, having only completed half of my planned trip for the day. As I slowly muscle into the bay, I pass an anchored sailboat with a man standing on the bow.
“How’s it going, mate?! That’s quite a skill you’ve got,” he yells. “When you’re done, why don’t you come over for a drink?”
So, after doing my best to secure my belongings tightly in my pack to protect the weka birds, I paddle to a sailboat where I meet firefighter Steve and his wife Kim, a special education teacher, who both live in Wellington. In the North Island of New Zealand. Steve hands me a beer and a big bowl of chili and Kim asks me why I’m paddling the Marlborough Sounds alone.
Nz North Island Itinerary & Travel Guide — Laura The Explorer
“My brother doesn’t have enough vacation time to make such a big trip, and me and my girlfriend broke up last year,” I say. “He wouldn’t have been in this though.”
“Well, find someone good-hearted,” Kim suggests, looking at her husband. “That’s what you need.”
Later, as I get ready for bed, I’m disappointed to find that the headlamp no longer works, having been destroyed by the seawater. Although the sea is much calmer when I wake up early the next morning, and paddle
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