We decided to take a week off to see a bit of New Zealand for the first time in ages. We headed south and west. This is Lake Tekapo which is about 4 hours drive from home. I was last here in 1992 with Cynthia, and Donna stopped briefly once on her way to Queenstown.
We didn't stay here, but carried on to Wanaka and Mount Aspiring National Park, another couple of hours further on, having stayed the night near Twizel and watched the rugby World Cup Final in a pub there first thing Sunday morning.
The second day we travelled up the Matukituki Valley where we stayed for two nights, and biked so far up the valley, left the bikes then hiked for a couple of hours. It was uphill into the wind so the final bike ride back was great fun. This photo is looking back down the valley. We did another day hike out of Wanaka up the Little Griffel - a very windy hill with good views, then spent the night on a DOC camp site by Lake Hawea - our only night we paid to stay - $12.
After a rainy day we drove back up to Twizel, and out to Lake Ohau and the Hopkins valley.
We stayed on a free Doc camp near the end of the road which we had to ourselves. Again we took the bikes, cycling an hour and a half up into the wind, then left the bikes and hiked for about 4 hours up the Hopkins then Huxley Valleys to the Huxley Forks hut for the night. We had intended going further but about a half hour further on, an avalanche had blocked the track and the weather was deteriorating so we went back to the hut - which we got to ourselves for the night, and retraced our steps the following day. This is the view from just outside the hut.
We decided to take a week off to see a bit of New Zealand for the first time in ages. We headed south and west. This is Lake Tekapo which is about 4 hours drive from home. I was last here in 1992 with Cynthia, and Donna stopped briefly once on her way to Queenstown. We didn't stay here, but carried on to Wanaka and Mount Aspiring National Park, another couple of hours further on, having stayed the night near Twizel and watched the rugby World Cup Final in a pub there first thing Sunday morning.
The second day we travelled up the Matukituki Valley where we stayed for two nights, and biked so far up the valley, left the bikes then hiked for a couple of hours. It was uphill into the wind so the final bike ride back was great fun. This photo is looking back down the valley. We did another day hike out of Wanaka up the Little Griffel - a very windy hill with good views, then spent the night on a DOC camp site by Lake Hawea - our only night we paid to stay - $12.
After a rainy day we drove back up to Twizel, and out to Lake Ohau and the Hopkins valley. We stayed on a free Doc camp near the end of the road which we had to ourselves. Again we took the bikes, cycling an hour and a half up into the wind, then left the bikes and hiked for about 4 hours up the Hopkins then Huxley Valleys to the Huxley Forks hut for the night. We had intended going further but about a half hour further on, an avalanche had blocked the track and the weather was deteriorating so we went back to the hut - which we got to ourselves for the night, and retraced our steps the following day. This is the view from just outside the hut.
