After my departure from Mt. Cook National Park, I drove towards Wanaka. I even stayed in a hostel, just because I needed a postal address for my Christmas parcels from home.
But Wanaka had more to offer, than just the hostel.
One Sunday, I went up Roys Peak, which is the most famous day walk in Wanaka. It definitely deserves its reputation, with views overlooking the lake and beeing able to see all the way into Mt. Aspiring National Park.
This one iconic picture everybody seems to take is also taken from the trail.
Adding a steep, but wide trail to it, meant a lot of people.
Luckily most tourist only come for this picture but ignore the true summit 20 minutes of slippery gravel/sand up.
From there, the view towards Wanaka and Central Otago is, in my opinion even more stunning.
After I took a lunch break at the top, I started the strenuous descent with serpentine after serpentine after serpentine.
For the most part, the trail went through farmland, but the sheep were accustomed to hikers and stayed off the trail for the most part.
It was a bit different on my next trail.
Since the weather in Mt. Aspiring National Park was not that good, I had 2 days to kill. I decided on a short trip to Fernburn Hut, which is on a trail connecting Wanaka and Queenstown.
The first part went through farmland again, but after roughly half an hour, I entered a lush beech forest which reminded me very strongly of the forests back home.
The trail climbed slowly but surely over the bush line, always close to a river.
Once I entered the tussock grass area, it was a constant up and down.
Luckily for me, the hut was only 3 hours from the car park and I arrived shortly after.
The trail is part of the TA, which is a long distance trail from Cape Reinga to Bluff and I was expecting a full hut. Luckily I didn’t need to sleep on the floor and got a bunk bed.
Since I got to the hut early in the afternoon, I went up the hill behind it, to get a better view of the surrounding area.
It was a miserable scramble to the top and the views were not that good, to make it worthwhile.
But once the sun set, I was rewarded with an amazing sky, glowing rather colourfull.
The next day, I started after a late breakfast. Since I planned on starting my hike in Mt. Aspiring National Park the next day, I could take it slow.
I met a nice guy from Canada on the trail and after a quick conversation, I went back into the forest again.
Although a lot of people don’t like backtracking, I am not that much against it, as you see everything from a different perspective.
For example, I came across a funny growing tree, that I didn’t notice on my way to the hut.
Other than that, the way back was more or less eventless.
Once I got to my car, I drove to the visitor centre in Wanaka to get my hut tickets, as I planned on staying in NZAC (New Zealand Alpine Club) huts, since there are no DOC huts in Mt. Aspiring National Park.
After a late waking up at the campground, I started the drive to Raspberry Creek car park, which was an adventure in itself.
40 km of gravel road, sheep on the road and several fords, that my car got through without problems.
I planned on staying in the National Park for three days (hence the title of this blog post) and my first stop was Aspiring Hut.
It is only 9 km from the car park away and is one of the more popular huts. Because of this, the trail is marked very well and pretty wide.
For the first part, I goes through farmland again, this time cows, and then enters the National Park.
It is a nice trail with stunning views, even from the valley floor.
At the hut, I quickly got inside to escape from the myriads of sandflies outside. I had to stay inside for the remainder of the afternoon, as I didn’t fancy to get eaten alive by them, but the hut had big windows facing Mt. Aspiring so it wasn’t that bad.
Since French Ridge Hut, my original destination, was 5 hours away, I started early the next day.
So early, that hadn’t even remotely reached the valley floor, that it was covered in frost for the most part.
Once I got further along the valley, Mt. Aspiring got into view.
The 3033 meter high mountain often gets called the “Matterhorn of the South” because of its pyramidical form.
Once I crossed the Matukituki river via a swing bridge, I started the 1000 meter ascent up to French Ridge Hut. The first part went trough a thick, almost jungle-like, forest which was absurd with all the snowcapped mountains around. But soon the tree canopy lightened and the views got better and better.
The trail didn’t end there, and I had another 500 m in altitude to go.
I went slowly up and met some people, who stayed at the hut the previous night.
They said the hut was near, so I went on with new energy.
And only 20 minutes later, I could see the distinct red roof behind a hill.
I was happy to be at my final destination for the day at around noon, so I had a lot of time to explore the area around the hut.
But first, I made myself a quick soup for lunch.
Soon after I had another hill in front of me, as I ventured up behind the hut.
I continued for roughly 30 minutes and the view was just amazing.
Mt. Aspiring to one side and the wide Matukituki valley to another, as well as Mt. Liverpool with the Liverpool Hut on the opposite side.
After enjoying the view for a bit, I descended back to the hut, where I spent the rest of the day reading on the porch.
Although there are 20 beds available, only 4 other people arrived throughout the afternoon.
Subsequently, the radio call at 8 pm was rather short and easy. The weather report for the next day was also good, which was nice.
Once the sun set, the mountains behind the hut began glowing orange, which was quite nice to see.
The next day started with a spectacular sunrise over the mountains on the other side of the valley.
Even though I had to get up very early it was totally worth it.
After a lazy breakfast, I started my descent towards the valley floor.
I didn’t see a reason to stay another night at Aspiring Hut, so I had a long day ahead of me.
But luckily the majority of the trail was going down.
Once again I entered the thick forest before I got out at the valley floor.
It was mostly climbing down slippery tree roots and mossy rocks, so it wasn’t as quick as I hoped. But still quicker than going up.
This time the sun had already reached down into the valley and I didn’t have to layer up as I had the day before.
After I filled up my water at Aspiring Hut, I went across the cow pastures and arrived at the car park just after 4 pm.
Once I got back to my car, I drove exhausted but happy to my campsite for the night.
The next day I drove to the visitor centre to return some climbing gear I found en route to French Ridge Hut.
Now I am in Invercargill, where I will have to work since money is getting tight.
So there won’t be as much blog posts in the upcoming weeks.
But I will surely write about my travel back to Auckland, at the beginning of May.
And who knows, there may even be some weekend adventures in the next couple of weeks.
Until then,
Cheers!
Max Abbe 