Greg Dixon has walked nine of the ten Great Walks in New Zealand. These are three of his favourites.

1 Lake Waikaremoana Track, North Island

The homeland of the Ngāi Tūhoe people, on the remote East Coast, is an incredibly rugged, protected area called Te Urewera. At the centre of this wildness is Lake Waikaremoana, a place apart, and one well worth the long journey. The semi-circular lake walk begins at the south-eastern end, at the small settlement of Onepoto. It begins with a gut-busting climb up the precipitous Panekire Bluff to a hut sitting nearly 1200 metres above sea level. The views will leave you more breathless than the climb. The track then drops back to lake level, and you walk its bush-clad western then north shores before catching a water taxi back to Waikaremoana township. Magical.

2 Tongariro Northern Circuit, North Island

Singular among the Great Walks, this features three active volcanoes. Its threeto four-day circular route goes up and across Mount Tongariro, then around the cone volcano of Mount Ngāuruhoe before returning across the saddle between Ngāuruhoe and Mount Ruapehu, the tallest of the three peaks. There are a number of excellent sidetracks, including the walk to the Blue Lake. I recommend booking before-and-after accommodation at Chateau Tongariro (you can start and finish the track from here), a grand old hotel which offers fine dining, an expansive wine list and a sauna.

Heaphy Track, South Island

The longest of the Great Walks, though not necessarily the most demanding.

Its 78 kilometres has utterly contrasting landscapes. There is dense podocarp forest filled with nīkau palms and northern rātā trees, which are covered in rich, red flowers in high summer. At the highest point of the track, there are tussock lands on the Gouland Downs. And on the final day, you walk along the northernmost part of the rugged West Coast, towards the hamlet of Karamea. If you pack plenty of luck, you might hear great spotted kiwi on the downs at night, and maybe even spot the takahē, an endangered ground bird that was long thought extinct.