Motorhomes Caravans & Destinations
6 SOUTH ISLAND WALKS
In this extract from Lonely Planet’s Best Day Walks New Zealand, we bring you six of the South Island’s gorgeous walks. We’ll feature walks from the North Island next month.
Put on your walking shoes and escape into nature at its best
DIAMOND LAKE & ROCKY MOUNTAIN Duration: 3 hours Difficulty: Easy-moderate
Distance: 7km
Terrain: Good trail with a 450m climb and descent
Start/end: Diamond Lake car park
This low-level hill climb past a beautiful lake to the summit of Rocky Mountain offers lovely views over Lake Wānaka, the mouth of the Matukituki River and a distant Tititea/mt Aspiring. The walk effectively takes in three conjoined loops; walking the central loop anticlockwise to the Lake Wānaka viewpoint, as described here, provides the most gentle ascent.
GETTING HERE
The large car park at the start of the walk is on the Wānaka–mt Aspiring Rd, 18km west of Wānaka. The road is sealed all the way. Shuttle buses from Wānaka stop by on their way to Raspberry Flat for the Rob Roy Track – check for the latest at the Mt Aspiring National Park Visitor Centre in Wānaka.
STARTING POINT
Cross the stile at the end of the car park and enter the Diamond Lake Conservation Area.
01 The old road climbs quickly to a plateau to arrive at the willow-ringed shores of Diamond Lake. Stay on the left side of the lake. As you arrive beneath the cliffs, you’ll come to a junction. Save the lake track for later by continuing straight ahead on the track signed to Rocky Mountain, rising to the base of the cliffs and then up a long flight of steps to a wooden lookout platform (30 minutes from the car park) directly above Diamond Lake.
02 The track continues to climb. At the next junction, a couple of minutes past the lookout, keep right, following the path signed to the viewpoint. In another 10 to 15 minutes, detour right to the Lake
Wānaka Viewpoint, where a seat at the mountain’s edge stares out over the lake and across Glendhu Bay to Roys Peak.
03 Return to the main track and turn right. The track swings left, zigzagging steeply up the slopes, crossing a gully and then climbing steeply on a rugged section of track. The going quickly flattens out as you reach another high plateau.
04 Turn right onto the Eastern Track, climbing through the final rack of bluffs towards the summit.
There are fine views as the trail creeps along the mountain’s edge, but the grandstand view comes at the summit (775m; 1½ hours from the car park), as the scene peels open to reveal a cavalcade of features: Lake Wānaka, Treble Cone, Twin Falls and ahead, through the Matukituki Valley, the serrated summit of Tititea/ Mt Aspiring.
05 Instead of returning on the same track, continue ahead onto the Western
Track, which descends gently, rounds a couple of notches in the cliffs and then curls down to the high plateau. At the junction here, turn right (signed ‘western track’), heading to the western edge of the mountain. The track descends through a damp gully, with a noticeable change in vegetation, cutting at times beneath overhanging cliffs. A steep set of tight switchbacks delivers you back to the track junction just above the Diamond Lake lookout platform that you passed earlier.
06 Turn right, passing the lookout, and descend to the lakeshore. Turn left here, completing the lake loop before returning to the car park.
TAKE A BREAK
This is a great hike for bringing along a picnic. Get your supplies in Wānaka, then tuck into your goodies at either the Lake Wānaka Viewpoint on the way up or at the summit itself.
PUNAKAIKI-PORORARI LOOP
Duration: 3-4 hours
Difficulty: Easy
Distance: 11.5km
Terrain: Undulating well-maintained track Start/end: Waikori Road car park
This popular walk in Paparoa National Park heads up the bouldery Punakaiki River, pops over a hill and comes down the Pororari River with its spectacular limestone gorge to rejoin the highway near the sea. From there, it’s an amble along the road to Pancake Rocks and Paparoa National Park Visitor Centre, then back to wherever you left your car. A feature of the area is the numerous nikau palm trees.
GETTING HERE
Punakaiki is 45km north of Greymouth and 56km south of Westport. The DOC Paparoa National Park Visitor Centre is directly opposite the entrance to Pancake Rocks.
STARTING POINT
There are three starting point options – at the car park by the DOC Paparoa National Park Visitor Centre, 1km north at the mouth of the Porarari River, and 2.5km southeast at the car park on Waikori Rd. Choose whichever you like and walk the loop in either direction. The described walk is anticlockwise from the Waikori Rd car park.
01 From the Waikori Rd car park, follow the Inland Pack Track, crossing the Punakaiki River on the footbridge. This historic track, carved by gold miners in 1867 to bypass the rugged coast is, these days, a popular two-day, 25km hike – the day walk described here takes in the first part of the Inland Pack Track.
02 After crossing the bridge, head northeast, following the large orange track markers. The track passes through
logged swamps to the base of the hill that separates the Punakaiki River from the Pororari Valley to the north. A wellbenched track climbs through mature
rainforest to a low saddle and then drops gently into the Pororari Valley.
03 When you hit a signposted junction, head upstream along the Inland Pack Track for a short distance to the swing bridge for a lovely spot to take a break.
04 Head back downstream and carry on out towards the coast from the track junction. The trail follows the river closely along its south bank, through a spectacular landscape of towering limestone bluffs graced by nīkau palms and tree ferns. Keep an eye on the river’s deep-green pools for trout or eels, or perhaps you might feel inclined to take a dip at one of the spots where there is easy access to the river.
05 When you hit SH6 and the Pororari River Track car park, turn left and a 10-to15-minute walk will take you to Paparoa National Park Visitor Centre.
From there, it is a 2.5km walk back along the road to the car park at the described starting point. Walkers can use the SH6 bridge over the Punakaiki River on the upstream side.
TAKE A BREAK
Almost inevitably, pancakes are the pride of the menu at Pancake Rocks
Cafe opposite Pancake Rocks trail. The conservatory area – all wooden benches and fairy lights – is a pleasant spot for a drink around sundown. Visit pancakerockscafe.com to view the menu and hours. 03 731 1122
4300 Coast Rd (SH6), Punakaiki
PANCAKE ROCKS
Whatever you do, before, after or during your walk, don’t forget to head out to Pancake Rocks. Punakaiki’s claim to fame is Dolomite Point, where a layeringweathering process called stylobedding has carved the limestone into what looks like piles of thick pancakes.
Aim for high tide (tide timetables are posted at the visitor centre; hope that it coincides with sunset) when the sea surges into caverns and booms menacingly through blowholes. See it on a wild day and be reminded that Mother Nature really is the boss.
Allow 20 to 30 minutes for the straightforward walk, which loops from the highway out to the rocks and blowholes (longer if you want to take photos). Parts of the trail are suitable for wheelchairs.