MAITAI CAVES

This four-hour walk is an excellent excuse for an adventure through diverse bush. After taking the short drive from Nelson, enjoy a stroll through a beech and podocarp forest before moving into a woodland full of mātai, rimu and rata.

It's a 10-minute climb to a limestone-cave system near the end of the track. A torch is needed when entering the small entrance before scrambling over some boulders and into an ankle-deep stream. The walk begins from the Maitai Dam, 11km up Maitai Valley Road.