Easter Break Travel Part 1: Kahurangi NP & Kaiteriteri Beach

To start the Easter Break I headed northwest with my friends Nick and Katie. We were headed to Kahurangi National Park, New Zealand’s newest and largest national park. Kahurangi is about 7 hours drive from Lincoln, so we decided to split it into two days. The first night we stayed at a small roadside campground. The next day we continued north and took a side trip to the beautiful Kaiteriteri Beach just north of the seaside town of Motueka. We were graced with sunny skies and relatively warm temperatures. Later that night we headed to Kahurangi and camped out beside the trailhead. The sun set around 7pm, and we had nothing to do for the night. At that point, Katie pulled out a copy of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings,” which she had started reading a few weeks before. We took turns reading passages out loud to each other, and it was a lot of fun. (At this point, you may be rolling your eyes at me and calling me a huge nerd, which may be partially true, BUT it was really entertaining and we had few options). Thanks to Tolkien’s interesting story-telling, we had something to do for the other nights of the trip as well.

Kaiteriteri Beach

We started the three-day trek at about 10am on Saturday April 3^rd, leaving the car and thoughts of school behind us. The first day was a 6.5 hour trek along Cobb ridge, passing through scrubland, grassland, and patches of forest. The tramping took us across the “Tablelands” - a plateau composed of ancient seabed that has since been uplifted to a height of nearly 1000m above sea level. We found some interesting limestone outcrops and caves along the route. We spent the night at Salisbury Lodge, a 22-bunk hut at the southern edge of the plateau.

Kahurangi National Park - Day 1

Day 2 was a long day with constant changes in elevation. We first climbed off of the plateau and into the nearby valley, only to summit the grassy Gordon’s Pyramid. From the top, we could see Mt. Arthur, which we would summit later in the day. A partial descent down the backside of Gordon’s Pyramid brought us to a ridge, and then we steeply climbed through an incredible field of stone outcrops and sinkholes. Once atop the ridge, we dropped our packs and headed an hour further to the summit of Mt. Arthur, which was veiled in mist and fog. Visibility on the summit was low, but reaching the top remained rewarding. We headed down through the mist, grabbed our packs, and hiked the last hour through light rain, ending the day at Mt. Arthur Hut. We spent the night with a friendly family from New Zealand, who gave us hot “Milo” (think malted Ovaltine) and even joined in on our LOTR story-telling.

Kahurangi National Park - Day 2

Day 3 initially took us down into the lower valley, walking along wide, gentle sloping trails through vibrant forests. It was a great start to the 7 hour day. After a few river crossings along small wire bridges, the trail eventually turned upslope. From there it was a very steep and consistent climb up through the forest towards Cobb Ridge, where we started the trek. We achieved the ridge-top after a long and demanding push, and slowed our pace during the last easy hour, reaching the car park shortly after 4:30pm.

Kahurangi National Park - Day 3

We headed back into Motueka and spent the night at quite a nice hostel, taking time to shower, read more LOTR, eat chocolate, and drink some locally brewed ale. The next day, we headed to Blenheim for the Viticulture multi-day field trip that we had to attend.