Epic Trails: New Zealand
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Sacred Mountains and Wilderness
Volcanoes, mountains, glaciers, beaches, lakes, fjords, temperate forests... The range of landscapes in New Zealand will never cease to amaze you. After a short city break in Auckland, explore the volcanic landscapes of the North Island. Your first hike will be up Mount Togariro, considered by many to be the most beautiful hike in New Zealand. You'll then make your way to Wellington and on to Nelson. Here, discover unique landscapes such as Abel Tasman National Park, the most beautiful fjord in the country: Milford Sound, the Wanaka peaks, not forgetting the highest point in the country, Mount Cook. Finally, before reaching Christchurch, you'll pass by the glacial turquoise Tekapo lakes. An untamed nature that can only be discovered on foot. So grab your backpacks and let's get hiking!
New Zealand's two main islands each have their own character. The North Island is volcanic, with steaming ground and active peaks. The South Island is larger and wilder, with glaciers, fiords and the Southern Alps. In the Epic Trails episode, Eric Hanson backpacks the North Island. He hikes the Pouakai Crossing through Taranaki's Goblin Forest, climbs Mount Hikurangi for the first sunrise on earth and tries surfing for the first time in New Plymouth. This self-driving itinerary follows that same walking instinct from Auckland to Christchurch, pairing the North Island's volcanoes with the South Island's glaciers, fiords and high country. The link below opens the full trip, and you can change any part of it.
The Pouakai Crossing, which threads Taranaki's alpine terrain past the Goblin Forest.
Walk the Volcanic North
The trip opens in Auckland with a day trip to Waiheke Island, a short ferry ride away in the Hauraki Gulf. A five-hour guided Double Headland Walk follows the island's coastline, which makes a gentle start before the longer days ahead.
From there, the route heads south to Rotorua, a region where hot springs and steam vents rise from the ground. Geothermal bathing at the Deluxe Lake Spa fits between travel days, so your legs get a rest before the next big walk. That walk is in Tongariro National Park, a nine-hour guided hike across tussock and beech forest beneath active volcanoes. The episode's Pouakai Crossing isn't on this route, so Tongariro is the itinerary's answer to it.
Then comes an evening on the Wellington waterfront, followed by a three-and-a-half-hour ferry across Cook Strait to Picton. When you step off the boat, you're on the South Island.
Fiords, Forests and Ice
The South Island begins at the top, in Nelson. A full-day boat cruise and nature walk in Abel Tasman links golden beaches with coastal bush, and you can step off the boat and walk part of the coast. The route then follows the West Coast, where Hokitika and the Fox Glacier region bring temperate rainforest and glacier valleys into the same day's drive.
The Abel Tasman coastline, where the itinerary pairs a boat cruise with a guided nature walk.
In Queenstown, the biggest day out is the twelve-and-a-half-hour Milford Sound cruise. A fiord is a steep valley carved by ice and flooded by the sea. This one is lined with sheer walls and waterfalls, and you spend a full day among them.
High Country to Christchurch
The road then climbs through Wanaka to Aoraki/Mount Cook and the bright blue glacial lakes of Tekapo and Pukaki. The area is an International Dark Sky Reserve, so it's a good place to stay up and look at the stars. Lodges like the Aoraki Mount Cook Alpine Lodge were chosen for their settings, so you wake up with the mountains in view. The drive finishes in Christchurch, where the car rental ends.
The itinerary books as a single trip through the link below. Add North Island walking days, spend longer in the high country or trade a cruise for an extra night near the glaciers. Click through and shape it into your own.
Sacred Mountains and Wilderness
Volcanoes, mountains, glaciers, beaches, lakes, fjords, temperate forests... The range of landscapes in New Zealand will never cease to amaze you. After a short city break in Auckland, explore the volcanic landscapes of the North Island. Your first hike will be up Mount Togariro, considered by many to be the most beautiful hike in New Zealand. You'll then make your way to Wellington and on to Nelson. Here, discover unique landscapes such as Abel Tasman National Park, the most beautiful fjord in the country: Milford Sound, the Wanaka peaks, not forgetting the highest point in the country, Mount Cook. Finally, before reaching Christchurch, you'll pass by the glacial turquoise Tekapo lakes. An untamed nature that can only be discovered on foot. So grab your backpacks and let's get hiking!
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