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Day 1: Arrive in Tuatapere
Check in to The Waiau Hotel, recently voted
New Zealand's top country hotel. Around
5pm wander along the road to the Tuatapere
Hump Ridge Track office to meet your guide
and make plans for the next few days. Dine
with the guide at 7.30 pm. Settle in for
a good nights sleep to prepare for tomorrow's
adventure.
Shuttles are available at extra cost from Queenstown
(7.30am), Invercargill (2pm) and Te Anau (7.30am) but are not included in the package.
Day 2: Track transport Tuatapere to Track
Burn. Walk to Port Craig Village
Walk 4 - 5 hours / 11 km ( 6.6 m )
Up for an early breakfast departing Tuatapere
at 8.30am for Bluecliffs Beach and the Track
Burn on the edge of Fiordland National Park.
The walk from Bluecliffs Beach follows the
beach and coastal tracks. Fiordland crested
penguins, Hector dolphins, New Zealand fur
seals, and whales can
occasionally be seen as we follow the sweeping
Te Waewae Bay to Port Craig Village. Explore
the remains of this once bustling milling
town with a Heritage Trail and brochure.
Our first night on the trail is spent in
the Port Craig Village a modern bush lodge
set above Mussell Bay.
Day 3: Viaducts, Waitutu Lodge
Walk 5 - 6 hours / 16km ( 9.6 m )
Today we head west along an old coastal
track cut in 1896 to provide access to gold
mining settlements at Preservation Inlet.
In the 1920's a bush tramway was built to
transport logs to the mill at Port Craig.
This included the construction of four large
wooden viaduct's. The largest is the spectacular
Percy Burn Viaduct, the highest remaining
wooden viaduct in the world.
Our destination for the night is the Waitutu
Lodge set just across the Wairaurahiri River
in the stunning Waitutu Forest. This is
the largest tract of untouched native forest
in New Zealand featuring giant Rimu and
Totara hundreds of years old. Learn about
the intricate habitats that
provide homes for an abundance of wildlife
including the South Island kaka, wood pigeon,
long tailed bat and yellow crowned parakeet.
Day 4: Wairaurahiri River, Lake Hauroko,
Tuatapere
Take a short walk in the Waitutu Forest
with giant rimu and totara trees hundreds
of years old. Jump on to your jetboat and
head up the Wairaurahiri River, said to
be New Zealand's steepest river leading
from the southern ocean up to Lake Hauroko.
No spins or twirls here. Access to country
like this is why the Hamilton jet was invented.
At Lake Hauroko we transit by road back
to Tuatapere arriving around 4pm.
Jet boating time: one and a half hours |
