Author: Mark Pickering. Publisher: Penguin (3/5)
Most New Zealanders take it as a given, if not a birthright, the access we have in this country to a plethora of walks (aka tramps for the newbie foreign students reading this). But it would be interesting to ask somebody, say in Christchurch, just what day walks they could recommend. If they do know anything about tramping (and hey, lets be honest, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea) they’d probably mumble something about the Port Hills (fair call) or about heading to Arthur’s Pass National Park.
Mark Pickering’s latest book takes the vagueness out of wondering “where to go?” and provides succinct yet detailed information on over sixty walks in the Canterbury and Kaikoura area. There are walks in the Christchurch urban environment that can be done within an hour and are accessible by bus (e.g. Riccarton Bush, Travis Wetland). There are walks that introduce a few hills and are still accessible by public transport - six walks in the Port Hills – and all of them on the bus map or the trail heads are easily accessed by car or bicycle. Pickering also introduces more challenging day walks, from Kaikoura through to Hanmer Springs, the Canterbury foot hills, classics such as Avalanche Peak in Arthur’s Pass National Park and arguably one of the most stunning and easiest mountain scenery walks in NZ, the three hour return stroll up the Hooker Valley in Mt Cook National Park.
The book is helpful as it grades all the walks and gives easy access information (provided you’ve got a road map in the car!). It’s ideal for the person who wants to do a bit of walking but may not know exactly where to go to find the walks. Those with considerable tramping experience will find this book a bit ho-hum though. It would also have been nice to see the many included photographs in colour (a great photo of a location is usually my inspiration to head there) but the low-ish RRP of $26 probably reflects the black and white print.
A good purchase if you’re heading to Canterbury for a considerable amount of time for study or work. Enjoy!
Day Walks of New Zealand – Canterbury and Kaikoura
