Walk or cycle around New Zealand’s South Island

IF YOU fancy a spot of walking or cycling, there are few better places than New Zealand’s South Island.

JUST a three-hour flight from Australia’s East Coast, we’re surrounded by the dramatic landscape of snow-capped mountains and glacial lakes for which New Zealand’s South Island is so famous. There’s so much adventure here we’re spoilt for choice, but two things I love are trekking and cycling, and both are hot on the tourist trails right now.

First up, we are here to embark on two iconic trekking adventures, the Milford Track and the Hollyford Track, both of which are accessed easily from Queenstown, New Zealand’s adventure capital. The tracks take in two different perspectives of Fiordland and are world class.

The Milford Track has the reputation of being “one of the finest walks in the world”.

Snow-capped Mitre Peak, Milford Sound.

It is a five-day journey and trekkers cover 54km on foot. I did have high expectations of its beauty. But what I wasn’t expecting was the emotion.

Was it the overwhelming landscape, or was it the story of Quintin Mckinnon, the man who pioneered this incredible track through thick forest back in 1888 and opened it up to the world? I think it was both.

Sean, our guide from Ultimate Hikes, took great pride in leading the way and honouring a long tradition of guided walks that has been operating here for 125 years. We trekked through luxuriant beech forest where the moss is so green it lights up your path.

A waterfall along the Milford Track.

We passed glaciers and hundreds of waterfalls whose power silenced our step. We stayed in cosy lodges where a hot shower and scrumptious food welcomed us at the end of every day. And we enjoyed the camaraderie between fellow trekkers as we discussed the day ahead over breakfast.

But it was the moment that we trekked over the McKinnon Pass and stood in front of Quinton Mckinnon’s memorial that summed it up.

“I don’t why, but I can’t talk,” I whispered to Sean. To which he replied, “I feel that way every time I come here, and so does the rest of the world.”

Our journey ended with a boat ride on famous Milford Sound. Dwarfed by mountains, we sat back and reflected on the incredible beauty New Zealand holds.

Fiordland National Park spans more than 1.2 million hectares, and Milford’s next-door neighbour is another stunner. The Hollyford Track is a three-day journey through the Hollyford Valley from the mountains to the sea. The journey is made up of 37km on foot, a stretch of jet boating and even a scenic helicopter flight out at the end. You stay in luxury lodges along the way with three-course dinners and lunch is turned on in private tents.

Bard from The Hollyford Track is another one of those passionate guides who came and never left. He brings the stories of the track alive, filled with Maori and European history. As we’re standing by the banks of Lake Alabaster with the morning mist rising, he teaches us the word Tu Meke, a Maori term for “too much”. “This place is too much,” he smiles.

After trekking all the way through beech forest and on to the sand dunes overlooking the Tasman Sea, our journey ended inside Martins Bay Lodge feasting on a dinner of some of New Zealand’s finest produce and enjoying a traditional “Hollyford Toast”.

It was time for our New Zealand adventure to take us inland to the Central Otago region. Filled with rolling farmland and fruit orchards, it’s a place famous for the gold rush of the late 1800s and now the Otago Central Rail Trail, a bike trail that follows a railway line pulled up in 1990, and now attracting more riders that it ever did train passengers.

Trail Journeys guide Shayne with Jennifer Adams on the Otago Central Rail Trail.

We joined Trail Journeys, one of the first companies to kick off guided and independent cycling trips on the trail.

The ride is 150km from Clyde to Middlemarch over three days. “There are no hills,” our guide Shayne told us, “You will only have to climb as much as a steam train can.”

The ride is often more about what happens off the trail than on it. Cafes and old pubs dot the trail. We stopped in at Como Villa winery for a drop of pinot. Plus, we even went curling at the southern hemisphere’s only indoor curling rink.

I was mesmerised by the engineering feat of the line’s construction. As we rolled through the landscape, we crossed medieval-looking bridges and cycled through tunnels that were carved out of the rock by hand.

Everywhere we stopped had another story. Even our accommodation one night, Wedderburn Cottages, was a row of beautifully appointed cottages on a farmer’s property.

The Rail Trail has been so popular it has sparked bike trail fever in New Zealand, prompting the opening of more exciting bike routes. One of the latest to be launched is also in Central Otago, and our final adventure was a combination of the Roxburgh Gorge and Clutha Gold Trails with bike tour company Bike it Now!

As we set off with guide Duncan, hugging the side of the mighty Clutha Mata-Au River, we could almost see the gold shimmering from the rocks.

These rides celebrate the local gold rush history, with some incredibly well-preserved sites accessible to visitors. But it also celebrates nature, showing off the region’s spectacular gorges, rivers and prairies.

What impressed me the most, however, was how all of the towns we rolled through worked together. Where a section of the journey on Day One was inaccessible to bikes, we were picked up by jet boat and transported downstream, so we could continue our journey on to Lake Roxburgh Lodge for the night.

Jet Boating on the Hollyford Track.

What summed it all up was back in Queenstown grabbing a bite to eat in one of the many cafes, and bumping into so many of the people we had met along the way. Every one of them stopped to say goodbye – Kiwis certainly know how to turn on first-class hospitality.

* Places We Go travelled as guests of Tourism New Zealand, newzealand.com

* Watch Places We Go Saturdays at 4.30pm (AEST) Network 10

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It’s easy to build up an appetite to feast on incredible local produce served up in lodges on Hollyford Track.