Hakatere conservation area

13.05.2023 – 14.05.2023

• Drive time from Christchurch. 2-2.5 hours.
• Walking Distance. 9.61km
• Total activity Time. 4 hours
• Weather. Clear skies.

This is my first hike since completing the Te Araroa 3 weeks ago. We decided to have a bit of a sleep in this morning & not leave until after 8am.

It’s only just over a 2 hour drive & last time I did it just on 2.5 hours of walking, although I didn’t expect us to be that quick as it’s Antonia’s first hike in months!

We stopped at McDonald’s on the drive to Double hill (start of the track) to grab some breakfast & a few cheeky cheeseburgers for our lunch on the trail. The wait at the drive through took us about 30 minutes!

From here we drove with only a quick bathroom stop to the start of the trail. As we parked up the landowner drove up to us on his quad & we got chatting about the track & how I had just completed the TA, he was quite interested & it was nice chatting to him.

By the time we started off it was 11.10am. Starting at about 450 metres elevation, the trail follows a fence line beside Glenrock stream for the first few kilometres before meeting up with the farm track.

It’s a gentle climb on the 4wd track up the valley with some beautiful views looking back down to the Rakaia river.

We took it nice & slow as Antonia is breaking herself back into hiking. We stopped at about the 2 hour mark which was just before the crossing of the Glenrock stream & about 900 metres elevation.

We only have 300 meters to climb from this point, so after eating our cheeseburgers we started our climb towards the switchbacks that takes you up to Turton’s saddle.

Once reaching the switchbacks it seemed slightly gentler & we were at the saddle in no time. The views from here are amazing!

This is now the start / top of a new valley & it was a gentle 3km but at times slippery descent down towards the A frame hut. At around 2km the toilet by the hut comes into sight. You don’t see the hut though until you are basically on top of it as it’s down by a stream tucked between two cliffs.

We reached the hut right on 3pm & as the sun was almost ready to disappear behind the mountains to our west. The rest of the afternoon was spent playing games, reading & watching Netflix.

It’s nice to get out here just before my sabbatical of 6months is over & I’m back to work on Monday!

We both fell asleep fairly early & didn’t crawl out of bed until after 7am. I felt it was a really great sleep & with our warm winter gear the 2 degree’s temperature didn’t affect us.

We managed to leave at 9am & the walk back down the way we came was nice & easy with it taking us less than 3 hours to reach the car.

Definitely a nice weekend hike with plenty of space for camping if the hut is full.