New Zealand Great Walks facts for kids
The New Zealand Great Walks are super popular hiking trails that are looked after by the Department of Conservation. These trails are New Zealand's top spots for exploring some of the most beautiful scenery in the country. You can find everything from sunny beaches to thick rainforests and high mountains. The trails are kept in great shape, which makes it easier for visitors to discover New Zealand's amazing backcountry.
These walks are different lengths, from about 32 kilometers (20 miles) to 82 kilometers (51 miles). They usually take between 3 and 6 days to finish. The Whanganui Journey is a bit different because it's a 145-kilometer (90-mile) river trip that takes 5 days.
Only two of the Great Walks, the Tongariro Northern Circuit and the Kepler Track, are "loop walks." This means you start and end in the same place. For all the other Great Walks, you'll need a ride to get back to where you started.
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Why Were the Great Walks Created?
The Great Walks network was started by the Department of Conservation in 1993. They wanted to do two main things:
- Tell more people about the awesome hiking in New Zealand.
- Help protect the most popular trails. Lots of visitors were accidentally damaging these trails, so the system helps manage how many people are on them.
You can even explore seven of these walks on Google Street View since November 2015!
What Facilities Do They Have?
The backcountry huts along the Great Walks are really handy. They are comfy, well-equipped, and can hold a lot of people. Both the huts and the trails on the Great Walks are better looked after than most other hiking trails in New Zealand.
These trails are very popular, especially with visitors from other countries. This is partly because the Department of Conservation and travel companies promote them a lot. To make sure not too many people are on the trails at once, all the Great Walks have a booking system. You can also find companies that offer guided walks if you prefer to go with an expert.
You don't have to pay to walk on the Great Walks. However, you do need to pay if you want to stay overnight in the huts or at the campsites. To help protect the trails, it's against the rules to camp within 500 meters (about 1,640 feet) of a Great Walk trail. For the Milford Track, you can't camp within 1 kilometer (about 0.6 miles) unless it's at a special campsite.
It's important to know that you can't get onto the Milford Track unless you've booked a spot to stay overnight. This is because you need a boat to get to both the start and end of that trail. Parts of the Abel Tasman Coast Track are very popular for day trips, even without staying overnight, because water taxis can take you to different sections of the trail.
Which Great Walks Can You Explore?
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Here's a list of the amazing Great Walks:
North Island Trails
- Lake Waikaremoana Great Walk
- Tongariro Northern Circuit - On the second day, this trail follows the famous Tongariro Alpine Crossing through a volcanic landscape.
- Whanganui Journey - This isn't a walk at all! It's a kayak trip on New Zealand's longest river that you can travel on. Even though it's a river journey, it's managed as part of the Great Walks system.
South Island Trails
- Abel Tasman Coast Track - This is the most popular Great Walk.
- Heaphy Track - At 82 kilometers (51 miles), this is the longest walking trail. It offers a huge variety of scenery, from beaches with palm trees to grassy sub-alpine areas.
- Routeburn Track - At 32 kilometers (20 miles), this is the shortest walking trail.
- Milford Track - This is the most famous of all the Great Walks.
- Paparoa Track and Pike29 Memorial Track - This track is 55 kilometers (34 miles) long.
- Kepler Track
Stewart Island / Rakiura Trail
What's Next for the Great Walks?
In 2018, the Department of Conservation looked into adding an eleventh Great Walk. They considered these trails:
- Te Paki Coastal Track in Northland
- Queen Charlotte Track in the Marlborough Sounds
- Hump Ridge Track in coastal Southland
In July 2019, they decided that the 61-kilometer (38-mile) Hump Ridge Track would become the 11th Great Walk! This track will get upgrades to its trails and huts, costing about NZ$5 million. The plan is for this track to officially join the Great Walks network in 2022.
