The Banks Peninsula Track

My most recent adventure was a 4-day trek on the Banks Peninsula track, which is on the east coast about 1 hour from Christchurch. It was a 35 kilometer private trek along the coast and through farmland, and this time I am proud to say there were no helicopters involved! Woo hoo! The weather was awesome all 4 days--sunny, hot, and no rain! This trek was especially nice because the huts along the way were beautiful, with comfy beds, flushing toilets, hot showers, and many other perks. And on the first and fourth days, they transported our packs since we had to climb from sea level to about 600 meters on both of those days. Though I was cursing myself on the second and third days for packing too much stuff! But anyhow, this was definitely a high-class trekking experience.

The first night's hut was at Onuku farm. The trek didn't actually start until the next morning. So that first night was a good rest before the trek started. The hut at Onuku was beautiful. The moon was nearly full that night, and I chose to sleep on a bunk bed just outside the hut on the porch, overlooking the Akaroa harbor. I woke up a few times during the night, and watched the moon change positions. It was quite cool. In the morning I woke up to the sounds of cows "mooooo-ing" and sheep "baaaaaa-ing." The first picture below shows where I slept that first night, and the second picture is one I took early in the morning when you could still see the moon.





The first day's walk was from Onuku farm to Flea Bay. There were only 9 people on the trek, so we all walked together for alot of the trek. Most of the walk on that first day was through farms. Nevertheless, there were lots of nice views and waterfalls. You could actually walk behind one of the waterfalls. Below, you can see a picture of me (barely) behind the waterfall.



And here is a picture of me on the first day trekking, upon reaching the highest point on the trek (at 699 meters).



At the end of the first day, we reached Flea Bay, and the next 2 days of hiking were to be all along the coast. Flea Bay was awesome. On the night we reached Flea Bay, the owner of the hut (all of the huts were privately owned by people living adjacent to the huts) let us watch her feeding this injured blue penguin that was brought to her so that she could care for it. All of the blue penguins are gone from the area at this time of year, but she had this one injured penguin to show us, since we were all so eager to see a penguin! It was the cutest thing. It must have been less than 1 foot tall. And it's the closest I've been to a penguin here in New Zealand, so I was really excited. Here's a picture of the penguin.



The next morning we woke up and went kayaking in Flea Bay. The owner of the hut had kayaks that she rents out, and she took us out on a guided tour of the bay. And we saw Hector's dolphins!!! Hector's dolphins are the world's smallest dolphins, and they are pretty rare in New Zealand. Yet there were a few dozen that came out to swim in the bay that morning alongside our kayaks. That was so much fun. The Hector's dolphins were not as hyper as the Dusky dolphins I saw in Kaikoura. The Hector's didn't really jump out of the water and do flips. They were just swimming along peacefully. I didn't get any pictures cuz I didn't bring my camera out into the water. But, I did take a boat tour in Le Bons Bay (also in the Banks Peninsula) just 2 days before, and I got a few shots of the Hector's dolphins from that boat trip. Here's a picture of 2 Hector's under water.



Well the trek didn't get any better than the night and morning in Flea Bay. Unfortunately, we couldn't stay in Flea Bay forever, and we had to trek on. So after kayaking with the dolphins, we went on and walked along the coast to Stony Bay. The sun was beaming, and there wasn't much shade on the trek that day, so it got pretty hot. But the views were gorgeous. And the following day, we walked from Stony Bay to Otanerito, also a very hot day. Here are a few pictures of the views from both of those days.











The hut at Stony Bay was very charming. I got to sleep in my own little cottage nestled in the trees, and the shower was set around a tree so you felt like you were showering outside. The hut at Stony Bay also had a cool swing and a "bath under the stars," which was basically an outdoor bathtub where you warm up the bath water with a fire.

On the last night, we slept at Otanerito Bay. I decided I wanted to sleep closer to the beach. So I asked the landowner for a tent and he hooked me up. So I got to sleep to the sound of ocean waves on that last night. Although I was sleeping on a hard ground as opposed to a soft, comfy bed, it was well worth it.

The final day's hike was nice. Alot of the walk was through beech forest, and I got to see some fantail birds and bellbirds up close. The bellbird makes the sweetest song, and I always hear it when trekking in New Zealand. But this is the first time I got to observe it up close.

So overall, I had a great time on the Banks Peninsula trek. I'm really a big fan of multi-day treks where you can have a shower and use flushing toilets!