It is always interesting as a guide setting off on a new trip with a group of strangers wondering how the group is going to gel. You look in the rear vision mirror and everybody is a bit quiet looking, a bit awkward, wondering what they’ve got themselves into. This safari is the inaugural Macpac Hiking Safari celebrating a new partnership with Macpac, a trusted New Zealand outdoor equipment brand. We have been putting their gear to the test since we began running hiking safaris in 1993.

From Christchurch we head up over Arthur’s Pass and though it is raining a bit outside, everybody is keen to get out and go for a walk through the alpine tussocks and herb fields to stretch their legs and get a feel of the elements. We are picking someone up in Greymouth so don’t have too much time to muck around.
The weather forecast is due to clear tomorrow so we delay heading into Paparoa National Park a day and do a side trip down Truman’s Track. The itineraries of all our safaris are flexible depending on the weather conditions.

  
We gently descend through coastal rainforest to Truman Beach and here I give one of my spiels on the five great podocarps. My kids are named Matai (now 4 years) and Rata (now 8 years) after two native trees in New Zealand. By the track there is a huge matai tree probably 30 metres high and winding up around it is a rata vine, gaining access to light in the tree tops. In years to come, the rata vine will eventually squeeze and kill the matai tree and become a free-standing tree. My partner was recently here with our kids. Her version of the story is that Rata is giving Matai a big hug!

From the beach we head along the coast on a secret route to sea caves used by Maori and European explorers. Maori tribes journeyed along this coastline in search of pounamu (greenstone). The route is muddy, slippery and involves clambering over boulders and requires a bit of team effort to get the group over obstacles, but with lots of laughter we all manage to get to the sea cave. At times I am just amazed at what things I can get my groups to do, but they all seem to appreciate it, and I did give them the option of sitting this one out if they wanted. This rugged sculptured coastline is truly one of those special places and the fact that not many people know about it makes it even more so.

That night, after a meal of burritos, I give the briefing for the first tramp and then we start our informal introduction. We have a real mix of people: 5 English, 2 Aussies, 2 Americans, 1 Kiwi, and 1 Irishman, aged between 22 and 58. The sex ratio is about even and everyone comes from a range of jobs and backgrounds. It’s great to be thrown together with a diverse group of people.

The next morning we start off up the Inland Pack Track, an early route cut for gold miners to bypass the sea cliffs we explored the day prior. At our first river crossing I give instruction on the latest river crossing techniques and we surge across. For the early gold miners drowning from attempting to cross swollen rivers was the most common cause of death and even today inexperienced trampers occasionally come to grief. Everybody listens to me with added interest after hearing this. We have over 50 crossings in Dilemma and Fox Rivers before reaching our camp at the Ballroom. Some crossings are waste deep and you can scoop up water with your hands and drink it straight. That’s 100% Pure New Zealand. Tonight we just sleep out on a big groundsheet, looking up the canyon walls to the stars above and listening to a morepork (native owl) in the distance. We are all tired from the day’s activities but there is that happy content feeling that you have done something.

It’s only 2 hours walk out to the carpark and off with wet boots and on with dry clothes then we drive south to the coastal town of Okarito. In the height of the goldrush 1200 people lived here; now there are less than 50 permanent residents. There is a great campground right next to the beach that becomes home for the night. Digging a hole, lighting a fire, heating rocks, then burying the food under wet sacks is a group effort. We encourage people to eat the food with their fingers, just as the Maori did. We finish the evening with roasted bananas with melted chocolate cooked on the coals of our beach fire, listening to everyone tell their stories.

Okarito Lagoon is the largest unmodified wetland in New Zealand and in the morning we are in kayaks and exploring channels in the river delta that go deep into the Kahikatea forest. Birdlife is abundant – spoonbills, white heron, tuis, fernbirds … and the backdrop of the snow-covered Southern Alps is spectacular. No kayaking experience is required as it is easy flat water kayaking and we use double kayaks. As the tide goes back out of the lagoon it carries us back to where we started. Returning to Welcome Flat hot pools after an absence of a few years was my highlight of the trip. This is a 7 hour hike up the Copland Valley in Westland National Park to a great hut by the pools. It’s great to give yourself a reward after a good bit of physical activity. I remember a client saying to me while sitting in the hot pools and looking up at the 3000m Sierra mountains, that “life doesn’t get any better than this!”

All too soon we are on our last day of the safari and we are driving into Queenstown. Funnily though, it seems like ages since we left Christchurch. One of the hardest things as a guide is meeting a group of great people, really getting to know them through doing lots of adventures together, and then having to say goodbye, probably never to see them again. Sometimes, like with this group, I could quite easily just keep on going. I’ve been guiding trips now for over 20 years and I still get a real thrill out of showing people my New Zealand. I look back at the group through the mirror and they are all joking and relaxed – a bit weary from 8 days of outdoor adventure, but there is a feeling we are all friends.