Seven years and one global pandemic later, I finally made it back to New Zealand with my adventure and rock climbing friend Alma to hike, walk, hike some more and find as many Lord of the Rings goodies as we could.

The morning after arriving, we embarked on the Routeburn Track 3-day hike from the Glenorchy side to The Divide in Fiordland, returning to Queenstown for Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day, we summitted Ben Lomond (1748m) after a few runs on the Queenstown luge.

We then rented a car and had some more adventures via Aoraki/Mt Cook and Lake Tekapo on our way to fly from Christchurch to Wellington. After visiting Weta Cave, we rented another car and headed up towards Tongariro National Park to wait for our Tongariro Alpine Crossing day.

7 hours and 20km later (and passing Mt Ngauruhoe — Mt Doom in LOTR), we were at the shuttle bus on the way back to our accommodation with no energy in the tank but a day of new volcanic experiences. I had been nursing a chest infection but somehow it didn’t stop me, but that was going to be the last of the intense hiking thankfully.

Our final adventure was through the Hobbiton Movie Set, finishing off our trip with a day in Auckland, seeing Interstellar in IMAX, which happened to be right down the road from our hotel. What an incredible cinema experience and a great way to wind down before flying back to Brisbane.

Here’s a tonne of photos for you all. So long New Zealand… until our next meeting.

Photography

For this trip, I took the Sony A7CR with my Sonnar T* 35mm F2.8 ZA, Sony 50mm F2.5 G and Sigma 90mm F2.8 DG DN. This gave me some versatility with the landscapes while giving me the small and lightweight options when I wanted to just carry one lens on a particular day. I took my small, lightweight Sirui 5C carbon fiber travel tripod which was great for trekking.

I didn’t come with much in the way of fine art landscapes, perhaps a few nice panoramic images, but it was enjoyable and there’s so much I could come back for.

To be honest, it would take living in New Zealand for a period of time to really create some unique fine art work. There’s just not enough time and focus on a two week hiking roadtrip.

Kia ora, Queenstown.

Ready for the shuttle to Routeburn Track.

About to hike.

The first day of Routeburn has you wandering the forest through mountain ranges.

New Zealand ferns.

The forest is so green here.

Mini waterfalls from one of the many bridges.

Finding trees within the lush green leaves.

Routeburn River from the trail.

Ferns unfurling.

Routeburn River at one of the rest stops.

The icy waters are so clear and turquoise.

Alma on some logs.

Beautiful fern glades throughout the walk.

View east from a bridge crossing.

Made it to Routeburn Flats campsite.

9 hours of daylight left to muck around.

Experimenting with the camera.

River portraits.

Somnus behind ferns.

Our view for the afternoon. Somnus, 2293m.

Beginning the ascent onto the plateau the next day.

View of Routeburn Flats.

Routeburn Track has many suspension bridges.

Mountain range leading to peak of Somnus, from the Routeburn Falls hut.

I love finding little flora vignettes on hikes.

We’re onto the plateau now and climbing steadily.

Boulder field in the plateau.

Daisies on the track.

Alma hiking the track.

In front of Ocean Peak, 1848m

View back from where we came up onto the plateau.

Boxwood Hebe.

Clear mountain waters.

Now you start to see the expanse of where you hike from. An hour later you’re up here, with more to go.

And this gives you a sense of the scale.

Almost at the highest point on the track.

Must get a photo.

A new photo I’ve added to the Panoramas gallery of Lake Harris and the Valley of the Trolls beyond.

Valley of the Trolls from further down the track.

A high resolution stitch from the Sigma 90mm DG DN F2.8 telephoto lens.

Another panorama made with the 90mm. Not quite as tidy from a composition point of view, but a great view.

Finding little waterfalls on the western/Fiordland side of the range.

Looking back as we traverse the western side of the mountain range. The rain was on and off here but not heavy.

Daisies love this area apparently.

Beautiful ancient beech tree forest on the way down into the valley where Lake MacKenzie and the second campsite are.

Fog over Lake MacKenzie on arrival.

But fog is a fickle thing.

We didn’t have quite the sunset I had all those years ago, but I made another photo of this little peninsula again.

Emily Peak in black and white, with some ice remaining.

7am the next morning. Cloudy with a chance of sun.

The fog and clouds hung around for a bit.

But then it started to clear…

And out came the crystal clear light of the morning sun.

Packed up and ready to go.

Let’s get the last day done.

Views of the lake from the trail.

MacKenzie Lodge underneath a peak along the range.

Looks a great day to go for a walk.

Then we started to spy some snowy, icy mountain peaks on the other side of the valley. The peak of Mount Madeline (2536m) with some of Te Wera in the midground.

Mount Christina, 2474m.

Ragwort flowers.

Hebe rakaiensis

View of the mountains from the Key Summit descent.

Christmas Day on Ben Lomond, 1748m.

Rolling farmlands and green hills, curiously shaded on one side...

Mountains kind of spring out of the ground over here in New Zealand.

We drove up the valley of Aoraki / Mt Cook but it was rained out.

Sunrise at Lake Tekapo.

Back to the Hooker Valley. Alma in front of Mt Sefton, 3151m.

That’s a nice boulder.

The misty sunlight was quite nice on these little vignettes.

Plants and stone living in harmony.

Just some nice light on some mossy boulders.

What a beauty.

Aoraki / Mt Cook, 3724m above Hooker lake with the Hooker glacier, which continues to recede.

Alma in front of Aoraki / Mt Cook. She visited here 11-12 years ago when the glacier was likely closer.

3:1 panorama of Lake Pukaki, Aoraki / Mt Cook and the surrounding mountain ranges.

Alma at the lookout in front of the biggest mountain in New Zealand.

Daisies in afternoon light at Castle Hill.

Castle Hill is fascinating and very peaceful to sit and meditate in.

Vignette of a stone and daisies at Castle Hill.

We flew to Wellington and on our way to Weta Cave, we sought out the location in Mt Victoria where some of the scenes in Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring were shot. Had a little fun recreating the scene where Frodo says “Get off the road!”

Mt Ngauruhoe as seen from the Taranaki Falls trail.

Mt Ruapehu from the Taranaki Falls trail, Tongariro National Park.

Alma in front of Mt Ngauruhoe.

3:1 panorama of fields north of Mt Ruapehu.

Mt Ruapehu and the Wairere Stream.

Ferns near Taranaki Falls.

Taranaki Falls.

Alma in front of Mt Ruapehu under cloudy sunlight.

Me in front of Mt Ruapehu under cloudy sunlight.

Mt Ruapehu in two morning’s time after a day of rain and wind.

We begin the Tongariro Alpine Crossing.

Brachyglottis plants.

Possibly Gaultheria colensoi.

Waterfall off the side of the main track.

I swear at any point, we were going to see orcs riding wargs above us.

Veronica lanceolata.

Possibly Gaultheria colensoi.

Alma in front of Mt Ngauruhoe 2291m, otherwise known as the fictional Mt Doom / Orodruin in Lord of the Rings movies.

Me in front of Mt Ngauruhoe.

Gorgeous clouded sunlight on the Mars-like rock.

Just needs a colour grade and it would pass as Mars.

Alma in the flat bowl between Mt Ngauruhoe and Red Crater.

I was enjoying the subtle bokeh of the Sony 50mm G at f/2.5 at these medium distances. It was perfect for portraits in front of huge scenes behind.

Again, 50mm environmental portraits at f/2.5 had the perfect amount of bokeh and clarity to show the scale of these locations.

Me in front of Blue Lake.

Descending a scree slope to the Emerald Lakes.

It was steeper than it looks but relatively safe.

Looks like an ancient disaster zone.

Hiking in New Zealand hits different. Because you can see the trails on these mountains so much of the time, you get a sense for the sheer scale of everything. Back home, most of the trails and mountains are covered in forests.

Now we start the long 10km switchback descent winding down the northern slopes of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. After 4 hours going up and over, this took another 2.5-3 hours. We sped up to meet the first bus scheduled, then got to our accommodation and could barely think or move from fatigue.