A HIKE TO ONE OF THE BEST VIEWS IN PICTON
08 JANUARY 2023
A photographer in the making
Sweaty McSweatshirt
Picton is one of those towns that is FULL of incredible walks and scenery everywhere you walk (unless you're walking through the supermarket), which means you don't have to drive forever to see views that will blow your mind!
I'd done a lot of research on walks and hikes around Picton and for some reason this one slipped through the cracks the first time I had been looking at the best ones for us - cheeky! I'm super glad I found it as it's definitely one of the most incredible hikes we have done in the South Island and the best part about it is you are hiking up super high... yet the track isn't massively steep like we thought it would be.
We did the hike on one of the hottest days in summer BUT we did it because we knew the whole track was pretty much in the shade and we really wanted to get out for a hike - plus, what would be the point in going on a cloudy day where the water looks grey and the summit is covered in clouds?!). Yes, we were dripping with sweat by the time we got to the top, but that's great because we'd run out of water so we could just squeeze out our sweaty tshirts into our drink bottle and quench our thirst... KIDDING! We took plenty of water with us and we did wish that we had frozen our drink bottles the night before like we did for the walks and hikes we did in Tekapo and Mt Cook.
There are two starting points to the track - on Garden Terrace and on Newgate Street. We decided to start on Newgate Street just because, and we also walked back down this way to get back to our car quickly, but you can keep heading down to Garden Terrace and do a loop around back to Newgate Street.
I'd done a lot of research on walks and hikes around Picton and for some reason this one slipped through the cracks the first time I had been looking at the best ones for us - cheeky! I'm super glad I found it as it's definitely one of the most incredible hikes we have done in the South Island and the best part about it is you are hiking up super high... yet the track isn't massively steep like we thought it would be.
We did the hike on one of the hottest days in summer BUT we did it because we knew the whole track was pretty much in the shade and we really wanted to get out for a hike - plus, what would be the point in going on a cloudy day where the water looks grey and the summit is covered in clouds?!). Yes, we were dripping with sweat by the time we got to the top, but that's great because we'd run out of water so we could just squeeze out our sweaty tshirts into our drink bottle and quench our thirst... KIDDING! We took plenty of water with us and we did wish that we had frozen our drink bottles the night before like we did for the walks and hikes we did in Tekapo and Mt Cook.
There are two starting points to the track - on Garden Terrace and on Newgate Street. We decided to start on Newgate Street just because, and we also walked back down this way to get back to our car quickly, but you can keep heading down to Garden Terrace and do a loop around back to Newgate Street.
Spiders Just Waiting To Crawl Onto You
The track to the summit is really beautiful and we were surrounded by native New Zealand bush, which was very welcome in the heat as it got to about 35 deg - phew! We got a few glimpses along the way of what was to come at the summit and we just couldn't believe how high up we were!
The walk itself is mainly uphill but we found it to be pretty relaxing! We are used to hiking, so you may think it's steep, but we didn't need to stop every 2 seconds to catch our breath and stop our legs from burning like we did on Toka Toka Peak and Mt Manaia in Northland, Mt Maunganui in Tauranga and the Mt Vernon Track on the Wither Hills in Blenheim (that one took daaays for our ankles to recover as we weren't used to steep hills!). There were a few bench seats along the way to rest on, but we didn't need them this time round, plus I hate sitting on seats in the bush... seriously, you think just because it's a seat made for humans that isn't not absolutely full of spider webs with spiders just waiting to crawl onto you?!
There were parts of the track that were slippery, more so coming down, so it's definitely a good idea to wear good sneakers and not your best white dress shoes! Surprisingly we didn't fall over on our bums but we did end up with a good communication system which consisted of the person in front letting everyone know when a muddy part was coming up... but it ended up a little like Chinese whispers (who remembers that from primary school?) because it started off as "MUDDY PARTS!" and as we progressed up the track it became "MUDDY FARTS!" and at some point it changed to "SLIPPERY POOS!" then to "RUNNY POO PARTS!" and finally, "RUNNY POO FARTS!". So as you can see, we had a FANTASTIC communication system run by 4 very mature people! Despite it being the middle of an extremely hot and dry summer, some parts were really wet and muddy, so I can only imagine in winter it would be a lot worse!
We really enjoyed walking through the forest and there was so much biodiversity going on so we stopped a lot to take photos and check things out (more about the later in the blog). The track takes around 45 minutes to reach the summit, but it probably took us about 1.5 hours to get up and the same going down because we stopped so much.
The Sounds are notorious for sand flies and mosquitoes and I had a few little biters clinging onto me but nothing major, so if you're into wearing insect repellent then you may want to take that with you.
The walk itself is mainly uphill but we found it to be pretty relaxing! We are used to hiking, so you may think it's steep, but we didn't need to stop every 2 seconds to catch our breath and stop our legs from burning like we did on Toka Toka Peak and Mt Manaia in Northland, Mt Maunganui in Tauranga and the Mt Vernon Track on the Wither Hills in Blenheim (that one took daaays for our ankles to recover as we weren't used to steep hills!). There were a few bench seats along the way to rest on, but we didn't need them this time round, plus I hate sitting on seats in the bush... seriously, you think just because it's a seat made for humans that isn't not absolutely full of spider webs with spiders just waiting to crawl onto you?!
There were parts of the track that were slippery, more so coming down, so it's definitely a good idea to wear good sneakers and not your best white dress shoes! Surprisingly we didn't fall over on our bums but we did end up with a good communication system which consisted of the person in front letting everyone know when a muddy part was coming up... but it ended up a little like Chinese whispers (who remembers that from primary school?) because it started off as "MUDDY PARTS!" and as we progressed up the track it became "MUDDY FARTS!" and at some point it changed to "SLIPPERY POOS!" then to "RUNNY POO PARTS!" and finally, "RUNNY POO FARTS!". So as you can see, we had a FANTASTIC communication system run by 4 very mature people! Despite it being the middle of an extremely hot and dry summer, some parts were really wet and muddy, so I can only imagine in winter it would be a lot worse!
We really enjoyed walking through the forest and there was so much biodiversity going on so we stopped a lot to take photos and check things out (more about the later in the blog). The track takes around 45 minutes to reach the summit, but it probably took us about 1.5 hours to get up and the same going down because we stopped so much.
The Sounds are notorious for sand flies and mosquitoes and I had a few little biters clinging onto me but nothing major, so if you're into wearing insect repellent then you may want to take that with you.
The girls having a very important chat about how they should sing 'Do you know the muffin man?'
Eww, Why's He Naked?
Boy, oh boy we were in for a right treat with this view!! We thought we would never get there as we just got to a point where the track started to take us downhill and we thought we'd taken the wrong path, but we thought back to the way up and decided there was just no way we had gone the wrong way as there was only one other path that was craaaaazy steep that just couldn't have been the right track (no idea where it led to but would love to know)! Eventually the track went back up again and the trees started thinning out, so we knew we were close.
It was definitely a WOOOOOOW moment once we walked into the clearing and saw the most incredible views across Picton, Waikawa and the Queen Charlotte Sounds. We sat on the bench seat and had some lunch while we watched the ferries and boats heading in and out of the harbour and we could even spot the merry go round and playground in Picton that the kids love going on!
There was only 1 person at the summit when we were there and he didn't stay too long and there were only a handful of people on the track the entire time. One guy had his shirt off and when he walked past, Sienna asked (rather loudly) "Ewww, why's he naked?" and we all cracked up, including the naked man who said he wasn't quite naked. Sienna's a crack up, she says the funniest things!
We definitely could have stayed at the summit for hours and there was a nice breeze hitting us so it cooled us down a lot and Bella did ask if we could get a helicopter to drop off an umbrella for us - she's a funny wee thing!
We highly recommend doing this track on a sunny day at any time of the year. It just won't be the same on a cloudy day as the water will look grey and the summit may even be in the clouds.
It was definitely a WOOOOOOW moment once we walked into the clearing and saw the most incredible views across Picton, Waikawa and the Queen Charlotte Sounds. We sat on the bench seat and had some lunch while we watched the ferries and boats heading in and out of the harbour and we could even spot the merry go round and playground in Picton that the kids love going on!
There was only 1 person at the summit when we were there and he didn't stay too long and there were only a handful of people on the track the entire time. One guy had his shirt off and when he walked past, Sienna asked (rather loudly) "Ewww, why's he naked?" and we all cracked up, including the naked man who said he wasn't quite naked. Sienna's a crack up, she says the funniest things!
We definitely could have stayed at the summit for hours and there was a nice breeze hitting us so it cooled us down a lot and Bella did ask if we could get a helicopter to drop off an umbrella for us - she's a funny wee thing!
We highly recommend doing this track on a sunny day at any time of the year. It just won't be the same on a cloudy day as the water will look grey and the summit may even be in the clouds.
Views across Picton
View over Waikawa
Trying Out A New Lense
We recently purchased a 50mm lense for our Canon DSLR and were really keen to try it out. It's one of the reasons the track took so long because we were having to change the settings on our camera every 2 seconds! We bought the lense for a few reasons; we wanted a really good lense that would take great portrait pictures, one with a low f stop for astrophotography (wish we had it in Tekapo for the night sky!) and for spelunking (definitely would have been helpful at the Waipu Caves and Abbey Caves in Northland for our glowworm pics) and also just to get a blurred/bokeh background on some weird and wonderful things we discover. We are loving the lense and although it's not the best for macro/close up (time to get an ultra-macro lense!), we still loved how the images turned out.
Arabella had a go at taking some photos and she did an amazing job! As we unschool our girls, we like to see them pursue things that interest them and spark their imagination and photography is something Arabella is really keen on, so we're looking at getting her a camera to share with Sienna so they can take photos of what think is beautiful and interesting and learn a new skill at the same time.
The walk up to the summit was a bit challenging for Arabella, it wasn't the track itself but the fact that she just didn't want to do it. She was super excited to do the track in the morning and in the car on the way there but once we started, that all changed! As she gets older, we're learning that it can be a bit hit and miss with a 9-year-old as they start to know their own mind and know what they do and don't want. It's a challenge every parent and child faces and just one of those lessons we need to overcome and to find new ways of making walks and hikes more interesting for her, especially in summer when it's that little bit hotter. We do find that the more we hike, we find her up at 6:30am the next morning with a bag packed asking what hike we're doing that day and can we hurry up and go and the longer the hike, the more she loves it.... how on earth does that work?!
Once we got to the top and she saw the view and had some lunch, she perked up. Also it was probably relief, knowing that we'd reached the summit and now it was time to head back to the car and get an ice cream and go on the merry go round! She was so sweet on the way down and her whole attitude had changed and she was sooo sweet holding my hand when we came to a 'muddy fart' so I didn't slip and she wanted a photo of her every 2 seconds (usually it's Sienna asking for a photo, so it made a change) and it was nice to see her smiling again.
Arabella had a go at taking some photos and she did an amazing job! As we unschool our girls, we like to see them pursue things that interest them and spark their imagination and photography is something Arabella is really keen on, so we're looking at getting her a camera to share with Sienna so they can take photos of what think is beautiful and interesting and learn a new skill at the same time.
The walk up to the summit was a bit challenging for Arabella, it wasn't the track itself but the fact that she just didn't want to do it. She was super excited to do the track in the morning and in the car on the way there but once we started, that all changed! As she gets older, we're learning that it can be a bit hit and miss with a 9-year-old as they start to know their own mind and know what they do and don't want. It's a challenge every parent and child faces and just one of those lessons we need to overcome and to find new ways of making walks and hikes more interesting for her, especially in summer when it's that little bit hotter. We do find that the more we hike, we find her up at 6:30am the next morning with a bag packed asking what hike we're doing that day and can we hurry up and go and the longer the hike, the more she loves it.... how on earth does that work?!
Once we got to the top and she saw the view and had some lunch, she perked up. Also it was probably relief, knowing that we'd reached the summit and now it was time to head back to the car and get an ice cream and go on the merry go round! She was so sweet on the way down and her whole attitude had changed and she was sooo sweet holding my hand when we came to a 'muddy fart' so I didn't slip and she wanted a photo of her every 2 seconds (usually it's Sienna asking for a photo, so it made a change) and it was nice to see her smiling again.
Weird & Wonderful
As with most of our walks and hikes, we love finding the weird and wonderful and sharing it with you guys! There was a lot to see on the track and every zig we zagged seemed to have something completely new to look at and you can't be whizzing by to spot these things, it involved crouching down or looking in tree nooks.
We saw loads of cool mushrooms/toadstools - some completely black, one mother of a shroom in the nook of a tree and some teeny tiny white ones in a tree overhanging the track. There were a few small spider webs to photograph and it wasn't till I was looking at the images on my computer at home that I realised one of them had a rainbow affect through it - super cool!
There were a few trees had were completely black and the surrounding bush was sprinkled in the black stuff. We're not sure what it is, most likely some disease and we saw masses of trees with it on the Circle Track at the Pelorus Scenic Reserve, the week before.
We really enjoyed discovering all the weird and wonderful things along the way and although the bush was mainly green (like most walks and hikes in New Zealand!), there was the odd miniature flower and berry that was bursting with colour which was beautiful and there were also lots of cicada shells hiding in the most random places!
We saw loads of cool mushrooms/toadstools - some completely black, one mother of a shroom in the nook of a tree and some teeny tiny white ones in a tree overhanging the track. There were a few small spider webs to photograph and it wasn't till I was looking at the images on my computer at home that I realised one of them had a rainbow affect through it - super cool!
There were a few trees had were completely black and the surrounding bush was sprinkled in the black stuff. We're not sure what it is, most likely some disease and we saw masses of trees with it on the Circle Track at the Pelorus Scenic Reserve, the week before.
We really enjoyed discovering all the weird and wonderful things along the way and although the bush was mainly green (like most walks and hikes in New Zealand!), there was the odd miniature flower and berry that was bursting with colour which was beautiful and there were also lots of cicada shells hiding in the most random places!
Know Before You Go
- There are 2 starting points to the track
- Take mozzie repellant if that's your thang, as the pesky things are everywhere
- There are a few bees/wasps towards the summit in summer
- Go on a sunny day to make the most of the views otherwise you may be pretty disappointed if it's a super cloudy day!
- The track can be slippery in parts, even in the middle of summer
- The track is mostly in the shade which is awesome in summer and cold in winter
- There are bench seats along the track to rest on
- There are no toilets here, instead find them in the town
- Take your camera for pics at the summit
- The track takes around 45 minutes to reach the summit
- Not suitable for prams or wheelchairs
- There are a lot of pest traps on the track, do not let your kids put their hands inside!
Mappy McMap Face
Getting There
The track starts on Newgate Street in Picton, New Zealand and is signposted. There is no carpark but there is plenty of parking along the street. It's within walking distance from central Picton if you don't have a car.
Be careful not to let it take you to the North Island on google maps!
Be careful not to let it take you to the North Island on google maps!
Conclusion
The Tirohanga Track is an absolutely must do in our books. It's a moderate hike up to the summit which takes under an hour to see some of the most incredible views you can see in Marlborough! There are loads of weird and wonderful things to be found along the way and it's perfect in summer as it's mostly covered by bush.
Gallery of the Tirohanga Track
Check out the rest of the awesomeness that didn't make it to the main blog but deserves to be shown.
More to do in the South Island
NEW ZEALAND ALPINE LAVENDER FARM
CANTERBURY Lavender ice cream, cute bikes and rows of lavender near the beautiful Mt Cook and Lake Pukaki - what a dream
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KEA POINT TRACK
CANTERBURY Discover the hidden gems of Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park on the 1-hour Kea Point Track. You won't be disappointed! |
WHITES BAY BEACH
MARLBOROUGH The perfect beach for swimming and taking in the most incredible views from the cliffs. The drive here is just as breath-taking! |
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