My wife and I are taking a trip to New Zealand for our honeymoon. We’re going to be there Jan 30-Feb 22. We’re planning on a mix of things but would like to do some backpacking, preferably in more rugged, undeveloped terrain, preferably off trail. For perspective the proposal was on the Sierra High Route. We prefer traveling relatively short days (6-12 easy trail miles/day, or 4-8 miles over the more challenging sections of the SHR) but over potentially very technical terrain, and sometimes enjoy laying over in a particularly awesome spot.
Any recommendations on what to do? It looks like the most alpine terrain is on the South Island, so we’re planning on flying to the South Island after checking some stuff out on the North Island. Some routes I’ve done some research on is the Dragons Teeth in Kahurangi National Park but it looks like most camping is in huts which sound amazingly overdeveloped even if the route is supposedly pretty technical. Another consideration is the Five Passes route in Mount Aspiring and Fiordland which looks pretty rad although the travel would be more challenging. Any other ideas or resources?
Thanks.
