Rakaia Gorge Walkway

We planned on driving straight past Rakaia Gorge and hurrying inland towards the Southern Lakes but a later-than-planned departure from Christchurch meant we stopped off here for our first night in Norman (the camper van). And I’m so glad we did. A lot of travellers do exactly what we had planned, and accelerate towards the promised blue waters of Lake Tekapo, missing Rakaia Gorge because of its proximity to Christchurch and comparative lack of advertisement in comparison to the lakes. Yes, it’s not quite as spectacular as Tekapo (read later), but it was truly an amazing welcome to New Zealand exploring. Having now almost finished the camper trip, it is still one of my favourite walks of the South Island.

The Rakaia Gorge Walkway is a 10.4km out and back track with a loop and reveals a number of New Zealand’s signature features along the way. The track hugs the Rakaia River and opens into braided bright blue rivers weaving deeper into the gorge ahead. To top it off, Mount Hutt towers ahead with its snowy peak glistening in the sun. A dream. For a newbie to NZ equipped with a ‘proper’ camera for the first time, it had everything I needed to make me stop at each turn to take more photos, much to Charlie’s amusement - he is getting used to being my model. This meant the rough halfway point took around 2 hours to reach, though we managed the return in about 1h15. There are other points of interests along the route such as old mines and equipment, but really I was just there to soak up the views, and it gave me everything I wanted.

Info point at loop turnoff

For anyone considering heading straight past this wonderful place, my advice would be don’t. Stop, wander and take it all in. You don’t even need to pack sandwiches if you head off early – there’s a nice area for a picnic when you get back and we were lucky the sun was with us. It’s also a great place to stay if you are on your way back to Christchurch and have an extra half day. The Rakaia Gorge Camping Ground is also the best value campsite we have stayed in during our entire trip. For $10pp there are clean, powerful, hot showers, washing up facilities and well-maintained flush toilets. We were really spoilt on our first night – we have paid more than this on occasions and the facilities left something to be desired in comparison.

Ace camping spot