The drive in to Mt. Aspiring.

I Am Officially Living A Dream: A Night in Mt. Aspiring and An Evening in Wanaka — 10/5–10/6

Abby Keelin
Nov 5 · 5 min read

A trip to Mt. Aspiring National Park and staying in a hut for a night with El! But first, a trip to Aramoana during the week with Zachary and Eleanor.

The drive from Dunedin to Mt. Aspiring National Park. The entrance to the park is about 30 minutes outside of Wanaka.

10/4: Sunset at Aramoana and drives filled with Dermot Kennedy

The drive to Aramoana Beach from Dunedin.

Dermot Kennedy’s new album came out, and so ofc we listened to it both ways on our 40 min drive to the beach! Highly recommend, all 3 of us are big fans.

The famous keyhole rock, and Zach and El on the beach.

We spent a couple hours at the beach, running along the sand dunes, climbing the rocky cliffs, chasing ocean waves and long jumping in the sand. Ran barefoot and laughed a lot. Collected some seashells. Looked at the clouds as they changed from red and glowing to subdued pink and purple hues as the sun set behind us.Enjoyed the view, and the ocean. And the fact that it was right there, in front of us, because in a months, it wouldn’t be.

The sunset from Aramoana that evening.

10/5–10/6: Mt. Aspiring National Park

The drive in to Mt. Aspiring, on film.

Woke up early and started the drive to Wanaka with Eleanor! We made it there at around 11:00 AM and stopped for some food before making the drive into Mt. Aspiring Ntl Park. Most of it was on a dirt road and there were lots of cattle crossings, lots of sheep, and lots of fiords to cross, but the Raum made it. Trusty little car.

The mountains and some cows. Those cows have a better view than I do everyday.

We got to the parking lot and started the hike in. It was a beautiful clear day, and the sun was shining. The track was a 2.5 hour in to the first hut, where we would be staying for the night. It was fairly easy, and overall flat. It followed the river valley the entire way, and so on all sides of you were snow topped mountains, and it was beautiful. We got to the hut at around 3:00 PM, with plenty of daylight still left.

Some shots from the hike in, and the hut we slept in.

We unpacked, waited for the sandflies to go away for the night, and then explored the river valley a little bit as the sun set behind the moutains and left the valley in a blue glow. We skipped rocks on the river, and walked around the area a bit before heading into the hut to make dinner and play some cards as it got dark out.

A cool quote from the inside of the hut, as well as the views from the inside windows.

Once it finally was dark out, we went outside to see the stars. The moon was out and very bright, and it was a lot colder than it had been during the day. I tried my attempt at some star pics, but with the moon being so bright and my lack of a tripod, they didn’t turn out too great. It was still beautiful though. After that, we called it a night and headed to our bunks to sleep.

The poor attempts at star pics. With the moon so bright, it was impossible to get super clear images.

The next morning, we got up at around 8:00 and crawled out of our warm sleeping bags into the morning cold. Becuse the valley is surrounded by mountains, the sunlight had not yet hit the hut from the rising sun, and so it was still a bit chilly outside. We packed up and made breakfast, and then began the trek back to the car park.

Left is a pic of El. Right is her try at using the cam and taking a pic of me. A little out of focus, but it works.

For a Sunday, it was very busy on the track. We kept passing family after family and group after group that was heading into the valley as we were making our way out. Again, it was a sunny clear day, and we made it back by 12:00 PM to start the drive in to Wanaka.

Hiking out of Mt. Aspiring.

Once in Wanaka, we stopped and had some crepes at a stand by the lake. Then we sat by the water and enjoyed the sunshine some more, laying on the rocky beach. Afterwards, we started the drive back, and made it before nightfall.

The crepe stand and my favorite view in NZ, the view of Lake Wanaka from the beach :)

The entire trip, El and I kept talking about how we were living such a dream. Our weekend plans consisted of driving a couple hours to hike a few more hours into the moutain valley, where we would sleep in a hut under the most beautiful starry sky. Absolutely unreal.

Abby Keelin

Written by

Student at Bethel University in St. Paul, MN majoring in Biology.

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