RRC Archives

Anybody done any climbing or extensive traveling in New Zealand? Thoughts, beta, and recommendations welcomed. Lord of the Ring references not welcome.

All i know is that they have lots of rock, and some good bouldering.

I might have Jerry Bargos contact info somewhere. He's been living there for a few years now.

i lived in NZ for a year of hs and then spent three months traveling around after college. i actually started climbing there. from a traveling perspective most people prefer the south islands. I climbed for a month at Paynes Ford near Takaka (NW corner of south island). theres a cool little place there called the Hang Dog camp, think of miguels without the shop, more international people and less crowded. its a 5 minute walk to most of the crags. there is some multipitch stuff around Queenstown but i haven't done any. i can write more later but i got to get ready for work.

I lived in Christchurch for three years. A beautiful place.

If you're going down to climb, stick to the South island. The North has a couple of good crags and a very fine bouldering area but it's spread out..

Christchurch has a few hundred (thousand?) routes on volcanic rock above town in the Port Hills. Twenty minutes away..tops. Mostly trad/mixed but some good sport climbing has been put up ( The Cave comes to mind..) and the Banks peninsula is loaded with similar rock.


"All i know is that they have lots of rock." Yeah and most of it choss...At least up in the mountains..The Southern Alps is mostly loose nastiness...Some great granite way south in the Darren range near Fiordland, but it rains like, a hundred inches a day ( no lie )..

"and some good bouldering" Castle Hill basin ( an hours drive from Christchurch ) is the center of the universe...but be prepared to be humbled..frustrated..pissed off..etc until you get used to the weirdness. A more beautiful place to climb I cannot imagine.

Lots of other stuff as well..let me know what you need to know.

Heading there in December for 3 weeks but wont be climbing unfortunately. Barely have enough time to see the main attractions let alone climb.

Next trip.

Been to that website. Good starting place. Thanks for the recommendations, just trying to figure out if we even want to take our gear at this point.

Jill and I have work visas and are going to go over for up to a year. Sooooo anybody got any contacts at a vineyard? Any contacts at ski resorts?

another big industry over there for working tourists is fruit picking. I know there is a bunch of orchards on the other side of the big hill from Takaka.

Yeah, picking fruit is about the only job an outsider can find..