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Mary Jane Walker
Mary Jane Walker

372 Followers

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Published in

A Maverick Traveller

·6 days ago

Arthur’s Pass and Ōtira

An epic tunnel and viaduct in the heart of New Zealand’s South Island — ARTHUR’S PASS is the most commercially important alpine pass in the Canterbury region of New Zealand’s South Island. It’s certainly the only one with a regular train service, stopping at a rather Swiss-style mountain station at the Pass. The A-frame design has paintings on the ceiling inside.‍ ‍

Mountains

12 min read

Arthur’s Pass and Ōtira
Arthur’s Pass and Ōtira
Mountains

12 min read


Published in

A Maverick Traveller

·Sep 8

From Kerikeri to Karikari

Leaving the Bay of Islands for Northland’s white-sand peninsula: A return to the top end of Aotearoa New Zealand’s North Island — AFTER the Bay of Islands and Kerikeri, which I blogged about in February, the next major attraction on the coast, off State Highway 10, is Taupō Bay, within the wider Whangaroa Bay, which you can see at the right of the map below. …

New Zealand

4 min read

From Kerikeri to Karikari
From Kerikeri to Karikari
New Zealand

4 min read


Published in

A Maverick Traveller

·Sep 1

Sand and Sky

The Lonely Winter Beaches of Christchurch’s Pegasus Bay — FROM the New Brighton Spit, Te Karoro Karoro (‘the seagulls chatter’), a long sweep of sandy beaches curves northward past Christchurch to form the roughly 40 km-wide Pegasus Bay. When I visited Christchurch in July 2023, I decided to spend some time on these beaches, even though it was the…

Beaches

6 min read

Sand and Sky
Sand and Sky
Beaches

6 min read


Published in

A Maverick Traveller

·Aug 25

Hiking around Lyttelton Harbour and Banks Peninsula

Historic bays, hills, and modern walkways — BANKS Peninsula is an eroded volcano, originally an offshore island, which possesses several natural harbours today. The biggest harbours on the peninsula are Lyttelton Harbour or Te Whakaraupō (‘the harbour of the raupō reed’) just south of Christchurch, which contains the port of Lyttelton, and Akaroa Harbour further east, on…

Hiking Trails

10 min read

Hiking around Lyttelton Harbour and Banks Peninsula
Hiking around Lyttelton Harbour and Banks Peninsula
Hiking Trails

10 min read


Published in

A Maverick Traveller

·Aug 17

Clever Christchurch

Back, after two years, to a city that just keeps getting smarter — THIS July, 2023, I drove my newly-acquired Nissan Elgrand campervan to Christchurch, also known as Ōtautahi or Ōtautahi Christchurch, for repairs, and to catch a plane to Auckland. (Like many places in Aotearoa New Zealand, Christchurch is in the process of acquiring a Māori name, a renaming that is more…

Urbanism

10 min read

Clever Christchurch
Clever Christchurch
Urbanism

10 min read


Published in

A Maverick Traveller

·Aug 11

Adventures at Snow Farm

Nordic Skiing Downunder (Part 2) — Part One ends with a promise to look at the history of skiing; after which I resume my adventures! ACCORDING to ancient rock drawings and other evidence, skiing has been practiced for at least eight thousand years. The first written accounts of skiers that are known to exist are in…

Wanaka

10 min read

Adventures at Snow Farm
Adventures at Snow Farm
Wanaka

10 min read


Published in

A Maverick Traveller

·Aug 2

Queenstown on the Quiet

How to hike away from it all, even in New Zealand’s Tourist Capital — QUEENSTOWN is notorious for being crowded in normal times, and getting crowded once more. Yet there are quiet places that you can get away to, including really scenic backcountry tracks that aren’t so well known. Here are five areas that you might want to explore, in addition to walks that…

Backcountry

5 min read

Queenstown on the Quiet
Queenstown on the Quiet
Backcountry

5 min read


Published in

A Maverick Traveller

·Jul 28

Adventures at Snow Farm

Nordic Skiing Downunder (Part 1) — NEW ZEALAND has many Alpine ski fields, but only one Nordic ski field, called Snow Farm. It’s in the middle of the following aerial image of the Queenstown-to-Wānaka area of the South Island. What is the difference? Well, one is on mostly steep slopes and the other is mostly on…

Ski

6 min read

Adventures at Snow Farm
Adventures at Snow Farm
Ski

6 min read


Published in

A Maverick Traveller

·Jul 21

Treble Cone Ski Field: Overlooking New Zealand’s Matukituki Valley

A classic gem of a mountain location, where you could easily spend a fortnight — MY first tramp into Tititea/Mount Aspiring National Park was with the Upper Clutha Tramping Club, a group of older farmers based out of Wānaka. All of them were between 70 and 85 years old, so I was easily the youngest of the group! We began our tramp into the Matukituki…

Wanaka

7 min read

Treble Cone Ski Field: Overlooking New Zealand’s Matukituki Valley
Treble Cone Ski Field: Overlooking New Zealand’s Matukituki Valley
Wanaka

7 min read


Published in

A Maverick Traveller

·Jul 14

A Misty Day out at the Remarkables

Matchstalk figures amidst the snow — The Remarkables are a range of mountains that tower epically and in a Grand Teton-like way over Queenstown, New Zealand. You can see them from Coronet Peak, on the other side of the ‘Promised Land’.

New Zealand

6 min read

A Misty Day out at the Remarkables
A Misty Day out at the Remarkables
New Zealand

6 min read

Mary Jane Walker

Mary Jane Walker

372 Followers

Traveller, journalist, author of 18 books and of 300 blog posts on Medium and on my website a-maverick.com.

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