Day 243 on the Road
Hiking Trails in Blenheim
Today we are checking out one of the free things to do in Blenheim: the Wither Hills Walks! If you like this video and want more inspiration for your gap year in New Zealand, check out our 365 Days: 365 Activities in New Zealand on YouTube!
Today we are kickstarting our time in Blenheim with an awesome walk in the Wither Hills.
Today we are on the way to Blenheim with this the hub of the Marlborough region. Just yesterday we were in Kaikoura which is known for its wildlife but we are heading just two hours down the road to a place completely different which is known mostly for its wine and that’s why the whole landscape completely changes to be covered in vineyards and wineries.
As we are driving among the beautiful wine fields we are planning our activity of the day it’s a really short one we are going to the Wither Hills Farm. It’s a really short walk and that fits perfectly because today we did mostly driving.
The Wither Hills Farm Park covers 1,100 hectares of walking tracks and mountain biking tracks and there’s actually so many walks to do here we’re really spoiled for choice. But we decide by following the signs that we’re gonna do the Rotary lookout because we’re suckers for a good view.
The walk starts off making its way through exotic forest which otherwise just means forest that is not native to New Zealand. It’s all been planted here for forestry reasons no doubt and it makes a pretty interesting and different walk to what’s usually available in New Zealand. We see a few plants that we’re not really sure what they are so we take a few photos and continue making our way across the track.
As soon as we start getting a little bit of altitude and hey it’s not that much altitude it’s a hill right, the vegetation starts to change tremendously and it starts to look like unlike anything we’ve seen in New Zealand so far it’s mostly a massive tussock field with actually a lot of sheep, it’s quite interesting how different it looks on the top as it did look at the beginning in the bottom.
It’s quite interesting to learn that those tussock hills are actually the original state of those hills that have been replanted here by the local school kids it’s very cool.
As we are making our way a little bit higher up we start finding the locals. As I mentioned there is a lot of sheep in Wither Hills Farm and those guys right here have absolutely no care if humans are passing nearby or not they are about to graze on the track and nothing is going to disturb them.
And just as I take the time to say that they start running away from us well you know there is no winner right here.
Another really interesting fact about Wither Hills Farm is that there is 65 hectares of this area which is actually dedicated to mountain biking.
It is a mountain bikers paradise because of all those open landscapes with a tonne of hills downhills up hills it’s really cool.
the walks around Wither Hills are super easy to follow there’s nice wide open trails and so many signage so you can sort of be spontaneous and do lots of different walks on the same day. And the higher we are getting on top of Wither Hills we are seeing some amazing views overlooking the town of Blenheim and the Wairau Plains which is basically the flat land around Blenheim.
About 20 minutes later into the walk we arrive at the Rotary Lookout which has this huge shelter and a lot of information panels about the surrounding areas. They are explaining what the history of the area is including the early maori history and when the town of Blenheim was established.
After snapping plenty of pictures from the top of the Rotary Hill Lookout it’s time for us to make this walk a loop by taking the Gentle Annie Track back down toward the car park.
Now you guys heard us say so many times that we are taking the Gentle Annie walk back it’s crazy how many tracks in New Zealand are called the gentle annie. I don’t know who this Annie was but I’m betting she was gentle and she’s world famous in New Zealand.
Now if you do have a little bit more time when arriving in Blenheim and you feel like going on that walk or that kind of walk you can also head to Mt Vernon which is exactly in the same area than the Wither Hills Park and there is tonne of other walks right here including a track which is much longer. You’ll be in for awesome bird views, tonne of wildlife, awesome surrounding views of the area the Blenheim area is the wine country so the views from the top are always really cool and you’ll get a nice little gentle walk like the one we did today.
It was a great way to start our time in Blenheim and tomorrow we’re heading for a wine tour.
So laura’s been taking picture of those three sheep for a good 10 minutes right now.
