When I was invited to shoot images for the Tarawera Ultramarathon in New Zealand I was excited to say the least. I was able to land a client athlete shoot prior to the race itself but wasn’t going to miss the chance to explore the rest of this incredible country as well. After flying into Christchurch I picked up a campervan and set course for Wanaka to hike up Roy‘s Peak. During the steep 4 mile hike the views just kept coming. The next day I drove to the iconic Milford Sound enjoying the rugged mountain views along the way.
From the Milford side of the divide I hired the guys at Trackhopper to drive my car from one end of the Routeburn Track to the other so I could fastpack the entire track in a day. The Routeburn didn’t disappoint with ~20 miles and 4300’ of climbing to go along with some world-class views. My Suunto took a bit to figure out where on earth I was so the start is delayed but here’s the Strava data.
For my last stop on the South Island I couldn’t pass up the pristine beaches and butter-smooth trail along this iconic trek. At 60km in distance I didn’t have time to fastpack it all but instead hopped on a boat to do a 12km section somewhere in the middle.
The forecast called for rain and plenty of it but that didn’t stop 1,000 runners from lining up in the Whakarewarewa Forest at 6am to head off into the bush.
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