Two years ago I hiked the Hooker Valley Track in New Zealand and before I’d even finished my walk I was already planning my return visit – but this time I wanted to bring my family with me.
Located in Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park, in the Canterbury region of New Zealand, the Hooker Valley Track is one of the most stunning walks in the whole country; even better, it’s short and flat enough to be perfect for kids. While most folk opt to walk along the Hooker Valley Track to the Mt Cook Glacier and back as a day trip, I was keen to camp at the hidden campground beside Hooker Hut. Well, I’d hoped to stay at the hut itself, but it books out super quickly and I was far too disorganised for that!
Underprepared and Disorganised – but Happy
However, the campsite next to the hut seems to be something of a well kept secret and I was able to book spots for two small tents for our preferred dates in the January school holidays (I’ll add a link to the DOC booking site at the bottom of the page). At the time of the trip, my kids were aged 5 and 10, and while they like being outdoors, we’re hardly an accomplished hiking family, so before the trip we embarked upon a series of so-called ‘training walks’. These involved a few weekend bush walks around Canberra, focusing on building confidence in little legs and making the idea of hiking as fun as possible – hint, plenty of snack stops and playing with cameras seemed to help.
Hiking Time
Finally the long anticipated, by me at least, week of the hike arrived. We were staying at an uncle’s house in Christchurch as part of a longer NZ holiday and were already to go. At the last minute, bad weather forecasts almost made us cancel the hike, but we decided that we were here anyway and with rain jackets, extra clothes and puffy jackets squeezed into our packs, we decided to go for it regardless. On the drive down we stopped for a playground play and a couple of incredible pies in Twizel – yes they are as good as you’ve heard, before continuing on and arriving at the car park at the start of the Hooker Valley Trail at the late, but not unmanageable time of 4pm – luckily the sun doesn’t set until much later in New Zealand summertime.
The walk to camp started off great. It was warm, but not roasting and we started making good progress. Unfortunately, a kilometre into the walk, our five year old decided resolutely that they did not want to walk today and there was no changing their mind. Rather than force the issue, I popped her on my shoulders, slung her small backpack onto the ten year old, and we kept going. Thankfully the suspension bridges along the way were too tempting to pass up and offered short spurts of walking.
Hooker Hut Campground
Just as the Hooker Valley Trail turns from gravel to boardwalk, there is a rather innocuous unmarked trail to the left. Totally overgrown, this is the way to the hut – it must also have been exciting enough a trail to temp five year old off the shoulders and onto her own two feet. A short mosey along this track, with a few stop offs to throw stones in the creek, and we made it to camp. The clouds started to drop a little drizzle, but this didn’t dampen our spirits as we worked together to raise the tents and prepare a simple dinner. We were the only ones camping, but there were two more families with young children occupying the hut and there was a cheerful and playful atmosphere around camp that evening.
The most popular feature of the site, for the kids at least, was a large triangular boulder that offered plenty of pant ripping slides and climbing opportunities. As darkness fell, so did the rain, so we happily retired to our tents and settled in for a peaceful night listening to the raindrops and occasional small avalanches (is there a special word for a tiny ice slip??) from the mountains above.
A Trip Well Done
Everyone slept pretty well, which is always a blessing – even more special was the pancake delivery from our friends in the hut – much better than the dry cereal we had packed. With a wetter start to the day, there was less rock sliding than the day before and we packed away our gear for the return walk. It was another weight training session for me, as the walking was limited to small bursts, but at around 4.5km, this was not a problem.
The weather wasn’t perfect and the walking training hadn’t paid off, but it was a super special trip nonetheless and we are fired up to plan another family hike in the next holidays – perhaps to another backcountry hut in New Zealand or Australia.
Hooker Hut
If you want to book the campground at Hooker Hut, here is the link, good luck!
