The walking trails on the Taranaki Discovery Tour are a range of easy to moderate difficulty, with some short sections classified as hard. We’ll be walking anywhere between 4 to 10 hours per day and you’ll need to carry a daypack with your lunch, water, raincoat and warm layers. Over the course of the 4-day trip we’ll do a wide variety of walks. One or two walking tracks are easy-going underfoot, with a level gradient and little elevation gain. On Day 2 we’ll do the longer, more challenging walk on the Pouakai Crossing where the track surface will be less even, rockier, steeper and with more infrastructure to negotiate like steps, platforms, boardwalks and balustrades. Some tracks reach high points or lookouts near steep drop-offs, so those with vertigo or issues with heights may find some of the walks challenging. On the Pouakai Crossing in particular, we’ll be making elevation gains of 900m.
The fitter you are the more you’ll enjoy it. It’s a good idea to work in some stair training into your regular walking schedule before we go, it’s never time wasted! If you are a regular walker, you’ll manage beautifully. Most of our walkers are in their 50’s, 60’s and 70’s so we’ve carefully adapted all of our itineraries to suit this demographic. Our guides give a detailed briefing every evening about what is planned for the next day so you can be fully prepared.