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Adventure Travel 2007:
New Zealand
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New Zealand: Do As the Guides DoNational Geographic Adventure picks the 25 best new outfitted trips.
Text by Bonnie Tsui Photograph by Active New Zealand
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WHAT'S NEW: Ask any group of experienced guides about their dream trips, and chances are they'll rattle off dozens of options. This year Queenstown-based Active New Zealand invented a creative way to take advantage of all this
unrealized trip-planning potential: The outfitter inaugurated an annual competition among its guides to design the best trip around New Zealand. The winner, of course, would get to lead his or her entry. The contest's first champion is veteran guide Lynette Warmington, 37, who, beginning in March, will lead visitors on her custom 14-day multisport tear around the South Island, stopping to sample some of the region's finest and least known outdoor offerings.
ON THE GROUND: After trekking in the shadows of 12,316-foot (3,754-meter) Mount Cook, you'll set out on a three-day hut-to-hut hike along Warmington's favorite trail, the five-year-old Hump Ridge Track. Tucked into the southwest corner of the South Island, the 35-mile (56-kilometer) route has two new backcountry mountain lodges and offers stellar views of both Lake Hauroko, at 1,516 feet (462 meters) the country's deepest lake, and the moody mountain ranges of Fiordland National Park. The trip culminates with an overnight cruise through isolated Doubtful Sound, where you'll explore waterfall-draped shorelines populated by seals and gape as the sun dips into the Tasman Sea.
Vitals
Outfitter: Active New Zealand (www.activenewzealand.com)
Length: 14 days
Price: $3,299
Difficulty: Moderate
Departs: March
Our November 2006 issue features the best new adventure travel trips; an exclusive look inside Iran; a Greenland global warming report; backcountry spas; digital cameras; travel Web sites; weekend getaways; and more.
Subscribe now and save off the newsstand price!
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