Rob Roy Glacier

Thinking back to our one month spent hiking around New Zealand South Island, this short day-walk was one of the top-5 highlights. Easy to see why it is termed 'Wanaka's Best'.

The drive north-west from Wanaka up through the Matukituki Valley into Mount Aspiring National Park is a perfect prelude to the main event on a gorgeous day. The snow-capped mountains, the deep blue coloured lake, the vibrant green fields, and the farm animals wandering about make for a visual feast before the trek has even begun.

We arrived a bit later than scheduled at the Raspberry Creek car park (took us about an hour and a half, including photo stops and the many gentle ford crossings in the hire car). Most of the vehicles in the car park were there for the day-hike, but we were combining it with a tramp further into the National Park to camp overnight at Aspiring Hut.

The walk up to Rob Roy Glacier takes about 1.5 hours at a steady pace, so 3-4 hours return depending on your fitness level and penchant for taking photos of everything (guilty as charged!).

On a gorgeous sunny day, I would say that this has to rank as one of the finest lunch-spot viewpoints in the world. Unfortunately the pictures can never do it true justice since the view is uber wide and contrasting. So you'll just have to make the journey to see it for yourself!