Wilderness Overlander

Route Overview

General Overview

Wilderness Overlander is a fantastic loop route through High Country farming stations offering remote valleys, epic scenery and seriously good driving.
Whilst this expedition is mostly of low to medium technical grade, it covers a lot of ground and takes you to some of the most sparsely populated parts of NZ giving you that true wilderness experience.

Start/Finish Point

Being a loop route this can be started from a number of points however the route perfectly suits being started at Hanmer Springs which makes a great two/three day trip, or longer.

Terrain includes

Other than a short tarmac section, the terrain is predominantly gravel roads and four-wheel-drive tracks mostly grade 1, 2 and 3. There is only one grade 5 section which can be omitted.

Distance

588 km

Max Fuel Leg

220 km

Drive time

Whilst this route can be driven over 2 solid days the abundance of possible overnight stops including DOC huts, DOC campsites and freedom camping options, means that there are endless possibilities to extend the trip, if time permits.

Accommodation

This route utilises huts and DOC camping areas. It is important to ensure you have a tent because you cannot guarantee that the huts will be available. Further information relating to accomodation is contained within the Expedition Notes for the individual legs.

Access Permission

There are four routes that need to be driven within the open periods. One of them has a small gate fee of approximately $40, two of them require you to preregister your vehicle through a website. More info on each of the route leg pages.

Access Limitations

While the open periods are generally reliable year to year, some of the roads/tracks within this route may be closed due to weather conditions. This can include snow that can render some of the high altitude passes impassable, extremely wet conditions where tracks are close to minimise track damage, and extremely dry conditions where tracks are closed to avoid fire risk.