Well we are certainly not claiming our Instagram accounts to be anywhere near as popular as Selena Gomez’s or Cristiano Ronaldo’s who consistently receive hundreds of millions of likes on every post but we are proud of our humble beginnings and do appreciate every like we get!
Hiking New Zealand’s account is about… you guessed it - Hiking in New Zealand. Judging by the likes different photos receive our followers love a good shot of someone (anyone) hiking in the wilderness of New Zealand. A backpack, a snowy mountain, a stunning landscape and boom we have happy followers. That makes it sound like using Instagram is easy, which it is to a certain extent but if you want to get good traction, consistency is the key. Grab a style and stick with it! We do like to post our clients’ photos, staff photos as well as our own photos that we taking while doing some cool adventures with our friends and families. From our office team I (Michelle) run our Hiking New Zealand account and Anne runs the Active Earth Adventures.
5. Coming in at number 5 is Mt Cook (which features twice in this list) the Sealy Tarns walk, a 3-4 hour return hike which is a perfect introduction to alpine hiking. You can even walk here from the Mount Cook Village.
4. We are so lucky to have this on our back-door-step, the Port Hills, Christchurch. A wonderful area for running, walking and mountain biking. Team Hiking New Zealand: Anne, Claire and myself (Michelle) schedule a Thursday most weeks to try and get in a #midweekmission together. Sometimes it’s a local mountain to run/walk up like Mt Thomas or Mt Grey, sometimes we venture to Hanmer Springs. This year we are tackling the big stuff, heading Arthurs Pass way to run some of the mountain trails there.
3. Here is the other shot from Mt Cook National Park. Our guide Chai is watching the cloud roll in on the Sealy Tarn Track. Watch out, if you mention you have worked up a sweat on the walk up to the tarns as our guides will challenge you to have a quick dip to cool off – it’s cold!
2. Ohhhhhh Milford Sound you are a beauty. This image is no surprise that it features in the Top 5 photos on the Hiking New Zealand Instagram account. We commissioned Aussie photographer Tom Quan to come over and join a couple of our trips and he took some absolute beauties whilst hiking on some of our Kiwi-Style hiking trips.
1. Our winning photograph for the Hiking New Zealand Instagram account for 2016 is our photo of one of our groups hiking up to Key Summit, Routeburn Track, Fiordland National Park. This half day walk is well worth the effort as the views from the top are spectacular over the Humboldt and Darran Mountains. This walk starts along the Milford Road about 85kms from Te Anau.
5. Kids hiking is always great to see. This is Liam, Anne’s son and he essentially has no choice but to love hiking. Liam is 11-years-old and carries his fair share of the gear and is a dab hand at putting up a tent.
4. This photo shows the beauty of hiking in the rain.
3. Aoraki/Mt Cook is 3,724 metres and is New Zealand’s tallest mountain. The hike up to Sealy Tarns is easily accessible and is an ideal vantage point for taking photos of Aoraki – The Cloud Piercer. This shot is the perfect display of how the mountain go its name.
2. Aoraki / Mt Cook features again, this time with a colourful lupin in the frame. The Russell lupin is admired and photographed by tourists yet despised by environmentalists. As with both of these image you can see the distinct colour of the glacial lakes, this is due to the glacial flour or rock flour. The flour is finely powdered rock, formed when rocks are ground together as the glacier moves. As these fine particles are suspended in the water they reflect the light giving the lakes a distinct colour, ranging from blue to turquoise to grey depending on the light.
1.The kid takes out top place. Whether it was the actual image or the words that resonated with our followers, I am not so sure. Maps are so intriguing and when it all clicks into place for kids it is almost magical – taking learning to the outdoors.
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