I'm planning on being down in the Golden Bay/Nelson area around New Years and was looking for some suggestions of good 2 or 3 day tramps to do in the area. Anyone got any suggestions?

Thinking about Mt Arthur/Tablelands - anyone done this track and know what it's like?

Cheers,

James

Hey James, think there'll be a few of us down that way then!

Have done Mt Arthur itself twice now in winter, and its fairly easy then - poled route pretty much all the way up, and another one across horseshoe basin towards Gordon's pyramid and the tablelands. So shouldn't have any issues in Summer! The tablelands is quite a nice area to explore too, though haven't done a whole lot there - but I think its all pretty easy walking...

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Kieran,
Co-Treasurer

Yup, Tablelands very easy walking, nice though.  Balloon hut is nice.  Sailsbury Lodge is, well, err, large.  Rock shelters are neat.

 It's a nice walk over Gordons Pyramid too, well it was in a blizzard, so I'm sure summer blue skies won't detract from it too much.

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Richie

Hello,

The Cobb Valley has some lovely tramping in it - one of my favorite places. Lots of beautifull alpine lakes and you can spend a  fair bit of the time above the tree line along awsome little random rocky ridges.

St. Arnaud area also has lots of excelent tramps.

Hmmm there is also the Katuna (I think thats how you spell it...) - a -  2-3 day (or one VERY long day) tramp in the bay. A hilly/bushy walk, but tends to be a lot less populated, so it all realy depends on what you are looking for.

 Terra

We did that area last Summer and it is a fairly easy tramp at that time of year. Ellis Basin is well worth a look - beautiful valley. Great views from Mt Arthur/Gordon's Pyramid area if the mist actually clears. The whole area is quite different with great scenery. Tablelands very distinct but is flat, easy walking yet hot and dry! Check out the cave shelters - quite amazing, could be fun to stay in but we decided against due to the large swarms of sandflies that wanted to eat us! I recommend you have repellent close at hand. Cobb valley is beautiful too. It's a relatively easy 2-3 day tramp to start at Mt Arthur car park and head over to Cobb Valley with time for distractions at the side (i.e. popping over to Ellis basin for a night).