Sunrise Hike To Roys Peak
Updated: Jun 22
As one of our favourite viewpoints in New Zealand so far, we believe this should be on your ultimate list of things to do while on the South Island! In this blog, we will include what you should bring along with you, what to expect along the way and most importantly - how long to give yourself to make it to the top before dawn (we started far too early and found out this the hard way!)
Judging from the amount of people we have met who have recommended this hike (and also the amount of other hikers willing to start hiking in the pitch black at 4:30am on a Tuesday morning?!) Roys Peak is one of the most popular hikes on the South Island. With the ever famous Insta shot of the Lake Wanaka and the surrounding mountains blanketed in cloud, this has all the tourists happy to hop out of bed at 3am for. Having heard from another traveller that it had them walking funny from the steep and gruelling incline for the next 2 days, we were pretty sceptical! But we can totally see why people love it and we're here to convince you why hiking Roys Peak at sunrise is best.
WHAT TO BRING?
Headtorch/torch (we bought ours from Kmart for $4, kinda expecting it to fall apart but it was actually really good!?)
Reliable shoes. As long as they have good grip and are comfortable, you're good to go!
LAYERS! I can't stress this enough. We had about 5 jumpers each and I still couldn't feel my face.
Wooly hat. Gotta keep those ears toasty
Gloves. Again, maybe I'm just soft but I couldn't even tell I was wearing them. SO COLD!
Water bottle. Of course.
Camera/Phone. Did you even do it if you didn't get a photo?
Beer for the top (optional, but we all know who the fun people are here)
WAKING UP AT WITCHING HOUR
Stumbling out of bed at 3am on a "morning" in May. Very cold. Very dark. Very unsure. We're living in Queenstown and therefore had a 1 hour 45 minute drive to the track before we could even begin. We had heard and also read that the hike to the viewpoint takes around 3 hours to summit and sunrise for us was just before 8am, so 4:30am seemed like the perfect time to start the hike. The weather forecast showed a sunny/cloudy morning and were half asleep/ half hyped and ready to go! Once arriving at the car park we were surprised to see we were probably the sixth car there already! At least this confirmed we were not the only crazy ones.
DAFT AND IN THE DARK
$4 head torches on and backpacks all packed, we started the 8km journey to the summit. We soon realised that the track was actually really smooth and wide, though steep in parts. It was very manageable. One thing I did notice though, about 15 minutes up, is that my bag seemed unreasonably light... Of course, I had forgotten my water bottle. Cathal was now the only one in possession of water (but also the extra weight.. did I plan this??) So 2L of water and a couple of beers it was going to be.
The track ended up being a series of bends, winding its way around the mountain. This is the main reason why we decided that hiking in the dark actually becomes very appealing. We had absolutely no idea what was in front of us, and no way of knowing how much further we had to go, which actually made it a lot less daunting. Although then again, that could be due to the light range of our $4 head torch.. But I can imagine if I were to have done this on a hot summers day, with the summit seeming to never get any closer, it would've been a lot more challenging. The only thing I had to worry about in the dark, was the cows popping up out of nowhere, rationing the 2L of water and the endless amounts of dodging cow poop. But that was all part of the fun!
ARE WE FIT OR JUST FREEZING?
We met a couple of other groups while on the track, surpassed a few and led a few into disarray as Cathal took a path which he thought to be a shortcut but actually ended up in us all getting just a little bit lost, till finding the track again and having to jump down off a high ledge back onto the trail. But shortly after this we came across the sign to the viewpoint. We were shocked! It was 6am. I think the mix of being so cold we barely stopped but also having no idea how far away we were gave us that extra speed! So, we still had a very cold 2 hours until sunrise. There were also already 5 other people waiting there at the viewpoint too! We decided to stay at the viewpoint for sunrise and hike the summit after as we heard the views are best from here. Not to be dramatic, but the vibrations coming from my body for these 2 hours almost had me bouncing back down the side of the mountain. I think these may have been the coldest 2 hours of my life. Yet, I did have leggings, tracksuit bottoms, a long sleeve, 3 jumpers, a duck down coat, gloves and a hat on. I don't know what I'll have to upgrade to if we ever try it in the height of winter. So while we sat and waited and I wished a flask of tea would appear in my backpack, we watched the clouds and the faint glimmer of the moon in the distance.
SUNRISE TO SUMMIT
Although the 2 hour wait in the cold did have me contemplating life (and why on earth we got up so early for a hike.) Watching the sun rise above the clouds and the snow capped mountains in the background, really did make us appreciate the whole experience. The whole mountain was silent and the light glimmered over the mountain tops, while life started to bustle back into the streets of Wanaka. We waited for the sun to poke its head and then we started for the summit.
From the viewpoint, it suggests a 30 minute or 1.5km has you standing at the peak of Roys Summit. We probably passed about 20 people on our way up and we were pretty surprised how many people were hiking out with us. The last climb to the summit probably took us around 20 minutes. Now standing at 1578m of elevation, it's time to get out that sandwich and bottle of beer and celebrate making it to the top! Unfortunately, we didn't find anyone else to share our beers with - maybe that one is only us!
FINAL THOUGHTS
16km down. Was it all worth it? YES! We wouldn't consider ourselves hikers by any means and we found this hike a little steep, but it actually went much quicker and was much easier than we expected. Again, we can't be sure we would feel the same if we had walked it in the middle of a baking hot day, so maybe walking before sunrise is the key! But, we can confirm, we were able to walk fine for the next couple of days!
The walk down was even more rewarding after sunrise too, as we could actually see the views we hadn't had the opportunity to when in the dark. We even passed a little picnic area which we had no idea existed on the way up, so we were able to stop for a quick snack stop and look out onto the clouds which were starting to descend upon us. Best of all, we were back to Wanaka by 11:30am and just in time to have lunch in the town and enjoy the rest of our day.
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