Rakaia | New Zealand | 5-Day Solo Adventure | 4K Cinematic

The Rakaia River reaches deep into the Southern Alps of New Zealand. With unpredictable weather, untracked terrain, and multiple river crossings required, reaching the interior is logistically challenging. As such, very few people visit this incredible part of the country.

This video provides a few highlights from my adventure to the Lyell Glacier area over 4-8 July 2022. After being dropped off via 4WD I hiked the trip entirely solo and didn't come across a single soul over the 5 days. This was my second attempt (the first time around the access road was destroyed by a flood) and I was fortunate to get a reasonably good weather window. That said, the latter part of the trip became a race against an incoming snowstorm and rising river levels. I made it across the last substantive river crossing just a few hours before it became impassable.

Filmed in Ultra HD mostly on my iPhone 12 but with several clips from my Nikon Z7II and DJI Mavic Pro 2. Soundtrack is by August Wilhelmsson, licenced through www.epidemicsound.com. Edited on DaVinci Resolve 18.

Chapters:
0:00 Titles
0:34 Day 1
1:35 Day 2
1:50 Day 3
3:04 Day 4
4:38 Day 5
5:59 Photographs

#adventure #hiking #camping