Hello and welcome! I'm an over fifty menopausal woman with a reasonable fitness level. I wouldn't say I'm unfit but I'm also not going to run any marathons anytime soon! I have short skinny legs so I figure this means I have to take more steps than a long legged person haha. But I'm very grateful for my little legs as they have taken me on a lot of hiking and photography adventures. So basically what I'm saying is, if I can do it then so can you :)
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Feehly Hill Scenic Reserve Loop Track, Arrowtown, South Island, New Zealand
I had done a bit of research on the walks in Arrowtown but most of the walks were too long and I knew we wouldn’t have a great deal of time. Luckily, as I was researching on Instagram, I came across the Feehly Hill track on the Arrowtownnz page.
Feehly Hill is the little hill in the middle of Arrowtown. It has had a variety of names like Cemetery Hill, McLean’s Hill, Daggs Hill and finally Feehly Hill.
I found a written article which was published in the Winter 2019 edition of The Queenstown Courier (issue no. 101) about the history of the hill and the Feehly family. I wish I had read this history before as I would have explored the cemetery to see if any of the Feehly family were buried there!
Finding the start of the track was a little bit tricky but I had read that it was somewhere by the cemetery. So we drove onto Durham St and found a park in the car park at the bottom of the hill by the War Memorial. The cemetery was across the road and as we walked in we spotted a little blue sign at the back.
I stupidly had left my hiking stick behind in the motel but we soon found a nice big stick for me to use as balance. This gave me a bit of comfort because as the sign indicated I had to beware of drops and bluffs (eek).
The track was a narrow dirt path, definitely single person only. It was also immediately quite steep. So it wasn’t long before I had to stop to take some photos of the views. Ok I lie, I had to stop to take a breather but taking photos is always a good excuse!
There was also a seat about halfway up where you could sit and take in the views. Alas I did not get a photo of this seat but this was the view looking over the Arrowtown township and the view looking towards Lake Hayes.
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I couldn’t walk this track in my usual way of looking around me and snapping photos while still walking. The track was too narrow and in parts very rocky. Plus we were literally walking on the side of a cliff so I had to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other. And I was very grateful for my big stick to help me up the steep rocky parts of the track.
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There was no actual marker to say we’d reached the top, the track just kind of plateaued out. The views were absolutely stunning whichever way I turned and they were so worth the hike up!
(That winding road you can see on the hill in the distance is the Crown Range road over to Wanaka)
I tried to stitch these together for a panorama shot but I had no tripod so it didn't really work. So here are the 3 photos and you'll have to imagine that they're stitched together haha. It gives you an idea of the beautiful view anyway.
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There were stunning views looking towards Lake Hayes and also behind me towards the snowy mountains. I felt very high up (A quick look on google maps tells me it's a bit over 500m high).
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There was no signage so we had to kind of guess where the track was for the downward trek. Luckily we found it and this track was much smoother and easier than the one going up.
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Now this is where we made a mistake and should have turned right to walk around Feehly Hill back to the cemetery. But there were no signs so we turned left and walked along a big green area beside Malaghans Road (one of the busy main roads that goes past the Millbrook Resort & to Arthurs Point). We eventually found our way back to Durham St to where our car was parked. (We went for a drive later & saw the Manse Rd footpath that we should have walked on.)
The next morning we woke up to a blanket of snow on the ground!? I know right, it was supposed to be spring!! I'm glad we had timed that so right as I definitely wouldn’t want to attempt the Feehly Hill track after a snowfall. Nor after a rainfall as I'd imagine it could get quite slippery and dangerous when the track was wet.
Overall, although I found the track a little bit challenging, I really enjoyed it and it was worth it for the great feeling of achievement I had afterwards!
And the views from the top were absolutely beautiful :)
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| Lake Hayes |
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My tips for the track
- Perhaps don’t hike it alone unless you’re a confident and fit hiker
- Take a hiking stick, especially if you have balance issues
- Choose a dry day and not a day after a lot of rain as I could imagine the track could get quite slippery
- Go UP from the Durham St cemetery entrance as I’d imagine it would be harder to come down that steep part of the track
- Make sure to stop and turn around every so often to see the beautiful views
- At the bottom/end of the track by Flynn Lane/Rd turn RIGHT instead of LEFT
~ PLEASE NOTE: We walked this track in October 2022 so there might be some changes to how it is today.~
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Thank you for reading about this hike. Check out my blog post Arrowtown Photo Spots for more photos of this beautiful area in New Zealand. I'd love you to share this post and if you use my photos, all I ask is that you credit me please :)
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