Indholdsfortegnelse for December 2016 i Wilderness

Find a view across the lake; this could be some distant peaks, amazing forest or an impressive sky at sunset. If the opposite shore is far away, you may need to use a zoom lens to bring it closer and make it a stronger focal point. Reflections in lakes can make striking photographs, even on bright sunny days. If you head out on a windy day, don’t expect any lake reflections. Calm mornings are best for reflections, as there is usually little breeze until the sun has risen. Some foreground in your photograph will help add depth to the image. The foreground could be quite subtle – some lakeside vegetation, or it could be used as a stronger element to frame the lake. Incorporating human elements in the image can…

Driving SH8 between Tekapo and Twizel on a clear day, a panorama of ice-capped mountains unfolds as you round the bend above Lake Pukaki. Sun-baked grasslands give way to an impossibly azure lake crowned with a jagged horizon: the Southern Alps. If you take a right turn, just after the control gates at the toe of the lake, you’ll be on a road that delivers some of New Zealand’s most iconic views – none less than Aoraki, the ‘Cloud Piercer’, straight ahead. Driving this road is in some ways a quintessential New Zealand experience; the drive passes alongside classic high country station runs and a landscape hewn by glaciers. At the end of the road lies Mt Cook Village – a gateway to not only a huge variety of mountaineering,…

THERE IS always added value or unforeseen reward when you hike a track that comprises part of the Te Araroa Trail. The Whananaki Walkway connecting the picturesque settlement of Whananaki with the scenic beach of Sandy Bay is such a case. The reward is situated at the beginning of the walkway, where the longest footbridge in the Southern Hemisphere links the estuary between the northern and southern section of the village. The unique structure of wooden piles was built in 1947 in order to enable children to travel to the local school. The bridge has an estimated length of 395m. Once across the bridge, it’s a left turn to follow the edge of the estuary. The track goes around minor settlements before ending at a spit from where it takes…

GIVE THE KIDS THE BOOTS A new range of affordable tramping footwear designed specifically for children is now available. Rostak footwear is made in Europe and its range of tramping boots are said to be capable of taking on all terrain, in all weather – even snow, through waterways and hiking tracks. The leather boots feature a ‘Fare-tex’ waterproof and breathable membrane with thermoplastic soles to provide support for growing feet. The Rostak Snezka ($99, pictured) comes in sizes 9-11 and features a toe cap, extra padding around ankles, heels and tongue, a gusseted tongue to keep debris out, and weighs 530g/pair. POWER TO THE WOOL Kiwi outdoor apparel manufacturer Earth Sea Sky is using Polartec’s Power Wool fabric in its newest baselayers. Power Wool is a combination of 15…

PROFILE Makes 16 truffles Cook time 30min Prep time 10min Cost $10-$15 INGREDIENTS ¼ cup goji berries 1 medium sized kumara (400g) 2 tbsp cocoa powder 1 cup ground almonds or sunflower seeds ½ cup walnut pieces ¼ tsp mixed spice 1 tbsp honey (optional) Pinch of sea salt 1 cup coconut thread METHOD Preheat oven to 1800C. Pierce kumara with a fork then bake in its skin for 30min until completely soft inside. Soak goji berries in a half cup of boiling water for 10min then drain well, pressing out excess moisture. Scrape kumara flesh into a medium-sized bowl, add goji berries, cocoa powder, walnuts, mixed spice, honey and sea salt and combine well. Mixture should form balls when rolled in hand. If too dry, add a little water…

INLAND FROM Lake Ohau is a gem of a side valley which branches off the major trib-utary of the Hopkins Valley. Ask around a few southern outdoors folk and chances are you’ll hear a story about one of their earliest memories of venturing into the mountains here. A number of schools use this valley for school camps. It’s an easy 3-4hr walk from Monument Hut, alongside the Huxley River, to the junction of the north and south branches of this river and where Huxley Forks Hut is sited. It’s only possible to tramp this way if the rivers are running at normal flow – keep clear if there is a nor-west storm passing through the mountains. Huxley Forks Hut (labelled on maps as Main Huxley Forks Hut) was built in…

The first time Beth Eastell and Joel Hedges saw a rooftop tent was on a trip to Australia a couple of years ago. “There was an entire car park full of rooftop tents,” Eastell says. “I was like, ‘What is this? Why have I never seen this?‘.” Which she followed quickly with, “I have to have one”. Both 27 years old, Eastell, a lawyer, and Hedges, who has a marketing degree, relied on a heavy wave of passion and hard work to make Feldon a reality. Prior to starting Feldon, Hedges launched a workwear clothing company called Earnest. Combined with his knowledge of metal work and welding – he races cars – his background in textiles and design provided the perfect backdrop to launch into tent building. The Auckland-based couple…

A LIGHT rain fell as my boots crunched along the gravel riverbed. Ahead loomed a grey and ominous moonscape filled with towering rock formations. The conglomerate columns were adorned by mushroom-shaped caps, giving them the appearance of alien sentinels. The geological namesake of these columns – hoodoos – seemed to allude to the idea that some dark sorcery had wrought them from the earth. In reality, these hoodoos are the lingering remnants of a receding ocean that once covered the nearby Aorangi Range. Rain and wind have sculpted the towers over the past 125,000 years, stripping away the softer layers of rock and leaving behind the harder bases and distinctive caps of the hoodoos. The result is the Putangirua Pinnacles, the country’s most striking example of badlands. Members of North…

MACPAC MINARET $749.99 The Minaret is a sturdy tunnel tent that has long been a go-to for alpine adventurers. In a time when many tent manufacturers are using the lightest fabrics and materials possible, Macpac’s approach is to retain longevity and sturdiness by sticking to a 10,000mm waterhead rated floor and not downsizing every fitting and webbing attachment. Even so, the tent has a trail weight of 2.1kg I hadn’t used a Minaret for some years prior to this review and it was like being reacquainted with an old friend. I’ve always liked the simplicity of pitching Macpac’s ‘multipitch’ tents. The fly and inner are integrated so it’s simply a matter of sliding two poles into sleeves and putting in the pegs, making it the quickest tent to pitch out…

Food seems to be one of the trickiest elements when planning a tramping trip. Meal planning tends to favour food that cooks quickly and is lightweight. But that doesn’t necessarily mean sacrificing or ignoring nutrition. For some tips on how to plan the most nutritious tramping meals, Wilderness spoke to mountaineer and sports nutritionist Dr Cameron Mitchell, who’s researching the impact of protein in exercise at the University of Auckland. Carbs are king. Mitchell says it’s important to understand which fuel sources you use during exercise. “If you’re just lying on the couch, not doing anything, you’re burning almost exclusively fat. But if you’re exercising maximally, you’re burning almost exclusively carbohydrates. As you exercise harder, you’re going to rely on carbohydrates more and less on fat.” For breakfast, oatmeal will…

Profile Serves 2-4 Weight 600g Ingredients 400g ravioli (also works with tortellini) 100g blue cheese 4 tbsp butter ¼ cup walnuts 1 cup sliced button mushrooms (8 small) Method At home: Pack the button mushrooms in soft paper before storing them in a plastic bag; this will keep them fresher. Pack each of the other items separately, keeping the ravioli in its own vacuum packaging. Combine all the ingredients in a main meal bag and label. In camp: Cook the ravioli as recommended on the packet (normally 6-8min) and drain, keeping a half cup of the liquid with the pasta. Crumble and lightly mix the blue cheese through the pasta. Set aside and keep warm. Heat the butter in a pot or fry pan, and lightly cook the sliced mushrooms…

THE KINGFISHER (kotare) is one of New Zealand’s best known birds; almost everyone will recognise the hunched silhouette waiting patiently on a power line or other elevated perch over an estuary or mudflat, ready to pounce on unsuspecting prey. They are present on all three main islands, but are encountered more frequently in the North Island. Existing in both coastal and inland freshwater habitats, the kotare can be found in a wide range of forests, river margins, farmland, lakes, estuaries and rocky coastlines – anywhere there is water or open country with adjacent elevated perches. Their stand out physical feature is their green-blue (almost iridescent) back. The female is greener, while the male has a tinge of blue. The undersides of both are a beige-yellow. They possess a broad black…

NOBODY CAN HEAR YOU SCREAM on the windswept desolation of Cow Saddle Up the valley it came, a thundering tidal wave of sound as a furious wind ricocheted along the pass and smashed into the side of my tent. I cowered inside, as I had done for over 50 hours, a prisoner to the wind’s relentless whimsy. I contemplated disaster. Hours before I’d been flooded, and mid-storm I was forced to re-pitch amidst the dips of twisted tussock tufts. Exposed and vulnerable, I didn’t know where I’d go if it happened again. Nobody can hear you scream on the windswept desolation of Cow Saddle, a pass perched in the backcountry of Mt Aspiring National Park. For two-and-a-half days I sat in my tent listening as rain lashed so violently I…

Otago Central Rail Trail The 150km grade 1 rail trail from Clyde to Middlemarch is the flagship of New Zealand Cycle Trails. Most people take four days to complete the trip along a wide, smooth path, which never gets steeper than two degrees. The trail was fully opened in 2000 and is credited for rejuvenating the quaint towns en route, which now offer delicious food and comfortable lodgings right where they are needed most. Highlights include spectacular Otago scenery, massive viaducts, long tunnels and, of course, the optional Taieri Gorge Railway, which runs most days between Dunedin and Middlemarch. Allow plenty of time to visit the shops, villages and historic sites that pepper the trail. Hawke’s Bay Trails For those new to cycling, the 200km network of grade 1-3 trails…

Before we start,” asks Nick Hamon, “is anybody colour-blind?” It’s six o’clock in the evening before a two-day aerial 1080 drop in Coromandel Forest Park. Hamon, a DOC ranger and operations manager is briefing 16 locals hired to walk the tracks and clear them of baits after the choppers have gone through. If anybody’s going to have trouble picking out the green of a 1080 bait – 12g, about the size of your thumb – they’re not about to admit it now. They look hard: big Maori guys in sweats and gumboots. Grizzled pig hunters and deerstalkers in camo. They’ll walk the tracks twice, doing their first sweep within hours of the drop, then again the following day, because baits can get hung up in trees and only come to…

TOPS TRAMPING is nearly always a goal of my trips, and on this one we planned to access the high tops south of MacKenzie Hut and follow these over to the Hurunui River flats, a reasonable option considering the time we had. We used a 4WD to gain access to the Hurunui Valley, as far as Loch Katrine, before loading our packs and striding off up the flats. The weather was marginal to say the least, which was partly why we had come to this easy valley with its many huts and swingbridge access over the river. On the western flanks of The Divide, it hadn’t looked good at all, but in the Hurunui we felt we had a fair chance of completing our round trip. By late afternoon, the…

Lunges are a simple way to stretch and strengthen your legs and there are endless variations. Twisting in your torso can stretch through your shoulders, back and sides – which feels great after a long day of wearing a heavy pack. 1 Start with your feet hip-width apart. Squat down and step your left foot back. 2 Keep your left heel up and over your toes. Make sure your front right knee is over the top of, or behind, your right ankle. 3 With your left fingertips or palm on the ground, bring your right hand to your right knee. 4 Press down with your right hand and lift your right shoulder, starting to look to the right and beginning the twist in your upper torso. 5 If this feels…