Wilderness June 2020

DOING A GUIDED trip is not always top of mind when you think about holidaying in your own country. But most people won’t bat an eye to spend a day or more when on an overseas trip to be guided around some ruins or up a high peak or along a trail. And why would you? It’s a unique and often once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see amazing sights and gain a greater understanding of an area, its people, culture and history. It can intensify the enjoyment and memories of overseas holidays. Why should it be different in New Zealand, especially when it comes to outdoor activities? No matter how experienced an outdoors person you are – at tramping or climbing – a guide can help you achieve more in a day…

Your correspondent David Holroyd (‘Inconsistent track times’, Pigeon Post, April 2020) revives the hoary issue of track walking times. When I worked as a park ranger, track users would frequently complain that the stated walking times were incorrect – either too long or too short. When we added track distances to the times, and stated on the map that times are for ‘an average family group, stopping occasionally to take photos or to have a snack break’, the complaints ceased. Track times are intended as a rough guide only. We are all different, so you should factor in your age, fitness at the time, pack weight and health. Holroyd expressed a wish for consistency of track walking times across the country, but that would be impossible to achieve. Staff measuring…

HARD TO FIND, BUT AMAZING I was surprised to see MOW Hut featured in Wilderness (‘Off the radar’, April 2020). My friend and I were there earlier this year. It’s an amazing place with very few visitors – only one or two parties a year. We flew to outside the exclusion zone and were dropped off a couple of kilometres from the hut. We’d been told ‘It’s a bugger to find’, and it was. It’s a lovely wee hut. It has no long drop, but there is a shovel, and water can be collected from a trickle a few metres away. There’s also resident weka. We walked out in rain and 15m visibility, thankful for a GPS track, although there are bits of tape and cairns occasionally. Mostly we were…

Get your photo published here to receive a SOL survival blanket worth $20. It weighs only 100g, but will reflect 90% of radiated body heat. Learn more about SOL at e.ampro.co.nz. Last Weekend submission criteria can be found at wildernessmag.co.nz…

COVID BUDGET BIG ON CONSERVATION CONSERVATION HAS BEEN a big winner of the government’s Covidrecovery budget – the largest spending package in New Zealand history. The $50 billion relief budget has allocated almost $1.1b to environmental projects, and it’s claimed it will result in 11,000 new environmental jobs. The spending includes $433m injected into a new regional environmental projects programme, $200m to DOC for more jobs, $154m to create regional biodiversity roles, and $315m for pest eradication, including wilding pine, weed and wallaby management. Forest & Bird chief executive Kevin Hague is pleased to see the large investment in the environment but hopes it is backed up by green infrastructure. “The unspent COVID recovery funding needs to deliver nature-friendly infrastructure that cuts New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions and delivers a…

1. HUTS Nothing will make you feel more like declaring "I'm back!" than when you reach your first hut. Those blue mattresses; the slight echo as your voice reverberates off the walls; those old copies of Wilderness from an age when people ventured into the hills wearing mullets; that moment when you put the pack down, feel the breeze blowing over your sodden back and listen to the gorgeous sound of absolutely nothing; and conversely, the often alarming creaks when you drift off to sleep, as the building's wooden frame cools in the chill of night. Our huts are the backcountry's way of saying 'welcome home'. 2. THE SMELL OF A SLEEPING BAG If your beloved sleeping bag is more than several outings old, it will have developed its own…