Wilderness February 2023

EDITORIAL IF YOU DON'T own a dog, you might just want one after reading about the incredible abilities of search dogs featured in the story ‘On the scent of the lost and missing’ (see p48). If you are lost and without a PLB, your next best hope is one of the 20 certified NZ LandSAR Search Dog teams around the country. It's no mistake that we call dogs ‘man's best friend’. A dog would be your mate too if one found you when you were lost and bewildered. A dog's skill at finding people is unmatched: they have a sense of smell 40,000 times better than a human's and a trained search dog can pick up a scent 400m yonder, three yes, three! - days after a person has been…

I can relate to ‘What's a good night's sleep worth’ (December 2022). Without decent sleep, I become irritable at best and at risk of poor decision-making at worst. After years of wrangling the night away with clothes in a stuff sack and, later, air pillows, I arrived at a simple innovation: an inexpensive pillow made just the way I like it. I spent $14 on a 23cm square offcut of 4cm thick memory foam from Para Rubber. This goes inside a ‘pillowcase’ made from an old Buff. It's sewn shut at one end and has a thin velcro strip at the other. Four centimetres of memory foam is pretty cushy on its own but I go all out and stuff in a few clothes, too. The dry touch and stretchiness…

Get your photo published here to receive a meal from Real Meals worth $17. Learn more about Real Meals at www.realmeals.co.nz.…

NZ-style 14 Peaks challenge raises $14k for charity FOUR FRIENDS have raised thousands for Big Brothers Big Sisters Auckland with a New Zealand-style climbing challenge. The climbers were inspired by mountaineer Nirmal Purja's 14 Peaks project and Jack Keeys, his brother Cameron, Jack's partner Hannah Carter and Hannah's sister Sarah powered up 14 North Island mountains in 10 days last November. It all started in 2021 when Jack applied to be a Big Brothers Big Sisters mentor. The charity matches volunteer mentors with young people who would benefit from having a positive adult role model. Jack's application was declined because there were limited funds to facilitate matches for the hundreds of mentors and children already on the organisation's waiting list. That prompted him to devise the 14 Peaks Challenge, which…

A 100M-LONG suspension bridge is being built across Manganui Gorge this year as part of the multimillion-dollar Taranaki Crossing project. DOC called for tenders for the bridge build late last year but just how much it will cost is unclear. A spokesperson said the department could not give an estimate until February, when the tender process would be completed. The bridge will be funded out of the $13.3 million Provincial Growth Fund grant awarded in 2019 for the Taranaki Crossing, a 41km track network running from Dawson Falls, over the Pouakai Range, to Mangorei Road. It is hoped the Crossing will be a major drawcard for visitors, generating $3.7m a year for Taranaki's economy by 2025 and showcasing the natural and cultural heritage of Taranaki Maunga. The new bridge will…

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