Wilderness August 2024

Even if the future of tramping belongs to no one person or group, it's in good hands. In recent issues we've read about university tramping clubs and how they are often the most popular clubs on campus (see ‘Tramping through a higher education’, March 2024). And this month we read of ‘Tomorrow's trampers’ (p36), who are school and university-aged trampers doing normal and yet also remarkable things outdoors. We hear continuously of the very real struggles of young people in a world increasingly lived online and dominated by ‘social media’ (is it social to sit alone or silently in groups scrolling your phone, sharing photos and thoughts but not experiences?), so to learn of so many teens and twenty-somethings who are finding meaning and experiences outdoors is a refreshing take…

BROLLY FOR SUN, NOT RAIN Re ‘Under my umbrella’ (June 2024), most of my tramping is done in the bush, which hinders the use of an umbrella. At least once a month I'm in Abel Tasman National Park checking and resetting 40-plus rat traps. I then spend the afternoon relaxing on the beach at The Anchorage waiting for the water taxi that will take me back to Mārahau. There is little shade from the sun on this beach, which means that during summer you can burn quickly. Using a golf cart umbrella holder, which has a right-angle attachment bracket (and only weighs 122g), I can attach my ZPacks Lotus UL umbrella (192g) to my trekking pole to form a beach umbrella. This is great at blocking UV rays and makes…

Get your photo published here to receive a meal from Real Meals worth $17. Last Weekend submission criteria can be found at wildernessmag.co.nz. Learn more about Real Meals at www.realmeals.co.nz.…

We've heard of the classic Macpac Minaret and the four-season MSR Access … But what about the Ross Sea Party Tent? The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 1914-16, conceived and led by Sir Ernest Shackleton, was an attempt to make the first ever land crossing of Antarctica. Another group, the Ross Sea Party, was responsible for laying supply depots across the Ross Ice Shelf for Shackleton and his men to use on the second half of their journey. The Ross Sea Party arrived at McMurdo Sound on the Aurora and began to unload. Unfortunately, the ship was blown out to sea with the majority of the equipment still on board, leaving a party of ten men on the ice. The Aurora was forced to return to New Zealand without them. Only…

Herenga ā Nuku Aotearoa, the Outdoor Access Commission, has developed its mobile mapping app called Pocket Maps. The app allows you to find public access areas and conservation land anywhere in Aotearoa. By searching an exact location by region and through the map layers, you can ‘understand what type of access land you are currently on or looking to walk, hunt, fish or mountain bike across’. A new topographic basemap feature combines public access information with topographic maps. The topographic basemap shows contours, rivers, roads, building outlines, lakes and New Zealand Geographic Board place names. It also features huts and campsites provided by DOC and the latest version of the Landcover Classification Database for visualising different landcover types. The maps are split into regions and can be viewed online with…

A group operating a walkway spanning the Māhia Peninsula in Hawke's Bay has been awarded an Outdoor Access Champion Award. The Whangawehi Catchment Management Group includes marae, landowners, agencies and local communities, which united to protect and nurture the Whangawehi catchment and build Te Aratia Walkway. The group has planted over 250,000 trees along Whangawehi Stream. Te Aratia Walkway was opened in December 2022. The first 6km passes through farms and riparian planting alongside the Whangawehi Stream. The second half winds through forests of redwoods, pines and cypress before the final descent to Māhia Beach. Māhia Peninsula has one of the best examples of semi-coastal forest on the east coast of the North Island. Tawa, kohekohe, rewarewa, karaka, rimu, mataī and kahikatea can all be seen. A special point of…