Wilderness April 2018

YOU’VE REALLY GOT to take your hat off to search and rescue volunteers. Not only do they risk life and limb to aid those in desperate need of help, but as we learn in our feature ‘The trauma of rescue’ (p72), they also risk their sanity. It came as a real shock to learn that up to 20 per cent of emergency service personnel develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). That includes search and rescue volunteers. When I think of PTSD, I tend to associate it with war zones and something wounded soldiers might suffer. But tragically, the harrowing experiences of those in the search and rescue community can have a very real and lasting mental impact. PTSD can be debilitating and have huge negative consequences on the lives of those…

STORIES REKINDLE MEMORIES I have been stirred to write after reading the articles by Shaun Barnett on his recent visits to Waterfall Hut in the Ruahine Ranges, and Aokaparangi Biv in the Tararua Ranges (February and March 2018 issues). As a New Zealand Forest Service Deer Culler in 1963, I was one of several cullers in the Ruahine Ranges North Western Block, which at that time provided shelter in four tent camps and seven huts, one of which was Waterfall Hut. There is no argument that Waterfall Hut was my favorite shelter from the storm. In all, I spent 54 nights in this hut and admit it was like a home away from home. That it is still providing shelter to trampers, and remains in its original condition, is most…

Wilderness readers on Facebook welcomed the news Auckland Council is closing the Waitakere Ranges to prevent the further spread of kauri dieback disease. Nanny Ma: About time, now how about Waipoua, NZ’s largest kauri forest and just as endangered. Mike Fooy: A sad day but we have to preserve the native bush for future generations. I hope it can be resolved in the near future, but I feel it’s going to take a while. Gin Barker: Good! Should’ve been closed months ago. Hayley Wadmore Bobbi Manson: Overall sad, but actually stoked the council has got on board. Mary Miller: Well done. Impose fines for trespassing Shaz An Kc: About time. This was just a no brainer.…

GET YOUR PHOTO PUBLISHED HERE TO RECEIVE AN OPINEL NO.5 FOLDING KNIFE WORTH $20. Learn more about Opinel at ampro.co.nz . Last Weekend submission criteria can be found at wildernessmag.co.nz…

A summary of stories published at wildernessmag.co.nz REES-DART CIRCUIT CLOSED Just a year after it reopened, the Rees-Dart Circuit is again closed after heavy rain damaged a bridge. Senior DOC ranger Richard Kennett said a section of river bank was washed away at the lower Snowy Creek bridge, close to Dart Hut. The bridge separates the hut from a nearby campsite and has to be crossed to reach the Rees Saddle, which connects the Rees and Dart valleys. In the online story you can view dramatic video footage of the flood waters eroding the river bank beneath the bridge. FARMER TRESPASSES TE ARAROA WALKERS A fed-up Southland farmer has trespassed two Te Araroa Trail walkers after becoming increasingly frustrated with walkers going off trail, leaving gates open and even breaking…

IF YOU LIVE IN New Zealand’s biggest city and want to do a weekend tramp at a bookable hut close by, you are going to have to wait a while. The majority of the huts in the region are bookable and every one of them, from Whangarei to the Kaimai Range, are booking out weeks in advance for the coveted Saturday night slot. When Wilderness checked in early March, some were booked out every Saturday for two months. Peach Cove Hut (eight bunks), at Bream Head, was booked out for every Saturday for six weeks. In the Coromandel, Crosbies Hut (10 bunks) was only free for one Saturday before the end of April. The 80-bunk Pinnacles Hut was closed until the end of March as DOC tries to repair the…