Wilderness August 2018

GROWING UP IN CENTRAL OTAGO, the Southern Alps were the first natural features that engendered a connection to the landscape in me and an urge to see more – the urge to explore. While the upper North Island lacks the glaciated peaks of the south, since moving north five years ago, I’ve found kauri elicit that same sense of awe and wonder. But now it seems there’s a real risk that we could lose these ‘alps of the north’. Kauri dieback disease is continuing to spread rapidly, killing almost every tree it infects, and we don’t know how to stop it. In this knowledge vacuum, the Walking Access Commission (see page 11) has made the bold call that, unless we close access to all kauri forests, we may lose them.…

Wardens need to step up to bullies I read the article about the bullies at Blue Lake Hut and it filled me with sadness (‘Bunks for all but her’, July 2018). What stood out most was the inability of two hut wardens to manage the situation. How can hut wardens be better supported to deal with these kinds of people? I have been on trips where hut wardens have clearly avoided dealing with the non-payers and also not intervened when hut etiquette was not being adhered to (people wearing boots in the hut being the most common example). It is difficult to deal with potentially adverse situations and when figures of authority are not forthcoming with assistance, it is a disabling and negative experience. - Min Lo, email Locals first…

Shaun Donovan: Don’t buy land with access rights if you can’t handle the jandle, I mean the tramping boot. Catherine Kilgour: Some farmers have opened their farms up before the number of trampers was an issue. So no previous ‘rights’ when they purchased the land. Keith Roberts: Access in NZ isn’t your right. Any farmer can deny any private individual entry. Andrew Burfield: It staggers me that publicly-owned access corridors to conservation land weren’t a standard requirement of any deal that came out of Crown lease tenure review. News of a potential Great Walk in Moles-worth Station was met with trepidation by some readers. Robin Kearns: Sadly, the spectre of crowding, mega-huts, and high fees makes the question ‘Could this be the next Great Walk?’ one that’s as ominous as…

Get your photo published here to receive a tub OF STORM LEATHER CREAM TO WATERPROOF, CONDITION and shine your tramping boots. Learn more about Storm at ampro.co.nz . Last Weekend submission criteria can be found at wildernessmag.co.nz…

A GLOBAL MOVEMENT which aims to encourage women to get into tramping has started a branch in New Zealand that has proved popular with Kiwis. Hike Like a Woman started as a website, founded by American tramper Rebecca Walsh in 2015, to encourage woman into the outdoors, but hiking groups have now been established around the world. Wanaka-based Bozenka Raich became an ambassador for Hike Like a Woman last year and has been holding regular women’sonly hiking weekends in Otago. Raich, who moved to New Zealand from Australia five years ago, is relatively new to tramping and said it was daunting at first. “I found that when I went tramping with a male they would often be a lot more advanced than I was,” Raich said. “When I discovered Hike…

TRAMPING IS ONE of the most popular forms of recreation in the country, according to a recent survey which found a quarter of the population has been tramping in the past year. The survey, produced by Sport New Zealand, was conducted throughout 2017 and included 33,000 respondents. It found 24 per cent of adults had been on either an overnight or day tramp in the past year, which was more popular than the combined participation rates for rugby (two per cent), netball (five per cent), tennis (eight per cent), and cricket (four per cent). In total, 23 per cent of respondents had been on a day tramp in the past year and seven per cent on an overnight tramp. Five per cent had recreated in a national park in the…