Wilderness January/February 2025

IS THERE a better way to start 2025 than with a tramp or a walk? Since you’re reading a magazine devoted entirely to tramping and walking, you probably think the answer is no. But I can think of one: a walk that leads to hundreds of others. That would be the Walk1200km challenge – where the goal is to walk 1200km in 12 months and, in the process, make walking a daily habit. The challenge was created four years ago to celebrate Wilderness’s thirtieth anniversary in the best way we knew how: by going for a walk. Since then it has grown to encompass more than 6500 participants and has been noted for promoting walking and the health benefits that derive from this most simple of activities. How effective is…

SIR ROBERT WHO? In ‘Arise, Sir Robert’ (December 2024) Mark Watson described an epic trip across the Southern Alps and back again to visit the remote Sir Robert Hut. Not many people in the country have the honour of a hut named after them but I was left wondering … who was Sir Robert? It turns out the man in question was Sir Robert Stout (1844–1930), twice premier of New Zealand in the nineteenth century. While much of his political career was lived in the shadow of ‘King’ Dick Seddon, Julius Vogel and William Balance, Stout was considered one of the great theoretical and enlightened thinkers of his time. Inside Parliament he was an ardent land reformer and advocate for secondary education. Stout was active in the drive to grant…

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.…

A plausible solution to the Tararua map mystery (Wilderness, September 2024) has been found. The unsigned and undated copy of Map of Part of the Tararua Range spent 25 years under tramper Linden Eagles’ bed before she donated it to the Alexander Turnbull Library (ATL) in 2021, where it was restored. It seems the map may have been drawn by amateur cartographer W.C. Duncan prior to 1939. Tararua Tramping Club (TTC) chief guide Paul McCredie says a copy of the same map in the club archives includes what appear to be hand-drawn annotations and ‘?1934, W.C. Duncan’ written on the back. McCredie says former ATL map librarian Phil Barton referenced the TTC copy in an article about Tararua mapping that he wrote for the Otaki Historical Society Journal. In it,…

Welcome to 2025. Another year beckons, full of days to run next to roaring rivers, beat new paths through bush, explore with eyes wide open and have awe-inspiring adventures. We’ve put together some fun tramping bucket-list ideas to get you excited. 1. Complete a tramp the same distance as your age. 2. Take your ‘I-will-never-go-tramping’ friend on an overnight trip; show them the way. 3. Go on a tramp on a different island to where you live. 4. Do one more tramp than the number you did last year. 5. Throw a birthday party in the bush and carry in a cake (at least two-tiered) and fancy dress. 6. Visit a national park or forest park you’ve never been to before. 7. Take your parents, kids or cousins to a…

Driven by the desire to share Wainui Bay’s ancient podocarp forests with future generations, a Tasman couple have built a walkway on their land there. Chris and Anna Charlton worked with Herenga ā Nuku in 2016 to transfer 90ha of rimu, rātā, mataī, miro, nīkau and a rare stand of pukatea to a Queen Elizabeth II canopy covenant. The forest is a mix of 70-year-old regeneration and 1000-year-old native forest. The area has been fenced and pest and weed control undertaken; fernbirds and robins have returned to the area, and kea and falcons are nesting. The Charltons say they are driven by the process of sharing for future generations. “For both of us, the forest and its diversity come first. It’s nice to share it with other people and encourage…