Wilderness June 2025

IT GOES by many names: hiking, rambling, backpacking, hillwalking, trekking. Only in New Zealand is walking in nature known as tramping. Overseas, an overnighter usually means carrying a tent, or perhaps you might sleep in a refugio or a bothy. Here we have huts, bivvies and tent shelters – more than 900 in all – scattered about the country. They provide sanctuary for no other reason than so anyone can enjoy a night in the wilderness. They keep us dry in a storm, and they save our backs from the added weight of a tent. Ask Nathan Longhurst (Wild People, p16): thanks to huts within easy reach of summits, he did not have to lug a tent while climbing 100 peaks in one summer. But what’s a pastime without a…

AI UNRELIABLE FOR TRIP PLANNING I’m sure I am just one of many readers who read Terry Beech’s letter (‘AI for trip planning’, May 2025) and cringed – not because Terry is doing anything wrong, but because ChatGPT and its ilk just aren’t reliable. Think of AI as a well-meaning but inexperienced assistant: if you ask it a question and it doesn’t have the facts at its fingertips, it will make something up rather than disappoint you by saying it doesn’t know. AI tools are prone to hallucinations and will provide completely fake ‘facts’ and plausible references to things that don’t exist. This problem is becoming worse as the AI tools refer to online sources that were fabricated by AI tools to start with. Garbage in, garbage out! I asked…

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A forest-green ‘intentions book’ can be found in every DOC hut across the motu. Often battered, tea-stained and well-thumbed, these books serve as both the hut’s diary and an important tool for search and rescue teams. Visitors are encouraged to write in the hut book even if they are just passing through: a record of who’s in the group, your trip plans, and dates of arrival and departure. A column reserved for comments allows messages to be left for DOC and incoming trampers, such as weather details, track conditions, or a warning of a potential hazard, such as a wasp nest, ahead. Hut books serve as historical records, and DOC has no plans to replace them with a digital process. Earlier this year, search and rescue teams on the West…

Over four days in April, 32 Victoria University of Wellington Tramping Club (VUWTC) members bagged all 46 huts in the Tararua Range. “Well really, 43 huts, three bivvies, plus three unofficial huts and a water tank,” chief guide Kate Morris said. “It was a massive success.” The club did it last year and missed two huts due to the weather closing in. “That makes the success this year even sweeter.” This year, the weather held. “The wind did pick up to gale force on Monday, though, which led to some type-two fun for those still on the tops,” Morris said. She said if Facebook comments can be believed, this year’s event could be the first successful ‘bag all the huts’ since 2000. “The spirit of the trip was akin to…

No hut is forgotten when it comes to renovations. Humble six-bunk Wheel Creek Hut, located in Victoria Forest Park, was given a major spruce-up recently. Five DOC staff and a volunteer completely repiled the 1960s hut, refurbished the roof and put on a fresh coat of paint. “The object was to protect this hut for generations to come, while leaving the hut in the original condition,” DOC ranger Matt Ainge said. A subfloor was put in the porch for stacking firewood, and a front step was added to improve access. Large rocks were stacked under and around the entire fireplace structure to help future stabilisation. The roof was removed, wire brushed, primed and painted before going back on. “This job was a complete labour of love, and it was great…