Wilderness February 2019

TRAMPING IS LIKE RIDING A BIKE – sooner or later you’ll fall off. It happens to everyone. With tramping, falling off might mean having a scrape with nature that, in hindsight or even at the time, gives you a hell of a fright. Who hasn’t been caught in torrential rain or in blowy conditions? Most times it’s not a problem, you reach the campsite or hut and find safety in your shelter. But on occasion, we find ourselves in a predicament that could go either way. Mostly, it goes the right way, because we make the right decisions or simply through sheer good luck. As much as I’d like to think I know my way around the bush, the reality is I’ve got a lot to learn and luck has played…

INSPIRED TO TRAMP WITH BUBS REGARDING THE ARTICLE ‘Babe in the woods’ (December 2018), thank you for the motivation to change my status quo. I am the father of a nine-month-old girl and facing my first year without tramping. While we have been on multiple holidays in this short time, we haven't been tramping. This article was so inspiring it brought a tear to my eye. I wholeheartedly admire what Katy and her husband achieved after four months. You are very brave souls. I dread to think of the weight of your packs! This article was fantastic and just what I needed. Thank you for the tips, my mind is a whirl of plans! - Ricky Pugh, email - Ricky receives a Petzl Tikka Plus headlamp worth $89.95 from outdoorestore.co.nz. Readers, send your letter to…

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…

NOSTALGIA FOR LOST BIRD song has inspired great change on the Waikato’s highest peak, Mt Pirongia. Grassroots conservation efforts by the Pirongia Te Aroaro o Kahu Restoration Society has been building since its inception in 2002. It’s success in restoring the maunga earned the society a New Zealand Biosecurity Award, last December. Chairwoman Clare St Pierre said the group – which now has more than 270 registered volunteers – was a reaction to a growing silence in the mountain’s forests. “I felt strongly that we needed to recognise Mt Pirongia as a taonga, a wonderful treasure that had been sadly neglected, and was degrading,” St Pierre said. A public meeting was called, and the community responded to form the society. An ongoing trapping operation undertaken by volunteers has seen pest numbers drop significantly in a 1000ha…

THE COBB DAM ROAD in Golden Bay has re-opened after 10 months of work. Severely damaged by landslides during ex-cyclone Gita in February 2018, the road provides access to some of the best tramping in Kahurangi National Park. The one way thoroughfare links Sylvester Hut car park and Cobb Reservoir to Takaka Hill Highway, and provides access to Mt Cobb, Cobb Powerstation, Lake Sylvester, the Peel and Lockett ranges. Road co-owners Trustpower and Department of Conservation have been working with Tasman District Council to restore the damaged sections of road. Progress in reopening the road was further delayed by a number of landslides over winter, and by the damaged Takaka Hill Highway – which still operates on a traffic light system in sections. Tasman District Council said in a statement the road will likely need…

WHEN NEW PLYMOUTH engineer Hasely Lobb visited Nepal on his OE, he felt an immediate connection. The footsteps of Sir Ed were visible everywhere; children on the streets asked Lobb for Kiwi five dollar bills, and faces lit up when he mentioned where he was from. “Our two countries have had a strong link ever since Hillary conquered Everest,” Lobb says. When the devastating earthquake hit Nepal in 2015, Lobb was at a loss as to how he could give back. “I wasn’t in a position to give any money or go and do anything to help, and I found that sad, because I had such a good connection with the country and the people.” The thinking cap went on, and the idea to climb up and down New Plymouth’s 156m Paritutu rock nonstop over…