where to start for info on nz

[wayno]

http://www.avalanche.net.nz/Forecasts/

[wayno]

weather

http://metvuw.com/forecast/forecast.php ... oofdays=10

[Aidan]

For any cycle tourists: https://www.nzcycletrail.com/find-your- ... eat-rides/

[vagrom]

A pretty exceptionally well made book on NZ walking seen in my city library today. Perhaps the authors are well known, like our Chapmans

[wayno]

never heard of them, usually only a very limited no of authors dominate the writing on NZ hiking.

[Aardvark]

If its truly an exceptional book, who they are shouldn't be relevant.
Every expert was a beginner at some time.

[wayno]

If its truly an exceptional book, who they are shouldn't be relevant.
Every expert was a beginner at some time.

Oh i agree totally with you. it's sad that so few authors get widespread distribution. i keep seeing books by just a couple of author's who have the market cornered and i'd really like to be looking at more books from different authors
one publisher in particular has cornered the market in wilderness publishing and photography in NZ, and they reuse the same authors.

[vagrom]

Well they're locals from NZ Dunedin apparently. There's a difference between a coffee table book and one you'd use for serious walking. Locally we have come to respect Chapman advice and importantly, their updates. I wondered if this couple were visiting Americans as they have the market size to provide a publisher profitable sales and this book looks good enough to be both attractive and useful too.

I guess there's "Off Track" options in NZ. Maybe more associated with high-alt expedition walks than our own scrub bashing style. Two more photos from the book show a walking tracked map as we associate readily with European type walking and the heavy Italian boots perhaps better suited to it than the water-logging they get in Tassie. Also the new style deluxe hut lay-outs we've seen in Tassie of late with a view to the o/seas visitor in mind. It'd be a pity to see the end of old Narcissus Hut .... perhaps.

[wayno]

the great walk tracks are footpaths

[Aardvark]

It's a shame that the Great walks are riddled with relative beginners and 'this is going to be my only time tramping' people.
I think it would be better if they were filled with those 'older and experienced trampers' who have already been out pushing boundaries and knocking off the more difficult challenges and now are getting too old for that. Now they have a desire for more convenience, a slower pace perhaps and a chance to reminisce with other like minded trampers.

[wayno]

the locals have their own tracks for doing that, and they are less likely to publicise them so they dont get over run by other people. if you've heard a lot about a certain track in nz chances are it will be over busy... the great walks dont have the capacity to cope with the no of people they attract because they are so promoted, air new zealand promote them internationally... they are the best place to go for hut snorers, bunk rooms with 20 people in them.

great walks are for those with the disposable income now,, some are $70 a night, twice that for foreigners... plus transport costs, most nzers wont get near the best great walks, they can't afford to they live so far away and they are often only safe to walk in the warmer months for novices, plus the hiking gear industry wants to sell you expensive gear, you have to make a bigger effort to get affordable gear... how many people looking at getting into hiking, walk into a hiking shop, look at the prices, and think , too expensive... esp with a family.

meanwhile where i live at the other end of the country in a big city, theres a poor choice of walking tracks and the dept of conservation doesnt spend much on developing tracks, and kauri dieback disease has closed a lot of tracks permanently, one of my fav tracks just got washed out by a storm,,, if it was a great walk DOC would move heaven and earth to open it up fast, but they are saying its going to be closed indefinitely... it could take several years to open or maybe never reopen... the best track they have up my way involves an expensive trip to a small island, for the same money i could fly to queenstown cheaper... theres parks here but they just havent been developed like the national parks that are a lot further away

[Aardvark]

Shouldn't get me started.
It's all back to front. Everything now is driven by the dollar. Economy rules.
Population increases. Competition for a dollar increases. Anything that moves a dollar will get exploited.
Something starts out as a recreational activity or a relatively new challenge to some is soon turned into a business.
Sport is the model of that.

[vagrom]

I keep meeting people in SA who know about the newish Three Peaks walk and have plans. Most wouldn't/couldn't entertain walking the South Coast Track, Tassie's number two.. But there's been talk of "glamping" accom's for the latter that's caused a stir.

It seems that South Island NZ is becoming a Mecca. I don't know if Aus. has latched on to the Great Walks theme yet. The three new huts on our Overland Track have somewhat left the older glamping huts in the shade so that oldies are perhaps increasingly booking with the mainstream of OLT visitors. It's that sort of track.

I'd like to find out about the population densities of North and South Islands prior to Pahkia arrival. Was there a notable difference?

[wayno]

yes, significant. the only significant starchy food available to maori was the kumara, and that didnt grow in the majority of the south island... getting enough food was aa much bigger issue in the south island... a diet very high in protein is hard when you have to live a physically active life... they had fern root but that was full of grit and their teeth became ground down from eating it when they didnt have other food choices available especially when inland... plus the south island is a lot colder than the north island, there werent a great amount of edible plants. and over time massive areas of forest were burnt down reducing available animals to eat..

[vagrom]

Thanks for that. It made me wonder when you mentioned the cost in time and treasure to get from your loc. in the north down to fiordland walking. Massive inland lakes and fiords that don't necesarily flow to the sea ( South Fiord ) as is the norm in Norway. So idyllic scenery didn't translate to way of life. But for the north-eastern flats that grow Savy-Blanc and sheep on volcanic soil.

I know Scotland's Highland Clearances saw great migration to Canada and maybe NZ at the same time and I see the Scottish names down south. I wondered if the Scots as late comers headed aouth to as yet unsettled lands? Invercargill looks like it could be bleak.

EDIT: Came upon this Wiki piece: interesting, South Isladers definitely ?
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source= ... dKws9PzY-k

[wayno]

the scots did. and dunedin

[madpom]

I see that after years of neglect and accumulating spam, tramper.nz has drawn it's last shuddering breath. The domain name appears to have not been renewed and the site is no longer accessible.

A shame, as there was a wealth of past info on there - it would have been good to see it preserved in some read-only form.

RIP

[keithj]

it would have been good to see it preserved in some read-only form.

its still viewable at https://web.archive.org/web/20241003081 ... ramper.nz/