NZ has NO INTENTION SHEET SYSTEM for trampers.

[Rob A]

The electronic intentions sheets at Adventuresmart only lodge with your trusted contact. The sheets are not logged with any NZ authority. I didnt realise this previously.
Word around the traps is the hut books may still follow.

[wayno]

books at road ends have started being revoked already.
not sure about the hut log books,
I think the intention was doc wanted the onus taken off them for having to spend countless hours trawling through records at visitor centres and from road end books to determine the possible whereabouts for people suspected of being missing.
doesnt really matter to DOC workwise with hut log books so much in huts that don't have rangers as only a helicopter crew are likely to have to look at the log book in a search,
possibly depends how much time doc rangers spend trawling through hut log books, wouldnt be as much work as at visitor centres i'd imagine.
its a whole new step removing hut log books effectively removing all records someone might have left and any information regarding change of intentions....

[Rob A]

The danger at present is that the electronic intentions sheet looks official and it could easily be interpreted as going somewhere the authorities monitor or have access to. IT ONLY GOES TO YOUR NOMINATED TRUSTED CONTACT. There is no record of your walk in NZ. So whats the point. I already leave a detailed trip notes/route at home with all contact numbers of accommodation, transport. Should imagine most organised people do.

Anyone filing an on line intentions expecting there to be a record with someone like DOCs or search and rescue has been sadly mislead. Ive spoken to that many DOCs staff now who reply "Please dont quote me but....." I dont think too many people are impressed. Ive always filled out intentions and signed off because I figured I should do the right thing, use the system properly, and not mess anyone around.

I guess Ive now no reason to waste my time going anywhere near a DOCS office again, only filling out hut books as and when I pass them and while they last. Everyone is wondering how this "no system" dressed up as something people might think is reliable will turn out. Might as well tattoo your intentions on the back of a cats ear and get the other half to hurl it at copper if she thinks you are late.

They need big red signs that clearly state "No one in NZ knows you are going through this park. Make sure your relatives at home know how to get your police to contact our police to instigate a search if you go missing"



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Presently from the land of the long whi .......... hang on the weathers good its all blue skys.

[wayno]

a bigger problem is the overseas tourists.... they bowl up at the last minute not knowing the system is different at different places, turn up to the doc info centre out of hours, with no means to log any intentions at all. or if they do log electronic intentions they go to a person overseas..... there are a greater no of people in the chain if they notify the authorities it has to go between authorities in different countries causing delays,

[izogi]

Anyone filing an on line intentions expecting there to be a record with someone like DOCs or search and rescue has been sadly mislead."

This is the main part of the controversy, I think. I'm perfectly good with DoC not taking responsibility for people's personal safety. I don't think it should, and in the past it only ever has acted semi-responsible in a minority of very selected areas that tend to be tourist-heavy. My only real issue is how the change from the old ad-hoc system that has existed in some places has been implemented. (This is me as a kiwi presently living in Victoria, anyway.)

AdventureSmart is meant to be guiding people into providing the most useful information for their own contact, but I don't think it's very clear about that. Similarly RoughPlan.com is an awesome tool for aiding group trip planning, thrown together by some independent members of the NZ Mountain Safety Council, but the confusion from AdventureSmart just spreads to it when people are officially sent there with an impression that it'll magically solve all their safety problems for them simply by entering details of their plans and clicking Submit. I'd be much happier if DoC had consulted more properly, had a longer switch-over time, and arranged for a proper service provider to optionally act as a real emergency contact for visitors who simply don't have someone they could trust, even if the service charged a nominal fee.