A blog about New Zealand tramping / hiking
Securing a Great Walk booking in New Zealand (particularly the Milford Track) is notoriously difficult. We’re talking sells-out-within-minutes difficult. Every season thousands of people log onto the Department of Conservation (DOC) website when bookings open, but many end up disappointed. BUT there’s good news. If you missed out initially, your trip isn’t a write-off. Great
I spent my first four days of 2026 at Top Forks Hut in the mountains. And it was glorious. This blog post is a bit different from my other trip reports, partly because I’d registered Top Forks Hut for the Love Our Huts campaign by the Federated Mountain Clubs of New Zealand (FMC). And partly
The tallest waterfall in lowland Southland was long known only to local farmers and hunters, but Makarewa Falls is now no longer a secret! Here’s all you need to know about the Makarewa Falls Track to see the waterfall with your own eyes. Length: 16km return Time taken: 6 hours return Difficulty: moderate – route-finding
The Rees-Dart Track is up there as one of my all-time favourite tramps. It has it all – lush forest, beautifully blue rivers and waterfalls, glaciers, stunning mountains, flush toilets – what more could you ask for? ALERT The Dart Track is closed indefinitely due to a slip between Daley’s Flat Hut and Chinamens Bluff.Check
I honestly didn’t think I’d be writing a “how to start a blog” article on my tramping / outdoors website – but enough people on Instagram were interested, so here we are! This guide is for anyone thinking about starting a blog, without chasing the “get rich quick” nonsense that gets peddled so often online.
I’ve learnt the hard way not to leave gift shopping to the last minute! So here are some tramping gift ideas for the outdoorsy people in your life. We can be a bit hard to shop for, so hopefully this list will give you some great inspiration. I’ve tried as much as I can to
I’m so excited for my 2026 Dolomites group hiking holiday, but I’ve had a lot of requests for a similar trip held in Aotearoa. I get it, travelling anywhere at the moment is super expensive! So I’m organising a group tramping trip in New Zealand next year too. I hope you can join 🙂 I’m Southland
Ben Lomond is arguably Queenstown’s best day hike. It offers amazing 360° views over the Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown and the Remarkables. Length: ~12km return, with either 940m (if you take the gondola up to the top of Bob’s Peak), or 1,400m elevation gain/descent from Queenstown. Time taken: 5 hrs return from the top of the gondola,
