Tramping (by Laura)

There are thousands of kilometres of tramping tracks in New Zealand (hiking trails to you and me). As a result, the country attracts a huge number of people whose sole aim is to cover as much of the country on foot as possible.

The most popular of these tracks are called the 'Great Walks'. There are nine Great Walks across the north and south islands, which are deemed the most beautiful and are also subsequently the most crowded.

To give you an idea, The Milford Track, perhaps the best known of all, is booked up about 6 months in advance of the summer season. All the Great Walks and a large number of all other tracks are excellently maintained by the Department of Conservation, which invests a huge amount of effort and money (in comparison to other countries) into ensuring that its rambling tourist population doesn't get lost on its mountain passes.

The booking of the walks in advance is principally to ensure that the shelters and campsites are not overrun during the summer months. However, this and the fact that the usual fare of compasses, survival bags and laminated OS maps are redundant (given the signage provided by the DOC), does seem to rather take the adventure out of some of the walking.

We didn't have the foresight to book any of the Great Walks, but have attempted sections (of 6-7 hours) as tasters (see right). We also had a fabulous 3 days walking the Queen Charlotte Track in the Marlborough Sounds- not yet a Great Walk, but certainly up there in terms of stunning views and scenery (see top).

So we've had a good tramp; it's a word I've decided I rather like as it conjures up all sorts of images of sodden and slightly dishevelled walkers doggedly heading for home....ultimately to put their feet up, as we ourselves did (see left).

Laura