Second time lucky
A classic tramper’s mountain proves good for skiing too, reports Neil Silverwood Below, on the Tongariro Crossing, I watched guided parties and freedom walkers venture out across the Devils Staircase....
Neil Silverwood
Back to the front country
Blue Range Hut, Tararua Forest Park Along with an enormous array of huts built by the New Zealand Forest Service and Department of Conservation there are also many built by...
In search of solitude
Lake Morgan Hut, Greymouth Stewardship Land The Crooked River is tucked away on the West Coast, near Greymouth. Its tracks and huts see few visitors and make a good place...
A track to a watery cave wonderland
Pearse River resurgence, Kahurangi National Park The first challenge with any trip to the Pearse Resurgence is getting there. The road is eroded and lined with large rocks – just...
Last of the winter snow
I captured this image on a camping trip to a basin on the western side of Mt Ngauruhoe. The snow line had been retreating fast in the warm spring weather...
Tramping in cave country
Hole in the Hill, Charleston, West Coast The West Coast is renowned for its dramatic karst scenery. For me, what really stands out is its limestone arches. In the upper...
Snowy seclusion
Waipakihi Hut via Waipakihi River, Kaimanawa Forest Park My billy simmered gently on the MSR stove. I could already taste the hard-earned cup of tea. I was chilled and my...
Into the deep
Neil Silverwood joins an expedition to explore New Zealand’s unchartered canyons We live in a tamed world where almost every corner of the planet has been explored and mapped. Yet...
Cave man
By heading deep underground, Kieran McKay explores places where no-one has been before. While almost all the peaks in New Zealand have been climbed and significant white water rivers descended,...
The longest cave
Neil Silverwood reports from the 31st annual expedition to explore the extensive cave network known as Bulmer Cavern beneath Mt Owen The Hughes 500 climbs steeply above the bluffs of...
Finding the dark
Explorers continue to find new ground in our deepest, darkest places. In New Zealand we have two worlds: the surface, and a complex network of underground caves. Over the last...
Where history and tragedy collide
Is the Pike29 Memorial Track, due to become New Zealand’s 10th Great Walk, worthy of such status? Wilderness walked the route to find out THE ANNOUNCEMENT in late 2015 of a...
A perfect week in Rakiura National Park
How do you spend a week in New Zealand’s southern-most national park? Neil Silverwood and Lauren Kelley have no trouble finding great tramping loops, rich bird life, sea kayaking and...
A perfect week in Westland Tai Poutini National Park
Neil Silverwood climbs mountains and explores a wild coastline while exploring one of our most diverse outdoor playgrounds Westland Tai Poutini National Park is an oddity. Many of our national...
Roaring across the Tin Range
A windswept Tin Range, where rimu grow like bonsai, provides a wilderness experience in Stewart Island/Rakiura’s southern reaches. Stewart Island lies between latitudes 46 and 48 degrees, smack in the...
Escape from the Sanatorium
Features, Off the Beaten Track
We had reached a knife-edge ridge heading south. The visibility had dropped to just a few metres and as the ridge narrowed we suddenly found ourselves stranded at the top...
The world from above
We are overwhelmed daily by thousands of images, be it on social media or magazine articles. From a professional photographer’s perspective, our audience is in danger of becoming jaded. To...
A hard little number
It’s not every day you come across a six-bunk hut just minutes after leaving your car. The sign on the khaki-coloured, Forest Service-era hut read ‘Frew Hut’. But we were...