The Great Walks celebrate their 30th anniversary this year. They were created as a means to limit numbers on the most iconic tracks and to help preserve and acknowledge the special environments they meandered through. Booking was required, camping was prohibited except in designated areas. 

Conversely, there was another goal seemingly at odds with the conversation message: Great Walks tracks were to be used to create a tramping tourism industry that was marketable to the world. At times, it seems that tourism has been the priority; witness the selection process for adding more Great Walks to the network, in which four out of the six organisations on the selection panel were tourism-related.

But let’s not worry too much. For the Great Walks serve a greater purpose: they provide safe, easy, enjoyable experiences amongst, for the most part, incredibly dramatic scenery. It means, that as well as attracting tourists, the walks are particularly good at turning a first-time tramper into a life-time tramper.

I speak from experience. My first multi-day tramp, when a university student, was the Waikaremoana Track. My second was the Tongariro Northern Circuit. I’ve been a tramper ever since. And I know I’m not alone. Our Great Walks feature this month includes stories from three people telling how their formative tramping experiences were on a Great Walk.  I bet there are thousands of people who will relate to these stories and could share similar tales. 

Speaking of tales, Tania Rae, in our April issue, discussed the key missing ingredient in the Great Walks: a Māori perspective. Rae, of Ngāti Pāhauwera, lamented the fact that at each hut talk on a Fiordland walk, the history shared was distinctly European. She suggested the sense of ‘place’ New Zealanders feel in these environments was seemingly reserved for Pākehā. But it’s now common knowledge, or should be, that Māori have a long history of exploration throughout New Zealand and have named many of the landmarks on the Great Walks’ routes. Where were these stories, Tania asked? 

Her article generated much debate and DOC has now committed to including a Māori perspective in its Fiordland hut talks (see Pigeon Post). 

It’s good to see that at 30, the Great Walks have not only stood the test of time but they are moving with the times, too.