Letter of the month

Octogenarian walker

On Christmas Eve I completed my second Walk1200 challenge. It was even better than the first one. I treated it as a progressive challenge and made new goals as I knocked off each one. Here’s how it progressed:

Started recording on Christmas Day 2022.

Turned 88 on 13 February 2023.

Recorded 1200km on 18 June.

Recorded 1510km to better what I achieved in the previous challenge.

Recorded 1610km on 16 August.

Recorded 2000km on 24 September.

Recorded 2415km ( on 7 November.

Recorded 2800km on 24 December. On this day, the last day of my 12 months, I achieved a personal microchallenge by walking up Tuahu Track in the Kaimai Range from the Bay of Plenty side to look over the Waikato from the top and then returned.

Thank you for the Walk1200km challenge, it has been stimulating, exciting, enjoyable and at times challenging. I walked every day but six of the 365 and on a few days only managed one or two kilometres when I was a bit crook. I have started recording again on 1 January and will see what 2024 brings. At my age it doesn’t pay to look too far ahead! 

Pat wins three pairs of Thorlo Classic Hiking socks worth $135 from www.thorlos.co.nz Readers, send your letter to the editor for a chance to win.

Te Urewera hut removal unlawful 

Members of our tramping club (trampers, hunters and conservationists) were appalled to learn of Te Uru Taumatua and its contractors destroying publicly owned DOC huts, including biodiversity huts, 

in Te Urewera last year.

We were shocked at the dismissive response from DOC’s director-general Penny Nelson to our concerns about inappropriate process and loss of the huts. It turns out that the actions of both TUT and DOC were unlawful.

The High Court found Te Uru Taumatua acted unlawfully by demolishing the huts without having an annual operational plan, and that both TUT and the director-general acted unlawfully by failing to prepare an annual operational plan for the past two years, as they were required to do by the legislation.

A post hoc attempt to rectify the situation with an annual plan prepared after the expiry of the relevant year was offensive ( a “striking example of reviewable error” by the director-general).

In our view, Federated Mountain   Clubs needs to step up and join with others, Tūhoe and Pākehā, doing the mahi right now to save all the remaining huts, including historic huts, to ensure they are protected for the enjoyment of both mana whenua and the wider public (whether they remain in the rohe or are shifted to nearby public conservation land). Huts should not be taken out and placed in a museum in the city, as some have proposed for Te Wairoa (Rogers) Hut.

Our thanks to all Tūhoe for their kind hospitality over so many years and their stellar mahi (robust ground-based feral control in Te Urewera Mainland Island and wider) to protect the beautiful ngahere.

– Linda Grammer, Buller Tramping Club

Talk and walk with people

Here’s an idea to encourage people to participate in the Walk1200km challenge:

My husband and I are strong believers in building community, so when we do our daily walk we make  it our goal to talk with as many people as possible. We always come home uplifted and have had very enlightening conversations with unlikely people. It reminds us we should not ‘put people in boxes’ as we usually get it horribly wrong.

– Marie-Thérèse Borland

Mobility no limiter

Thank you for encouraging me to start walking in 2023 through Wilderness’s Walk1200km challenge. I thought I would struggle, but how easy it became! 

I began on 30 December 2022, walking from the bus stop to my friend’s house for a birthday, and have now reached 2346km! Not a bad achievement for someone with mobility limitations. 

Another year looming, another challenge.

– Sheila Moreton

A paradise called home

I was a Taiwanese immigrant some 56 years ago, and never thought I would embrace the outdoors as I have now that I am in my 60s.

We are so fortunate in New Zealand to have so many wonderful places to visit without having to travel huge distances.

I love swimming (any body of water is fine: sea, lake, river) and walking (any expanse of greenery is fine: parks, bush, mountain) and so I feel blessed that my family immigrated all those years ago to this ‘paradise’ that I call home.

– Tsui-Wen Chen

My happy place

The New Zealand outdoors is like no other – scenic, satisfying and sumptuous. 

With its numerous hues of greenery, submersion in this environment restores the heart, the soul and the mind. 

Walking in this environment returns me to my former self where imperfections and impairments become irrelevant. I am at one, and at peace with self and environment, totally restored and invigorated; it’s my happy place, and if a beach is nearby, even better. 

– Ann Kidd

Our routes, your trips

I highly recommend the Lake Rotoiti circuit (Wild trips, December 2023). When my husband galloped off to the horse races near Greymouth, I decided to do a long overdue overnight tramp. This one sounded perfect. 

It’s not hard and has a fair bit of track variety (including muddy spots). There were lots of people ranging from day walkers, circuit walkers and folk doing bigger trips like the Travers–Sabine. 

I bypassed Lakehead Hut intending to stay at Coldwater Hut. Luckily, I took the tent as the hut was full. On the second day, I recommend the side 

trip to Whiskey Falls. Didn’t drink the water though!

– Heather Pascoe

– Heather receives a meal from Real Meals. Readers, when you do a trip that has been published in Wilderness, let us know to receive your prize, too.