Welcome to 2025. Another year beckons, full of days to run next to roaring rivers, beat new paths through bush, explore with eyes wide open and have awe-inspiring adventures.

We’ve put together some fun tramping bucket-list ideas to get you excited.

1. Complete a tramp the same distance as your age.

2. Take your ‘I-will-never-go-tramping’ friend on an overnight trip; show them the way.

3. Go on a tramp on a different island to where you live.

4. Do one more tramp than the number you did last year.

5. Throw a birthday party in the bush and carry in a cake (at least two-tiered) and fancy dress.

6. Visit a national park or forest park you’ve never been to before.

7. Take your parents, kids or cousins to a local reserve for the day.

8. Create a three-course meal on your next overnighter.

9. Go on a solo hike and write a letter either a) to a random stranger and tuck it somewhere in a hut for them to discover, or b) to yourself in a year’s time – tuck it in your pack and read it as 2026 begins.

10. Return to one of the first places you went tramping; look back and see how far you’ve come.

Making the most of Aotearoa’s great outdoors doesn’t have to involve multi-day tramps with heavy packs and huge kilometres. Just getting outside and breathing in some fresh air is what matters most.

As Jack Kerouac said, ‘In the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing the lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain.’