A shuttle operator has been banned from taking visitors to and from Tongariro Alpine Crossing for two weeks after it “potentially put lives at risk” by ignoring a hazardous weather warning, according to DOC.

The company won’t be allowed to operate in Tongariro National Park for two weeks from next Monday until March 22.

The incident leading to the suspension of the company’s permission to operate in the national park occurred on February 7, when the tourism operator transported more than 100 visitors over multiple bus trips to the start of the track for the 20km crossing despite a hazardous weather warning being issued, DOC Tongariro operations manager Libby O’Brien said.

“[This was] an action which potentially put lives at risk.” DOC wasn’t naming the operator because that would add “an additional layer of punishment we do not consider necessary.”

However, The NZ Herald is reporting that Tongariro Expeditions is the company that is being suspended.  

Anyone wanting to use public conservation land to run a business or activity must get permission from DOC in the form of a concession, and those failing to comply with concession conditions can have their concession revoked.

The decision to issue the company a two-week suspension was not taken lightly, and was the first time such an action had taken place, O’Brien said. Read more from The NZ Herald.

Weekend long read: ” I thought a five‑day solo hike would reclaim a lost self. My menopausal body had other plans”

Until recently, Rachael Mead’s body was one of the most reliable instruments she owned. It has carried her across Antarctic ice sheets, through half marathons, and the demands of writing books and a PhD.

But since menopause in 2023, that reliability has quietly eroded. To reclaim her confidence, she planned a five-day solo trip. “I told myself it was a way of reconnecting with that adventurous self, learning the contours of a changed body. What I wanted, though I did not yet name it, was reassurance: that menopause had not marked the end of who I was,” she says. However, “My body had other ideas.”

What the walk ultimately revealed was her resistance to transformation. “I was still measuring this new body against the yardstick of my younger self. The body I now inhabit is not broken, but it is no longer amenable to all I ask of it. It holds and dispenses energy unpredictably. It demands consideration. It asks for recovery time with no regard for the deadlines and pressures of the broader world.”

Read Rachel’s full essay from The Conversation.

Track to Harwoods Hole permanently closed over safety concerns

The track to the country’s deepest natural sinkhole at the top of the South Island has been permanently closed because of safety concerns.

Harwoods Hole, which is a nearly 180-metre deep vertical shaft, is part of a cave system in the Abel Tasman National Park. Department of Conservation (DOC) Golden Bay operations manager Ross Trotter said the track from Canaan Downs car park to the hole was closed last month.

“There isn’t a viewing platform there, you can’t actually see down the hole so it’s not really an attraction that we want to lead people to because we can’t guarantee their safety,” he said.

Trotter said the risks in the area had not changed but DOC had reassessed the safety of the track and found the level of risk was unacceptable.

Trotter said DOC remained open to reassessing safer access in the future but a viewing platform was not a viable option. The decision to permanently close the track was made on 20 February. Read more from The Press.

Meet the nine-month-old baby going on wilderness adventures

Mountaineer Morag Skelton has been climbing and skiing in Scotland’s mountains all her adult life. But she has recently added a new challenge to her adventures – taking along her nine-month-old baby.

Hamish has joined Morag on cross-country skiing expeditions, island-hopping camping trips and has even spent a night in a bothy.

Morag says that because the outdoors have always brought her so much joy, it was only natural she would want to share that with her son.

She says: “Babies and kids thrive in the outdoors because of the endless natural sensory play – from the smell of fresh air and the pine forest to the touch of the varying textures to the sound of the trees swaying and the rivers running.”

Morag says there is no need to pack lots of toys on these trips because sensory learning is free. When asked about the risks of taking a baby into the great outdoors, she says Hamish’s safety takes priority over everything else.

Morag said Hamish was at “the ideal age where I didn’t have to carry solid food for him yet and he wasn’t yet crawling”. Read the full story and see photos from the BBC.

The hidden island paradise between New Zealand and Australia

Australia has no lack of islands with great hiking trails, but the best island walking might well be on one of its far-flung shards of land.

Sitting 600 kilometres off the NSW coast, Lord Howe Island is just 11 kilometres in length, wrapped in reefs and weighted down by the bulk of Mount Gower, which has long dominated hiking thoughts on the island. The 875-metre peak is regularly touted as one of Australia’s best and toughest day hikes.

But it’s not alone in its appeal. There are trails right across the crescent-shaped island, with the standout walks at either ends. Trails like Malabar Hill step into another world. Staghorn ferns grow directly out of boulders with azure water below. It’s also a point on the island where birdlife is plentiful.

Another hike is Kim’s Lookout and down to North Bay, set with a backdrop of Lord Howe’s emblematic Kentia palms. Local guide Dean Hiscox says, “Geologically, Lord Howe is a lot like Hawaii. You could tack it onto the end of the Hawaiian islands, and it would fit right in.” Read more about Lord Howe Island from the Sydney Morning Herald.