Local Tramping Resources

Collections of Trip Reports

These are some of the places where you might find more trip reports about locations within a reasonable reach of Wellington.

Local blogs and websites

These are some weblogs run by other people nearby, which often talk about tramping and hiking related issues in New Zealand and Wellington.

  • Musings from Aotearoa — the blog of Robb Kloss, one of the founders of the Ruahine Tramping Club.  Robb writes a lot about tramping, especially in the Ruahine Range.
  • Craig’s Rather Random Ramblings and Rantings — the blog of Craig McGregor. Craig is another member of Wellington Tongue & Meats, and every so often he writes about his tramping and cycling expeditions.
  • Hut Bagging — Amelia is another member of Wellington Tongue & Meats, and often posts reports about trips she’s been on.
  • Hell Mission Tramping Club — Phillip and Jeremy do a lot of tramping, especially around the Ruahines and Tararuas. Their website includes trip reports and photos from many of their experiences.
  • Lewis and Matt’s Outdoor Adventures — Lewis and Matt are based in Wanganui, and often visit the Ruahines and Tararuas.
  • Love in a tent — the blog of Michelle Waitzman, an author from the Great Land of Canada, now living in Wellington. Michelle is especially interested in women and hiking. She has several books to her name including Moon Living Abroad in New Zealand, and Sex in a Tent: a wild couple’s guide to getting naughty in nature — John Rhodes, reviewing it for the Federated Mountain Clubs bulletin, describes it as “a guide to enjoying the outdoors with an extra dimension”.

Good reads and other New Zealand outdoor blogs and websites

I follow several weblogs by people who write a lot about tramping and mountaineering in New Zealand in general.

  • Skylark Productions — Markus Baumann is a photographer who often blogs about interesting history and aspects of tramping in the southern parts of New Zealand.
  • The Tramping Report — Frank and Honora, based in Christchurch, are two very experienced outdoors people, and blog about some very interesting back-country trips.
  • Tristan Riley is based in Nelson, but has previously worked in places such as Stewart Island and Raoul Island. He writes a lot about tramping expeditions around parts of the South Island.
  • Bob McKerrow is a very experienced climber who’s been all over over the world, and writes about it. His weblog collects together thoughts about current events, friends in the outdoor scene, and past experiences (of which there are many).
  • Andrew Barker’s Southern Traverse documents Andrew’s project to plan and complete a traverse of the South Island over several stints.
  • NZ Tramping — Greg Brave blogs about issues with traveling and tramping in New Zealand for visitors to New Zealand.
  • Bushcraft NZ is a social networking community for people interested in learning about and exchanging ideas in bushcraft. It’s a combination of forums, users’ blogs and tutorials, and overall a great resource.

Various Wellington Clubs and Organisations

There are lots and lots of tramping clubs both in Wellington and around New Zealand. Specifically in Wellington, the major organisations are probably the following.

Official resources for places to go

If you’re just looking for somewhere to go, here are some starting points.

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