The Ochils Mountaineering Club

I'm looking to go tramping in New Zealand next Feb/March(flights not booked yet), and I'm wondering if anyone has experience of the tracks and/or recommendations. I would hate to end up on a trail which spends the whole time in the trees, and I've heard scarey stuff about leeches too!

Hi

Excellent place, NZ, was there abiut 5 years ago. Have a look at http://photos.veletron.com for the NZ pics. I was mostly biking (was not into hiking at the time) I did the tongarira crossing (walking) and queen charlotte track biking amoung shorter walks. Kepler track was raved about, but I never got around to doing it.

Nigel

We were there a few years ago, hoping to do a wee bit of Alpine stuff. It rained and snowed most of the month, though, and we didn't get a lot done. We did spend a couple of days doing the Kepler trail (it's "supposed" to take 4 days, but you'd have to be lame to take that long). It goes through some pretty, though not overly spectacular, scenery, and is very easy going. There's even a section that goes down a narrow (but not knife edge) ridge that would have a couple of short rocky steps that would verge on being scrambling if they hadn't built stairs down them!
People seemed to be raving about the Routeburn trail a lot, so that may be worth a look.
We managed to get a few dry days at Arthur's Pass and enjoyed some great scenery and more challenging walks with some scrambling on hideously loose rock (known affectionately as "weetabix" by the locals). There are quite a few options for good day, 2 day or 3 day walks around there (and doubtless some longer ones too).
We have several books you can borrow if you want (and a set of maps).
I've never quite managed to sort our photos out, unfortunately.

Oh yeah, we did the Tongariro crossing too. It was really nice, with amazing scenery, and the diversion up Mount Ngauruhoe was well worthwhile.
Again, it's pretty easy (ascending scree on Mount Ngauruhoe excepted). We got the impression that most tramps in NZ are either very easy / sanitised, or completely wild and very rough going. There may be some in the middle, but we didn't find them!

Agree with Iain re. the tracks in NZ - they seem to be either very easy or very rough, ie require a machete. The latter kind of tracking (bushwhacking?) seemed to have been a kind of sport amongst some people when I was there in 1998. In 1998 I did the Lake Waikeremoana track (loads of bush, not very busy) and the Tongariro crossing (VERY busy, very scenic) in the North Island and the Kepler track (quite scenic) and the Routeburn track (VERY scenic) in the South Island. Also walked up to Mueller Hut (fantastic views to Mt Cook) and Mount Olivier (Ed Hilary's first peak), Ben Lomond (near Queenstown, very popular with Scottish visitors!), French Ridge Hut (just below Mount Aspiring), Mount Roy (near Wanaka, great views) and climbed on 'Roadside Attractions' (sports climbing) near Wanaka. In 2001 Roddy and I went to South Island and had 3 weeks of bad weather. However, we managed to do a walk at Arthur's Pass, walked up Mount Fox near Fox Glacier, walked the Milford track (scenic but very busy and very regulated) and - very decadent - took a helicopter up Fox Glacier and did some ice climbing there. My favourite area was probably the Matukituki valley near Wanaka. In general, the tracks are well signposted and the huts are good (different from Alpine huts, all self-catering unless you go on a guided walk). You are welcome to borrow maps and books, we have photos too. Of course, there are so many other things to do too - we can recommend kayaking at Abel Tasman. Beware of leaving anything in the car if you hire one and leave it in one of the remoter car parks, we had all of our luggage stolen near Arthur's Pass (the car was unattended for about 20 minutes). Unfortunately, this kind of thing seemed to be a problem when we were last there. Never came across any leeches, by the way!