links to useful websites

Department of Conservation, ie, DOC

DOC logo

Backcountry hut information is the main page about accommodation in, err, huts. Fees & bookings is the official info about hut tickets and passes, and, bookings if you need to book a hut on Stewart Island, (the two either side of Halfmoon Bay are on the Rakiura Track which is a Great Walk), Lake Angelus or a Serviced Alpine hut.

The Huts by region lists all the DOC huts, in each region, with basic info, like where they are, how many bunks, what their category is, and whether they have a wood burner, or mattresses. Concise and useful for huts not documented on this site.

The DOC map viewer is good for an overview of the area at the planning stage where you can choose between satellite, plain map, terrain, or the most useful, the 1:50,000 Topo50 maps and you can switch tracks and huts layers on.

If you want to visit a DOC office to buy hut passes or paper maps there is a list of DOC addresses to find the closest.

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Land Information New Zealand, ie, LINZ for free map download

LINZ logo

Want to print out a free detailed contour map? If you want to download a digital Topo50 map, that’s at the useful scale of 1:50,000 and containing the same level of detail as the old-style paper version, they are available as TIFF, 33MB, or GeoTIFF, 138MB, digital files that you can then print out as required. Hey, they don’t cost anything, yup, they are free.

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topomap.co.nz for free GPS download

topomap.co.nz logo

If you want to upload a custom map to your GPS device it’s better to download a more compact .klm format file, around 15MB file size, from topomap.co.nz for, once again, a grand price of zilch. If you download a few maps consider a small donation, there’s considerable work gone into getting that info onto the internet and we should support these useful resources. You can also download the GeoTiff and Tiff formats here as well.

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newtopo.co.nz for handy weatherproof maps

newtopo.co.nz logo

For some popular tracks Newtopo produces a handy detailed weatherproof series of maps at scales around 1:50,000 which are available from $25 to $13 from major DoC offices and some outdoor stores, Macpac keep them, or consult this list of retail outlets.

The South Island list includes: Marlborough Sounds, Queen Charlotte Track, Abel Tasman, Mt Arthur, Cobb, Heaphy Track, Wangapeka Track, Travers-Sabine Circuit, St James Walkway, Lake Sumner Tramps, Arthurs Pass, Banks Peninsula, Aoraki/Mt Cook, Rees-Dart Track, Five Passes Wilderness, Routeburn, Greenstone/Caples, Milford Track, Kepler Track, Rakiura Track, and Rakiura NW Circuit.

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realmeals.co.nz for freeze-dried food

absolutewilderness.co.nz logo

Scrummy!

Once you’ve gobbled your first freeze-dried, vacuum-packed, dinner from Real Meals you won’t consider taking anything else for your tramping food menu. The best pure tramping meals around, just add boiling water and it reconstitutes itself, like it’s fresh, with mega flavour.

Did I say Yumbo!!

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Te Araroa Trust | Te Araroa Trail

Everything you need to know about the Te Araroa Trail, well, the bits they want you to know. Has the downloadable maps, etc.

Website is here.