Couple missing in Kahurangi National Park

Other forums are suggesting that the, errr, fungi season may have been a drawcard.

Coming back to where they thought they were going: my guess is that they were heading toward lake Otuhie. So I'm guessing they attempted to go up to Kōkopu creek. As they were find in Frazer Stream that shows you how lost they were. And on advice: as part of the Duke of Ed program my wife is running we teach kids to use a GPS app on their phone. Solves all the problems. You know where you are at all times. If you're madpom you probably need to know compass and topomap reading, but very few people do that kind of stuff. You know when you need to have that knowledge when you start doing that.

Yea, it seems a bit odd that experienced, millennial outdoorsfolk didn't have a mapping app on a smartphone. And given that they were known for carrying hired PLBs, it's possible that the reason they didn't have one this time is because they set out during level 3, therefore none of the places that rent them would have been open.

this has been posted online elsewhere in a tramping forum "I think before some of you make comments even slightly negative it is important that you have your facts right.. what the media tells you isn’t always the truth . Jess and dion are extremely competent when it comes to off track navigation and where infact carrying maps and compass’s... and had left intentions and a panic date with friends although there may be some lessons to learn from this let’s not forget that these are two young people who nearly lost their lives and the last thing they need at the moment is negative backlash from people who don’t even know first hand their story... Also those of you implying they got lost due to drugs .. grow up you also don’t know that as the truth so why would you even mention it"

waynowski, they were totally not where they thought they were. That's the very definition of not being "extremely competent".

One thing that comes up in NZ is parallel similar looking valleys. You could be in the wrong valley and have no idea until you come to a feature that shouldnt be there. Ive camped at the bottom of a waterfall that wasnt on the intended route before because our highly experienced leader turned into the tributary before the one he should have

Straying up a tributary and not realising is easily done, yes. But by the sounds they were climbing in and out of valleys and lost track of which ones.

> their problems may have been something to do with what they may have been smoking I wouldn't pay much attention to that personally unless direct evidence were to show up. One of the early Stuff articles mentioned the area was known for magic mushrooms, but that doesn't mean everyone or even most people go there for that. Unless there's direct evidence it's just insinuation. > my guess is that they were heading toward lake Otuhie. So I'm guessing they attempted to go up to Kōkopu creek. As they were find in Frazer Stream that shows you how lost they were. Dion did mention a lake in the interview as @Craigo also mentioned, and there doesn't seem to be any other obvious lake on the map at least. There still seems to be quite a bit to get around and over and through to reach the lake even if following Kokopu Creek, including a significant wetland, but I can't see anything else obvious from what was described.

And that area has the tracks he also mentioned.

From RNZ Checkpoint this evening. https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018748606/no-charges-to-be-laid-against-missing-trampers-despite-lockdown