New to the great outdoors

Hi Davina, Joining a club is one of the easiest ways to get on trips with some experienced people. Also clubs can have other facilities such as ski lodges, gear hire, and run outdoors skills courses. Some clubs in Wellington are: (no means a comprehensive list) Tararua Tramping Club ttc.org.nz Wellington Tramping and Mountaineering Club wtmc.org.nz Vic Uni of Wellington Tramping Club vuwtc.org.nz Hutt Valley Tramping Club hvtc.org.nz Look at fmc.orgnz for other affiliated outdoors clubs. Whatever you do, getting out into the outdoors as often as you can is the best way to gain experience.

Oh cheers, ill be checking them all out, god i dont even know what i need ( equipment wise!)

I had that problem (no friends interested) a few years ago, and for me at least a club was the way to go (Wellington Tramping & Mountaineering Club is my club). It took a few months to get into it properly 'cos it's a little daunting at first showing up a club meeting without knowing anyone, but once you've been out on a few overnight trips you get to know the regulars really well. I think Wellington might be one of the most fortunate places to be looking for a club, because as others have already noted there are so many of them and several are very active. There's also a wide range of different club attitudes if the first one or two clubs you check out doesn't fit very well.

Hi Izogi, yeah i had a look at the websites and added the wellington tramping and mounhtaineering one tomy facebook to check it out. I usualy have no probs making friends with new people, but this time its a diff scene to what im used too, and people will def pick up on that haha. Yah, it is daunting yet exciting gong to a club where ill know no one, and no nothing about tramping. where are the meetings held in wellys? hmm i am not very active haha

Yep, the WTMC meets in the same place as the Tararua Tramping Club (nearly every Wednesday and Tuesday respectively). It's in the TTC hall, near the end of Moncrieff Street, Mt Vic: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=moncrieff+street,+wellington&ll=-41.296639,174.784455&spn=0.007577,0.016394&oe=utf-8&client=iceweasel-a&t=h&z=16&layer=c&cbll=-41.296539,174.784518&panoid=dBYPcSYNvlOlipH7jb0Zyg&cbp=12,243.37,,1,-3.88 If you spend most of your day in the CBD, one of those clubs might be easiest for scheduling. I'm not sure what the TTC does these days, but I think it's similar to the WTMC pattern of meeting at Wellington Railway Station on a Friday night after work to leave for the weekend. I think the Vic Uni club also does something similar. I'm not sure where the Hutt Valley Club leaves from. The TTC and the WTMC will normally have someone at the door from 7.30pm onwards on their meeting night to attack new people, and there's usually some kind of talk from 8pm lasting about 30 to 60 minutes, give or take. With WTMC at least, you'd probably not benefit much by showing up earlier than 7.45pm. The earlier arrivals are often just people collecting and dropping off club gear for past or future weekend trips. The different clubs definitely have different approaches and attitudes, but the best thing to do is really to just go and check them out and figure out which one you feel most comfortable with.