Kids Gear

For the first couple of trips keep the trip simple on a fairly good track. That way the kids are more likely to enjoy it until they are hooked but more importantly boots can be replaced with good gym shoes. Also its normal for young kids to only carry clothes sleeping bag and a few high energy snacks from the unnatural processed sugar company. That could mean there existing school bags will do the job or if not a larger bag that could replace that school bag at some stage. Sleeping bags are the trick though. Warehouse etc sell lots of kids bags but nearly all are summer weight at best and full size bags are too heavy and bulky to fit the school bag method. Might have to take the scissors to some of your old bags. Warehouse is good for a lot of this stuff and will be ok for first tramps The last thing you want to do is spend lots on gear only suitable for tramping then only have them go out once.

Cheers. I think they will be right into it no matter what. they are tough little guys and already go diving with me on Rimutaka south coast. Its really a way of preparing them for hunting which they have been dying to do for ever. I see a kids navigator south bag which looks alright. But its darn hard finding good boots. Planning on taking them to punga hut or baine iti. Easy hikes to rugged bush huts that they will love.

I started taking my boys when they were 6 & 10 they are now 10 & 14 so quickly grew out of their boots. While it's hard to judge sizing I bought a couple of really good sets of Hitec's and some Teva's off Trademe. Fortunately I could hand down my oldest son's boots to his brother, but their feet grew so quickly it seemed like we only got 3 or 4 tramps out of them. Even then I had to splash out and buy a new pair for my teenager recently. I've never really got round to selling the old ones (4 sets) so if your interested I could box them up and send them to you. Pick out what you want and return the rest for a nominal amount + postage. They are still in very good condition.

Thats a nice offer thanks. Ill talk to my girlfriend tomorrow and see what she thinks. Cheers.

This might be a totally impractical and dumb idea but some sleeping bags zip together and people sharing stay warmer. You can put mattresses on the ground. 2 bags joined together would be OK for 3 kids. You put 2 mattress sideways instead of lengthways to fit 3 people on them. I read of an Artic expedition where 3 people shared 2 bags for extra warmth and less weight. BTW you can also zip some down jackets together for shared warmth. Of course if the dear little children are very restless, it mightn't be so pleasant to share.

Thats a nice idea Honora but I see too many punch ups with these two boys in a bag lol. 1strider we are very interested in the boots if you could provide some details of sizes makes models and prices it would be appreciated.

FCO have reasonable quality kids boots for around the $30-$40 mark during their (frequent) sales. As stated above they only tend to last half a dozen tramps before a bigger pair is needed, so I've never had any issues with them falling apart.

@Gaiters, Good to hear the kids are keen. I've been taking my two kids a girl (11) and boy (8) tramping into the Tararuas and Rimutakas for the past 5 years over a variety of terrain (bush, tracks, rivers and tops), mainly for 2-4 days. My experiences with gear for kids is this: Footwear: Use trail runners (bit more robust than normal running shoes) that they can wear to school or for sports as well. My kids grow out of their shoes every 6 months or so, so I have never considered getting leather or fabric boots from them for a few tramps. Go to Dressmart in Tawa and hit up New Balance or Lifestyle sports, I usually find shoes for $40-60 for the kids. If you know the size and fit, sierratradingpost.com is a great US outdoors discount site. Packs: All the packs my kids have used have been brought 2nd hand off Trademe for typically $50-70. Both kids started off with their school packs carrying their clothes, snacks and water bottle. Now both of them carry 40-45 litre packs. The back length of the packs is important so the packs carry well and are comfortable. Sleeping Bags: Again I've brought 2nd hand 3 season down bags (~500g of 700 loft down) from Trademe for the kids. Ie got standard adult sized bags as the down bags last a long time and they will grow into them. Not cheap but cheaper than new though. Kids sleep fine on foam rolls (despite them all wanting an air mat like their old man's!). Clothes: Most of the kids thermal gear (polypros, fleece, hats, gloves, socks etc.) is all from the Warehouse. The now defunct JK was also good. My daughter runs cold, so she also has a XS womans down jacket, which is also used to boost the warmth of the sleeping bag in winter. Ridgeline also good for thermals/fleece for kids. Raincoats from Kathmandu, and overthou from the Warehouse. One thing I've noticed when tramping with kids that is quite different than with adults is the pace/style of walking. Adults tend to walk at a more even consistent pace with fewer breaks. Kids are so much more variable in walking speed and appreciate breaks to explore, throw stones etc. I feed the kids a little food and often, better to give half a muesli bar every hour than a whole one every two hours.

Cheers for that Bazza. Was planning on getting a couple blaze orange ridgeline fleeces. polyprop longs and top. ecolite canyon boots ( or some off 1strider). a navigator south kids sleeping bag. thats basically it. Its a couple km to where we go diving around the south coast. After I took them for the first time they thanked me for taking them diving and hunting. Hunting I thought. Then I realised they were talking about the sheep they were chasing along the way hahaha.