I hate DOC

I don't see why you should hate DOC. If you actually stopped and talked to the people in DOC you will find that most of them are just like you and me and have very much the same values. They are more than happy to listen to suggestions given in a positive way. The reason why there are no bookings left on the Milford Track is because it is usually fully booked out before the season starts. The only way around this would be to build bigger huts and have more people on the track and make it more crowded. My suggestion is to do the Milford in the off season. You need to cross Dore Pass from the Eglington to Glade House, then at the other end you bludge a boat ride to or from Milford. When we did it it cost us a bottle of Rum. I know of one party who carried a cheap children's inflatable boat across the track and rowed out to Milfoird that way. The advantage with the off season is that you have the whole place to yourself. But you do need to be experienced to deal with possible snow conditions and the higher crossing over Dore Pass.

i agree with the last reply. doc do a great job and they should be congratulated for what they do. I'm sure they could do a lot more if they were better funded by the government.as for booking the milford track, it pays to do it well in advance. we actually rang doc in te anau to book our tickets and they were great to deal with and we had no problems

Agree with the last two posters. They do a good job with the funding that they have. I say forego tax cuts and give the money to DOC.

By and large the DOC people I have met wandering Newzealand have been fantastic and do a job that all of us would try if the pay was better. Its unfortunate that they have from time to time been represented by people who exhibit a great deal of zeal and little of what we would recognise as practical experience. I recall watching a DOC spokesperson dressed in her well pressed apres' DOC gear waxing lyrical about the Tongariro Alpine crossing on morning TV. When asked a specific question had to admit she hadnt been anywhere near it. Lacked an enourmouse amount of credability. Like most big organizations Management can often loose sight of the coal face a small reminder now and then of who the work for will get them back on track. On the whole a fine bunch of people.

I went to a DOC seminar recently and the staff member running it started out by saying. "We want you to realise that DOC is not a mindless beaurocratic mostrosity, it is a mindfull beaurocratic mostrosity". Which I think about sums it up. The problem is that most of the staff are specialists with fancy job titles who sit at desks from 9-5 and then want to do other things at weekends. A bit like most of us I guess. We don't have the generalist Rangers like we had in the National Park days who had a "patch" and did and knew everything in their patch from pest control, cutting tracks to builing toilets. The highs from DOC staff that I have seen was an older woman, Robyn was her name from Blenheim I think, who was warden at Lake Angelus a few years back. She was always in uniform and was the genial hostess at that hut. She was there to greet you when you arrived, remembered your name and sat in the main room and talked to different groups throuhout the evening. She knew everything there was to know about the area. No need to check hut tickets because she had an uncanny knack of knowing who was paying and who wasn't anyway. The lows are some of the volunteer hut wardens that seem to haunt Tongariro National Park and only creep out of the wardens quarters after dark to check hut tickets like a bus conductor. Like the Texan, complete with drawl, at Oturere; the big German Frauline who stood hands on hips at the door of Ketetahi barking at everyone to remove their boots at the door. But the worst was a mob of Israelis who seemed to be squating in Mangatepopo Hut. Aparently all of them were authorised to be there in one big mob as volunteer hut wardens. I certainly think that we could do a lot better than this to show off our New Zealand outdoor heritage in a much better light.

I think we could all come up with one of those warden stories. i particularily like having a 20 something warden explain in great detail what to do if we have a fire, where the door is and especially the window. Then spend a sleepless night as he and his mates party until 3 in the morning. I could live with 1 or two wardens at a pinch but 8 was stretching it. When i suggested that the speech probably wasnt needed he replied in a very slow medicated drawle "like dont shoot the messenger man" and floated out the door.

As far as I know general rangers are not yet a threatened species. They still make up a fair proportion of DOC staffers - although I hear that some of them are only on temporary contracts that seem to roll round year after year after.... I have visited DOC head office in Wellington (really interesting as a sustainable building, you can go on a short tour) and there aren't overwhelming numbers of people behind desks. In fact, I think I heard on the radio this morning that they've cut 60 jobs.

Yes it is sad to see jobs at DOC have been lost. No money in the budget to cover the shortfall so meaningful conservation programs are going to get the chop. Not a particulaly good reflection on the new Minister, who is also my local MP.

Good news I met a young guy who would have to be the youngest field officer for DOC in Newzealand at 19 at Te puia lodge over the weekend. Hopefully they find a few more like him. Even at 19 he new what he was doing which makes a change. Very personable