first time in nz!!!!

Hi Maria, Welcome! Many alpine tracks would be impassible at that time of year due to snow (e.g. Tongariro, Milford, Routeburn, Kepler). However, there are many lowland tracks, such as the Inland Pack Track at Punakaiki, and the Abel Tasman. You only have two weeks -- where do you think you will spend your time? The Tongariro area in the central NI is spectacular but snowy at that time of year -- best way to see it is on skis. In the SI, the Queenstown area and West Coast are probably good places to look. Welcome Flat hot pools on the Copland Track is an excellent winter walk. Matthew

Hi Maria, and welcome (soon) to NZ! Two of the Great Walks that I really enjoyed together are the Abel Tasman and Heaphy tracks. Both about 4-5 days each and very doable in Winter. I did both of them back to back last year in late July and it was perfect, just some people on the tracks, dry (no promises on that one) and a great time of the year to do them. P.S. I'm in Wellington, I love it as a base to explore the country Cheers, Rick

Thank you for your answers!!! I'm so excited about coming, just one month left now! I've got in touch with the Victoria University Tramping Club and the dates I don't work they are doing a trip do Lewis Pass. What do you think about it? Have you been therE? I thought it could be a nice chance to go tramping with some company! Rick, you'll have to guide me so that I can explore the country too!!! :D See you! maria

Lewis Pass is very pretty especially on the tops with all the little tarns. The VUTC are a great club to go with. I did a tramp with them only once and have a lot of time for them. I would follow their guidelines on what to take very seriously and if you don't have the right gear, let them know so they can lend you it if necessary as it will get quite cold when you go there.

One thing I've noticed when tramping with overseas folk is that they sometimes don't have a lot of experience at crossing rivers. If you are one of these people, let your group know and ask them to link up with you when you cross the streams. I found this out the hard way when a young lass fell in a little stream when it was nearly dusk with snow on the ground. She'd followed me when I was doing a boulderhop to avoid getting my dry boots wet and she slipped in. There was a good ford there but she didn't follow the person in front of her who went that way as he already had wet boots. Luckily we supported her by getting her to change her base layer, and putting on my warmed hat and gloves and we rushed to the nearby hut 10 minutes away, got her in her bag, and put mine opened on top of her while someone got the fire going. 15 minutes later she was out of the bag and chatting happily, enjoying a drink.

I'm one of those "overseas folk without many experience at crossing rivers"... :D I'm glad you tell me this so that I can avoid an experience like yours... even if it has a happy ending!

There might be a bit of stuff on the net to help inform but in the meantime here's an article from Frank's site on what not to do. http://tramping.typepad.com/tramping_report/2005/07/river_crossing.html

I can't fault this page. http://www.homeinthehills.co.nz/rivers.html

That's a great guide. The 6-person group (in the photos) is the only thing I thought may be questionable based on views exchanged with people I've met and the odd experience. I guess it depends on all sorts of factors and probably preferences, but I'd have thought that in some situations a group that large could be less stable than ideal compared with 2 groups of 3. As usual the sample photograph shows perfect weather and a relatively calm river with a nicely confident group of people, none of whom appear to be trying to skirt around unseen underwater obstacles. :) Group river crossings seem to be an horrendous area of disagreement and confusion. Besides all the obvious decisions leading up to it (whether to cross or not), I think the next most critical thing is to be absolutely sure that everyone has the same plan in mind and fully understands it before starting... whatever that method and plan may be. As far as I can tell (and I've only been in this for a few years so maybe I'm mis-led), accepted techniques have changed so frequently over recent decades that people's chosen methods appear to be largely dependent either on when they learned, or who they learned from and when that person learned. We once walked out a chap from another group so he could re-locate their vehicle, and the first thing he did when linking up was to grab the clip of my hip-belt, which immediately popped open (surprise surprise). I can't imagine what he had in mind, but maybe he's usually out with someone who has a different kind of pack. Most descriptions I've read discuss having the strongest people respectively on each end, or the two strongest people into the current. Even recently (early 2007) I went to a course run by an MSC instructor (though not for the MSC), and we were taught it's really only the second person in who needs to be strong, as long as the lucky and preferably light-weight person on the end has enough trust and confidence to avoid panicking as they get their free ride over and break the current. Ever heard of the Zipper method of turning a group around mid-river? (I think that's what it's called.) That's another technique we were taught that I've never seen anywhere else, and I can't see me ever using it unless I'm out with a group of people who all happen to know what it is and have practised it before that critical unfortunate moment.