⛰️#12 - Waikaremoana Drama, Know Your UPFs, Blessings, & Lots More

Author

Jub Bryant
November 07, 2024

And we are back with the 12th NZ Hiking Newsletter, sent every Thursday.

I'll let you know what’s going on in the hiking scene in New Zealand, along with other related bits and pieces I find interesting.

p.s. thanks to the new subscribers who saw my post in the Tramping in New Zealand group. I’m not one for promoting what I work on too often, so that was fun. And to the other new subscribers who ended up here. Chur..

Alright, let’s get into it.

Table of Contents

☀️ A 101 On UPF Ratings For Clothing

Since I started working at Macpac, every year customers are focusing more on the UPF level of their clothing, especially upper layers for when they’ll be hiking all day.

UPF ratings can seem random, with some products having a 50+ rating, while a similar product may have a UPF rating of 15.

But if you read this for 5 minutes (specific to NZ), you can walk into a shop and be able to navigate all the labels and what they really mean.

I find the two most common questions I get are:

  • Why does a long-sleeved t-shirt have a rating of 50, but the short-sleeved version of the same model and colour has no rating?

    As from the link above.…”a minimum level of body coverage is required for clothing to display or claim a UPF rating.”

  • Why do different colours have different ratings?

    Darker colours absorb more UV radiation than lighter colours. Therefore darker colours have a higher rating if everything else is constant.

Quick tip: tighter fitting clothing means more UV light can get through easier.

⛵ Drama at Lake Waikaremoana Great Walk

While the Hump Ridge Track kicked off with great success and organisation last week, I can’t help but feel like something needs to change at Waikaremoana to enable a better experience for those who want to book boat shuttles.

I’ve noticed many comments in various places about the struggle to contact the main boat operator over the last year. And then this was posted on behalf of the Te Urewera Trust:

“There is an illegal operator, that is not licensed to carry passengers and does not financially contribute to the upkeep of Waikaremoana as WaiwaiXpress is required to do. The illegal operator does not have permission by Te Urewera Board to operate in Waikaremoana or Te Urewera. This will have the affect of cancelling your booking on the Great Walk. Your comments about the difficulty to contact the Visitor Centre are fair - but unlike the illegal operator it has been difficult to cover the much wider bases that go into foremost the safety of the structures, the licensing requirements of new water taxis and cyclone recovery not counting Gabrielle plus many more exciting challenges that are Te Urewera. Please reconsider your planning and preparation steps, here in Te Urewera. WaiwaiXpress is the only registered company with the Trust Board to operate. Details for [email protected]”.

That was from what I assume was a message sent to Te Urewera Trust about the inability to contact the ‘official company’, the WaiwaiXpress.

The illegal operator is a guy named George and people said great things about his service. The WaiwaixXpress on the other hand is who people struggle to get in touch with.

This is their brochure:

That seems fine. I can’t think of what other info you’d need, other than how long each boat ride is. And it’s a bit annoying they don’t operate on Sundays…for a Great Walk that doesn’t seem convenient. Now it’s mostly contacting the company which is the biggest concern.

I decided to email them this morning and got a reply back in less than 4 hours with perfect instructions. That seems pretty good to me.

But it would be great if they:

  • had a website (the brochure on Facebook is very 1990’s)

  • a non-gmail email account

  • a way to book online. They are remote, but Starlink removes that hurdle

And I’m not sure about George. Maybe he doesn’t have permission because he hasn’t asked? Or doesn’t want to come to an agreement Te Urewera Trust? Or maybe Te Urewera Trust doesn’t want to allow a second operator therefore giving the other party a monopoly? Is that kosher?

Well, I’m not sure where I’m going with this as there are so many layers to it (and I haven’t got every detail). But here’s hoping the WaiwaiXpress steps up their game, and gives everyone an epic experience as all operators should when they’re serving guests on a Great Walk.

😹 Hiking Funny

This is a brilliant headline I didn’t expect to see. So good.

Shoutout to Bradley from Trail Running NZ for putting me on to that.

🗒️ Other Track News Etc.

  • On November 1st there was a blessing for a new landmark at the start of the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. Representing Te Ririo, an important historical figure, the landmark will welcome visitors to the sacred landscape they’re about to enter (source).

  • After 14 days (570 total hours from 17 volunteers) of cutting gorse and rangiora, 9kms of the Frith-Finish Track in the Tararua was cleared. The last clearing was 2 years ago. A big shoutout to the GWBN volunteers for their work here and on other tracks. That’s some hard yakka! Check out some of the photos.

  • The Love Our Huts campaign is underway. Many volunteers are posting photos of their hut adventures, with before and after photos in the Love Our Huts FB Group.

  • If you’re near Kerikeri on Saturday evening, the KAI AND KORERO event hosted by DOC might be up your alley. You’ll learn some skills, eat some good food, and come away inspired. And it’s FREE. Check out the event on FB.

  • I learned about PackBack a few months ago and just came across them again. They rent full packs with gear for both day and overnight hikes. Handy if you’ve got friends and family coming from overseas. It’s a ‘why didn’t I think of that’ idea.

  • It’s primarily a bike trail, but you can also hike the new section of the Mountains to Sea Ngā Ara Tūhono Great Ride (opened last Friday). At 11.4km, it’s great for the Ruapehu District (source).

  • On Wilderlife.nz Markus Milne documents his multiple failures and eventual success in reaching Ivory Lake Hut. It was a long time coming but he got there…apparently it’s becoming a bit of an Instagrammer hut. I liked this article as there’s been a few tracks where it’s taken me a few goes to reach the goal (e.g. Mount Crichton & Ben More Peak in Otago).

🎁 A Couple Of Competitions To Enter

  • NEW An Awesome Prizepack with Racers Edge Wanaka - enter here (entries open until December 2nd)

  • Win a Dream Adventure in Ruapehu - enter here (entries are still open at time of writing)

🧔‍♂️ What I've Been Up To...

Day for it!

I’d heard about the average weather in Queenstown before I arrived back in mid-October. I didn’t avoid it all as there’s still been way too much rain on my weekends for my liking as we head into November.

But Sunday? What a day! I joined friends for a run with friendon the Rock Peak Track (between Queenstown and Wanaka). The snow was amazing to run on, nice and grippy. And of course, we finished with a beer and chips at the Cardrona Pub.

I’ve enjoyed the book Meet You At The Main Divide by Justine Ross and Geoff Ross. They own Lake Hawea Station (and created 42 Below), and with the hikes around Lake Hawea having some of my favourites its been an interesting read so far. Next week I’ll include some of my key takeaways from the book.

Have a great week, hike it up.

As always, reply to this email (or message me on Whatsapp +642041702764) with anything and everything…I’m happy to chat.

Chur,

Jub

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