New Zealand’s Outdoor Environment

New Zealand’s outdoors has a unique bush environment, when compared to other countries around the world. As beautiful as it is, it can be very unforgiving to the unwaring.

New Zealand being a long narrow country and its location in the southern oceans means it is susceptible to the weather and as a result alpine like conditions can be experienced at any altitude any time of the year.

Read about the Outdoor Safety Code.

Most tracks are well defined but as you go more into back country environments the tracks are less formed and a higher degree of situation awareness and navigation skills are required. In these back country environments you need to be well equipped with good clothing choices. Most tracks in New Zealand are marked with track markers in both directions. In some bush areas the track can be hard to follow, you should be able to see from track marker to marker in the bush or the markers going in the opposite direction should you become unsure of the track direction.

Like most developed countries New Zealand has good mobile phone and internet coverage, but as you start getting into the outdoors the coverage can be poor or non-existed. In saying that there are several means or other devices that can be used to communicate such as;

• Personal Locator beacons (PLB) – these can be purchased or hired in NZ.
• Mountain radio – This is an HF radio that can be hired in NZ for backcountry travel. It is a voluntary service that has maned base stations around the country.
• Satellite Phone – Similar to a mobile phone, but they use satellites apposed to towers to talk to loved ones. They can be purchased or hired in NZ.

Unlike the UK where bridges for crossing streams are common, they are harder to find in New Zealand backcountry environments. Careful consideration needs to be applied when crossing streams in New Zealand. What looks harmless can infact be dangerous and one must question the need to cross them at all. It is essential to not only thoroughly evaluate any stream before crossing it, but to have the skills and knowledge to make informed decisions for a safer crossing.

New Zealand weather can be described as fickle and hard to predict at times. Unlike some European countries where you can set your watch to the arrival of an afternoon shower, in NZ several showers may be experienced in one day. People often ask how would you explain the weather in NZ, I simply say “expect sub-alpine conditions at any altitude, including sea level”.

Due to NZ’s location in the southern hemisphere and not far from the influence of the Australian landscape, NZ’s weather can come from three different directions (the South West, West & North West). Typically NZ misses the cyclones from the North but does receive colder weather influences from the Antarctica region.