New Zealand tramping, clubs and culture

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Tramping is the New Zealand term for hiking, trekking, rambling or bush-walking, and was common in print and speech by the 1920s. It is seen as a typically New Zealand activity – even though many cultures have much longer traditions of hill walking. Enthusiasts walk along, or off, tracks in back-country settings, carrying food and gear in a backpack. Unlike mountaineering and hunting, the journey is at the centre of the tramping experience. Most trampers stay in huts, while some carry tents. A typical trip, or tramp, lasts two to five days, with some lasting over a week. A tramp not involving an overnight stay is referred to as a ‘day trip’.

Early tramping

Māori were the country’s first trampers, although they made trips mainly for food-gathering, trade in pounamu (greenstone or New Zealand jade), and warfare. They wore woven flax sandals, and carried backpacks of woven flax with wooden frames and wide shoulder straps. The first Europeans to take to the back country were explorers, missionaries, surveyors, botanists, geologists and prospectors. In many places they followed Māori paths. European pioneers who wanted to get somewhere would often walk, especially in rough terrain that horses could not traverse. It is difficult to say when this was first seen as recreation. Romantic notions of sublime nature, popular in England in the 1800s, are common in the journals of these early travellers, and this love of wild landscapes gave rise to many tramping clubs. <p">The introduction of deer and trout in the late 1800s attracted hunters and anglers to the hills, and mountaineers began to look to the high peaks. For others, the experience of being in the hills was enough, and friends would band together for excursions.

Tramping clubs

It was natural that tramping clubs soon formed. The first was the Tararua Tramping Club, established in 1919 in Wellington. Others sprang up. Members would build huts, cut tracks and organise group trips. The groups also fostered leadership and camaraderie, and taught skills such as navigating, putting up tents and making fires. A few people in one club occasionally tramped naked. Some clubs were also political, lobbying for access to wild lands and the conservation of land. <p">The golden age of tramping clubs lasted from the 1940s to the 1970s. By the 2000s many had ageing and declining memberships. Increasing numbers of tourists were taking to the bush, especially on the well-known tracks.

Tramping culture

Tramping has its own words, including:

• scroggin – a mix usually of nuts, raisins and chocolate, for an energy boost. The term is also used by Australian bush walkers

• the tops – the land above the bushline

• billy – a light pot for cooking over an open fire or cooker.

Taking time off

Tramping needs plenty of time. A trip lasting a week or more can be referred to as an ‘epic’ if it is difficult, dangerous, or requires endurance. Traditionally Christmas and Easter offered the chance of extended trips. North Islanders have for decades used the term ‘Christmas trip’ for a South Island sojourn of 10–16 days (using statutory holidays and annual leave). With flexible work patterns, and many jobs offering more annual leave, in the 2000s people can make longer trips at any time of the year. <p">Weekend trips are available to those who live close enough to the hills. Before cars were affordable, Aucklanders mainly tramped in the Waitakeres. Wellingtonians headed for the Tararuas, Cantabrians for Arthur’s Pass and Dunedinites for the Silver Peaks. While they are still popular destinations, today people are willing to drive many hours before they start tramping. <p">Spending time in the bush offers a counterpoint to everyday urban life, and an escape from work, phones, and emails. Seeing new landscapes or revisiting old haunts is revitalising, and for some it is a spiritual or philosophical experience. Trampers return better able to deal with the world and its worries, which seemed trivial where the preoccupations are primary – food, shelter and warmth. And for those interested in the landscape and natural history, tramping is the only way to see vast swathes of New Zealand’s back country.

(extracted from: TeAra.govt.nz)