My Te Araroa section plan for the 2020/2021 season

The year without mass tourism...

I have been working on my annual plan for the tramping excursions I intend to undertake over the 2020/2021 season. This is a planning exercise I do every year...I find that if I do not have a clear list of trips to cross off as I go I don't get out very often. 

Jon in the Upper Sabine River Valley in 2017...

I recommend that you sit down in late May/early June and plan your agenda for the coming year. This allows time to identify potential destinations before the DOC online hut booking system rolls over.

What we can expect over the next year..

 I am interested to see how things will be different as this will be the year without mass tourism. At the moment the borders are closed tight to any tourists...only expatriate New Zealanders returning to the maternal bosom are allowed back into the country.  Covid-19 still has the world firmly by the throat so I do not see our borders opening to anybody but Australia and the Pacific Islands in the near future.  

Most of the Air New Zealand fleet has been mothballed...(photo from Radio NZ site)

It is quite likely that we will have NO TOURISTS coming here for the first time in recorded history. Economically it will be a kick in the teeth for our country but I am curious to see what a New Zealand summer sans the tourists will be like. We may decide we like it that way...

I am hoping for better weather in Fiordland this year....a wet December 2019

The focus for 2020/2021 is knocking off the last two Great Walks and some longer multi-day trips to Abel Tasman NP, Arthur's Pass NP and the Cobb Valley. I will also be returning to Paparoa National Park for a couple of missions.

I have planned a return to Paparoa National Park...

I will be visiting a new park...Kahurangi NP. I have tramped in Kahurangi before back in the 1980's and 1990's. There is much to do there but it is at the top of the South Island (400+ km's away...) so a bit difficult to access from Christchurch...it is not a weekend trip destination. If you are going it is for a week or more...

Lake Cobb from the Peel Ridge Lookout, November 2020

Update January 2021: I have placed my Te Araroa Trail plans into hibernation for the rest of this year as I am concentrating on getting those Great Walks ticked of my to do list. I will be spending a lot more time from 2021 onwards on the TA as I look to cover more ground on the trail.