Tell me more ×
The Great Outdoors Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for people who love outdoor activities, excursions, and outdoorsmanship. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 7 down vote favorite

Me and my girlfriend will go there in January and we plan on hiking for a week or so. Unfortunately there are no maps or books available for NZ hiking in my area. Could you recommend some for me?

Also I started using a GPS recently so the maps can be in any form (digital or paper), but I'd prefer to have a paper version as well.

We're looking at Rees Dart, but we're opened to any recommendations you might give us.

share|improve this question
topomap.co.nz should get you started as far as maps go. Wherever you go, popping into a hunting / fishing store or similar you'll pick maps up easy enough when you arrive. – Sirex Nov 7 '12 at 19:17
Yeah, I know about that site. See comments below. – Paul Irofti Nov 7 '12 at 21:24

4 Answers

up vote 4 down vote accepted

Omnimap seem to have all 1:50k maps with a delivery time of around two weeks. However, Omnimap are quite expensive (US$ 16.95 per sheet). By comparison, MapWorld New Zealand charges NZ$ 7.90 (US$ 6.50) per map.

Land Information New Zealand have a (probably incomplete) list of international resellers. This list includes Omnimap. Probably some of the domestic resellers also sell to foreign customers, so they might be your best bet.

share|improve this answer
Funny how they have one reseller for Great Britain and one for England ;) – gerrit Nov 5 '12 at 16:32
Thank you for the info, didn't know about omni until now. A friend also recommended I plan with these online topographical maps and then buy the paper ones when I'm there. He said they're really easy to find locally. Now all I need is to decide on a hike. – Paul Irofti Nov 5 '12 at 18:27
It's good to have local info as to how easy maps are to find locally. In my experience, that varies widely by country: from every kiosk in Switzerland, to well-stocked bookstores in Norway, to well-hidden hunting stores in Spain. When in doubt, it's safest to buy online in advance, no matter how beneficial it is to support the local economy by buying locally. – gerrit Nov 5 '12 at 20:06
I think I'll be okay as I'll be attending a conference there before hiking. So I'll have 10 days to walk around and hunt for maps. But I'll keep that in mind, thanks. – Paul Irofti Nov 7 '12 at 0:31
What kind of organisation would organise a conference in New Zealand :O usually they try to find places that are relatively easy to reach... – gerrit Nov 7 '12 at 8:33
show 2 more comments
up vote 3 down vote

I am from New Zealand and I tend to agree with the topomap service. Another great resource is the Department of Conservation Website http://www.doc.govt.nz Happy Hiking

share|improve this answer
Welcome to The Great Outdoors S.E. – MaskedPlant Nov 13 '12 at 16:41
up vote 3 down vote

I'm a kiwi too (a director of Hiking New Zealand.com) We do remote guided small group trips around NZ . Some of us are starting to play around with digital map solutions. A Good one I found is BackCountryNavigator PRO, cost a few bucks but is excellent. can download maps for when you are out of Internet range and your GPS works on it. Don't use Google maps or apple maps for wilderness info -- tracks etc are unreliably marked or out-of-date. excellent otherwise tho

With this tool you can do all your research at home and just buy the odd map as a back-up or for the more full on trips where you really can't afford a smart phone 'incident'. Good luck and enjoy our wonderful back-country. If you want take a look at our web site - we have a few hiking tips and ideas there too.

Reece dart is nice, plenty of other options, try and stay away from the crowded great walks huts if you are looking for solitude :-)

share|improve this answer
1  
Good Answer and welcome to The Great Outdoors S.E. – MaskedPlant Nov 13 '12 at 16:29
up vote 1 down vote

Quick tips:

Go to http://www.i-needtoknow.com/milford/maps/index.html

They have several links for hikers, including maps.

One you might check out is the Department of Conservation's online maps at:

http://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/tracks-and-walks/

Also, Google says there's another site called www.kiwifootpaths.com that may be useful...

share|improve this answer
Thanks, but all the links from the first site are broken. Including the 2nd and the 3rd that you posted. – Paul Irofti Nov 9 '12 at 14:29
Fixed the link. – Highly Irregular Dec 10 '12 at 19:57

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.