Pouakai Hut

*please note price is in USD and I can’t change the currency* And please note the guide is IN PROGRESS. Purchasing gives you all updates, and I’m spending a lot of time to update most days. Currently you can view the waypoints. Track descriptions are being added daily. Not all tracks have descriptions yet. Descriptions include info on track conditions and terrain and how our kids of various stages found it. A guide to the Hut of New Zealand, with children in tow! Get reliable information on which hikes (With a focus on overnight) are great for kids, as well as specific child-friendly information on them. This is designed to be a parents guide and works great as an accompaniment to our My Overnight Adventure Journal, available in both Te Ika-a-Māui and Te Waipounamu, in hard print for the kids to take with on your adventures. Map Key: STAY symbol -DOC or other hut. GO symbol - Drive-to DOC or similar hut. (May be 4wd accessible) DO symbol - Walk-to camp ground. Either wild camping, or proper DOC tramping campground with toilets. Child friendly ratings explained: 5 stars: Easy shorter track, simple enough that most first timers can visit, and kids of all ages can visit (with some carrying needed for younger ages) Suitable for beginner/ never ever tramped before parents to take never ever tramped before kids. 4 stars: Easy spot to visit, however caveats exist. Eg. Big river crossing, not having a 4wd makes the track harder, there is a dodgy section, or track is on the longer side. Sometimes it is because despite the hut being very easily accessible, it’s in poor condition, and you’d need a tent to stay here, making it a less than ideal trip. 3 stars: Might not make a great first trip, but is a track kids will enjoy. Still relatively child friendly, but will need adults that have overnight hiked in a variety of terrain before, and are capable of decision making on the trip. Kids under 4 will likely need carried for sections. 2 stars: Not super child friendly, but still enjoyable for capable kids. Kids under 5 will likely need to be carried for sections. 5 year olds would need to have done several trips to be capable. But could be a first time trip for average 10yo+ 1 star: Older and fit kids 8-12+ will enjoy these. They’re not great first trips, but if you’re experienced, you could take an older more capable kid here as a first trip if you’re prepared to take all day. 0 stars: I likely won’t add these to the map, but these would be huts not recommended even for experienced kids. At the start, this map will have a bunch of locations that are child friendly, and I will add descriptive text as time goes on. For now some are missing descriptive text. Buying the guide now ensures you will get all the updates. This includes text and images, as it is updated in real time. Your support of the guide in these early stages ensures that I can continue writing the content. It will also be published in a hard copy physical book once ready.

This is a map of all my favorite spots to explore, eat, and stay in Aotearoa New Zealand after a year and a half of living in the land of the long white cloud with my two kids. Nearly all the pins are child friendly and they are noted if not. I update this periodically as I travel to new places so keep an eye out and enjoy New Zealand's incredible country!

This guide is for both Islands in New Zealand (the north and the south) for first time visitors who are taking their camper van throughout the islands with a few days in Auckland and Queenstown. It's a three week itinerary and includes the arrival and departure flight days (and has some suggestions for these days as well). It will go through (in detail!) every location we visited, the activities we did, the sites we camped up at, the restaurants we ate at (in between our camper van meals), what we learned about New Zealand and the camper van life whilst we were there, and other suggestions of what to do in the areas so you can alter your plans to fit what you want. Note that this itinerary includes two different camper van rental locations on each island, and flying between the two islands. But you could easily do the majority of this itinerary and just switch up a few days to drive between the two islands! This itinerary does have a decent amount of driving but its because we really wanted to PACK our itinerary to see as much of New Zealand and it's beautiful scenery whilst we were here. The main locations touched on are listed here (and we highly recommend all of them): -> Auckland (& Waiheke Island) -> West Coast North Island (Black Sand Beaches / Mt Taranaki) -> Tongariro Alpine Crossing -> Coromandel Peninsula -> Queenstown -> Milford Sound -> Wanaka (& Roys Peak) -> Aoraki / Mount Cook National Park -> Dunedin -> The Catlins If you're looking for a detailed guide that outlines your plan for each and every day, look no further!