Yes, all walkers must check in at our office, 31 Orawia Rd Tuatapere, before driving to the carpark. Our office is 17km from the car park at the start of the track. Upon check-in, you will sign a customer declaration, receive a health & safety briefing for Day 1, and collect your maps and accommodation passes. You can check in on the morning of your walk or the afternoon prior. Our office is open every day during the season, 7.30am to 6.00pm. If you arrive outside our office hours, please call our office number.
Please ensure you have allowed time for the briefing in your travel plans.
Due to Health & Safety, it is necessary that all members of your party, including any children, attend this briefing.
The whole idea about tramping is to experience nature, take in the sights and scenery, and to enjoy yourself. It is not a race!
A moderate to high level of fitness is required to complete this walk. To make your tramp more enjoyable, it is advisable to undertake some form of training before the walk. By doing some form of regular exercise beforehand, you are going to make your walk around the Hump Ridge track a lot more enjoyable.
Some tips before you start training:
- During some of your training walks, be sure to wear the clothes that you intend to tramp in. It is best to find out beforehand if they are going to be suitable, ie. non-chafing, comfortable to wear.
- Walk in the shoes and socks you are going to tramp in. You need to be wearing shoes that are comfortable and provide good support for the ankles. Blisters can make tramping very unpleasant, so it’s best to have your shoes broken in properly.
- Wear your pack during some of your training walks. Even if you are making use of the Day 1 heli-pack service, you will still have to carry some gear with you (especially on days 2 and 3). You will enjoy your walk a lot more if your body is used to carrying a pack already.
- Hydration and nutrition are very important; your body needs fluids before you are thirsty, so drink regularly. Snacks such as bananas and muesli bars are great lightweight foods to carry that provide quick energy. Remember to carry your rubbish out with you!
- It is important to get some hill training in before the walk. On the first day of the Hump Ridge Track you will go from sea level to 890m. Simple things such as taking the stairs whenever possible can also help. Get off the streets and head into the bush tracks. You will need to experience different walking terrains, and don’t stay indoors just because the weather may not be ideal for walking. Fiordland is a beautiful place, but it cannot always guarantee beautiful weather.
- Not all your training needs to be walking, feel free to jump on a bike, use the gym, swim, run or do Zumba! Cross-training is important to keep yourself from getting bored.
Learn about the route and make sure you have the skills for it.
Choose the right trip for you. Assess the packages and optional extras, as this can alleviate stress and even weight out of your pack.
Understand the weather. Check the weather forecasts, and make sure you are prepared for it.
Check gear lists. Pack warm clothes and extra food.
Share your plans and bring resources to get help if needed. Tell a trusted person your trip details and take a distress beacon. PLBs can be hired from the office.
Take care of yourself, and if tramping with others, each other.
Yes, there is a variety of local accommodation sites here in Tuatapere. Ranging from motels/lodges to Airbnb’s. We advise doing a Google search to view the different accommodation options.
*Those on the PRIME PACKAGE and GUIDED WALK, the pre-departure accommodation is already included in your package.
Those on the transport, we recommend staying at accommodation sites located in the township and is close to our office. This makes for an easy drop off and pick up for you. We do not drop off and pick up at locations outside of the township.
If you have added on the optional extra of a helipack or it is included in your prime package, your pack for the helicopter is to be dropped off at our office in Tuatapere by 8.00am on your starting date. Packs can be dropped off the day prior to your starting date as well. Your packs will be weighed, tagged, and taken to the helipad for the flight. There is a max weight of 10kgs per pack. Should your pack go over 10kgs, you will be asked to repack or pay for an additional pack.
The helicopter is unable to fly in fog or high winds, though uncommon, the likelihood of the flight will be communicated to you in the morning at our office. We will make several attempts to get into Okaka depending on the forecast and cloud movement throughout the day.
In the event of a no-fly day, your pack will be flown to the next lodge. Whilst the Lodge Staff at Okaka will make every effort to ensure that you are as comfortable as possible, you will greatly assist your own comfort by carrying a few extra essentials. If you are heli-packing, we recommend that you carry any personal medication, spare thermals & food in your day pack.
Packages
The 8-sleeper bunk room, sleeps 8 people with 4 bottom bunk beds and 4 top bunk beds. When booking into a bunk room, the sleeping configuration is first come first serve.
The 4-sleeper quad rooms, sleep 4 people in 4 bottom bunk beds. When booking into a quad room, you not only share the room with less people but you also guarantee yourself a bottom bed.
At the pre-departure B&B, you will be booking into their premium rooms (Double or Twin config.) with shared bathroom facilities.
For the two nights on the track, the prime package includes fully made single beds in our multi-share 4 sleeper accommodation rooms. Should you wish to have some privacy, you can choose to upgrade into a private room (King or Twin config.)
Yes, you can consolidate the weight into fewer packs, however the same weight restriction applies. A pack cannot weight more than 10kgs.
Please note the helipack is included in the package, this means the cost of the prime package cannot be reduced should you choose to not use it.
At the pre-departure B&B, you will be booking into their premium rooms (Double or Twin config.) with shared bathroom facilities.
For the two nights on the track, the guided walk includes fully made single beds in our multi-share 4 sleeper accommodation rooms. Should you wish to have some privacy, you can choose to upgrade into a private room (King or Twin config.)
Yes, should you have a dietary restriction or any allergies we will cater the meals for you accordingly. Given the remoteness of our facilities the more notice we have the better. Should a guest require a complex adaptations to our menus, please understand this may incur an additional fee for catering.
Our Lead Guide will be in contact with you at least one month prior to the departure to gather necessary additional information such as dietary restrictions, weights for the helicopter manifest, and any medical conditions.
On the trip, you will meet our guiding staff at Last Light Lodge for the 6.30pm group briefing.
Lodge Facilities
Our Okaka and Port Craig Lodges are backcountry lodges which feature gas heating & cooking, solar lighting, flush toilets, licensed lodge shops, and shared kitchen & bathroom facilities. Port Craig Lodge has a USB charging station available for charging mobile phones. This facility is not available at Okaka Lodge. All power is by means of solar; no plugs/outlets are available for personal use.
Drinking water is available at both Lodges, and most streams are safe to drink from. Boiling is recommended. Water points are indicated on the map.
Private rooms; if you have booked into a private room, linen, bedding, pillows and blankets are provided.
Multi-share rooms; include a pillow, pillow slip and fleece blanket. (If you have booked the freedom walk, a sleeping bag is required in the multi share accommodation).
The Humpridge Track is a Smoke-Free environment; smoking or vaping is not allowed on or within lodge premises or amongst other walkers.
The communal kitchen facilities consist of six stove-top burners and four washing-up basins. The kitchens are stocked with all the necessary items for your use: crockery, cutlery, cooking utensils, pots, pans, gas, tea towels, dishwashing liquid, food scrap bins, and recycling bins for items you have purchased in the lodge shop. For personal items & rubbish, please follow the pack-in, pack-out rule.
As we provide gas stove tops, you are not required to bring your own portable gas burner. For H&S purposes, when cooking in our lodges facilities only our stove tops are to be used.
Complimentary instant coffee, black tea, milk powder, sugar, oil, salt & pepper are available for use in our kitchen facilities.
When you book a hot shower, you will be provided with a token for the shower, a towel and a 2-in-1 soap/shampoo.
We recommend using the provided soap/shampoo as it is bio-friendly for our waste system. Plus it will save weight in your pack 🙂
At this stage, our lodges do not have drying rooms. Clothes can be hung on a shared clothes lines outside and undercover as well as drying racks. The lodge staff will point out these areas when you arrive. For your safety, items on a drying rack cannot be dried directly around the fireplaces.
Yes, however, it is recommended to add on extras like showers and sleeping bags before the walk for logistics planning.
You can purchase refreshments, snacks or self-prepared meals in our lodge shops. We stock various beers, wines, G+Ts, as well as low alcohol and zero-percentage beers.
Our Lodges are on-licensed premises, so one cannot bring alcohol onto our premises. If you bring your own, it will be confiscated and poured out.
Our shops accept both cash and cards as well as PayWave.
To view our shop list, please find the attached Bar/Shop list that was sent in the booking email containing your invoice.
You can purchase dehydrated meal pouches or the ‘famous’ Tuatapere sausage meal in our lodges for your evening meals.
Dehydrated meal pouches; we supply a variety of meat-based Back Country Cuisine meal pouches and plant-based Radix meal pouches. Both Back Country and Radix are certified gluten-free.
The ‘Famous’ Tuatapere Sausage Meal comes with peas, mash, gravy, and of course, two signature sausages. The mash and gravy are certified gluten-free. The signature sausages are not gluten-free; however, there are alternative gluten-free sausages available if required.
Both the sausage meal and dehydrated meal pouches are self-prepared; our lodge staff do not prepare this for you.
Pre-ordering: For the sausage meals, it is helpful to pre-order to ensure stock levels in our facilities. This can be done by sending us an email. Note, payment will only be taken in the lodges at the time of purchase. For the dehydrated meals, we will always have a stock of both brands, so pre-ordering is not essential.
All freedom & prime walkers are offered warm, creamy oats porridge, cinnamon, and brown sugar for breakfast. Please note this is not gluten-free. Should you require an alternative, you will need to self-cater.
Transport
Yes. The Rarakau Carpark (which is located at the start/end of the track) is on private land and overlooked by the local farm manager. A $5 koha/donation is to be made to leave your vehicle there for the 3 days you are on track. The honesty box is located at the entrance of the carpark.
For the 6 km closest to the carpark, the road is unsealed (gravel), this will require you to reduce your speed to 30 kph and the road may have corrugations during high season.
Please take note of the road signs when entering the carpark, reduce your speed to 10 kph.
If you are in a rental vehicle or a large camper van, you may want to consider booking our return track transport. Please visit our HOW TO GET HERE page for more details.
It is important you make the allocated pick up times as our transport is designed to meet various flight times and we are limited to the amount of vehicles and drivers. Should you run late you risk missing the transport as this will affect the other trampers that have booked the transport. This is very important on the last day of the walk.
As Day 3, averages at a 5-6 hour walk, leaving at 8am will get you to the Rarakau Carpark by the 2.30pm collection time. See how you go on the first two days. If you find you are quicker than the average walking times, leave by 9am amd/or take longer breaks on the walk. If you find that you are slower that then average walking times, it is important to leave earlier to meet the collection.
For Invercargill, the transport from our office in Tuatapere, departing on time, will arrive in Invercargill around 4.30pm or within 15 minutes if there is any traffic or restricted road conditions. We recommend booking a flight after 6 pm to ensure you do not miss it.
For Queenstown, the direct transport will arrive around 6pm and the connecting transport will arrive around 7.45pm. Depending on flight availability in may be better to stay an addition night in Queenstown and fly out the next day.
Weather
The weather is always changeable, we recommend you go prepared for all conditions at any time of the year. Remember the track is in Fiordland National Park, a rainforest area.
The Hump Ridge is also the first landform from Antarctica, and any weather coming from the south hits us first.
We recommend using Yr.no to monitor what the weather forecast will be for ‘Okaka Hut’ or ‘Tuatapere Hump Ridge Track’.
Likely weather conditions;
It is essential to be well-prepared when walking, as New Zealand has very changeable weather patterns. The weather in this region is characterised by high winds, rain, and even snow, which can occur throughout the year, although less frequently in the summer. It is very important to be prepared for inclement weather conditions, stay dry and warm.
Our lodges do not have drying rooms. Clothes can be hung on a shared clothes lines outside and undercover. The lodge staff will point out these areas when you arrive. For your safety, items cannot be dried directly around the fireplaces.
Terms & Conditions
All walkers have the option to cancel or postpone their booking to a different date, subject to the agreed T&C’s when submitting your booking request. T&C’s
If in the very rare event the Operator needs to cancel a departure due to unforeseen circumstances or weather conditions, we will discuss options available and agree with parties concerned. Options may include: another package on the same departure date, alternative departure date, or a refund.
We, as the Operator, recommends that the client take out cancellation insurance together with all other necessary travel and medical insurances.
As outlined in our T&C’s, if a client wishes to cancel a booking for any reason, including medical, the cancellation must be forwarded in writing and the following refund values will be applied:
Independent Packages and Events
- Prior to 8 weeks of departure date 75% of the total cost;
- Within 8 to 4 weeks 50% of the total cost;
- Within 4 weeks or less no refund will be given.
Guided Packages
- Prior to 8 weeks of departure date 75% of the total cost;
- Within 8 to 6 weeks 50% of the total cost;
- Within 6 weeks or less no refund will be given.
As per our T&C’s, bookings can be transferred to a future date, within a 12 month period, but not between people. You must give a minimum of 7 days (before your departure date) notice in writing for a transfer to apply. This will be in the form of a credit for the value of the original booking less fees, this will then be held and credited against a new booking at a future date within the valid timeframe.
The new booking will be charged at current pricing at that time and is subject to availability. A fee of 10% of the total booking value will be charged on any booking transfer. Bookings may only be transferred once and no portion of the credit is redeemable for cash.
If notice is given less than 7 days prior to departure for any circumstances, including medical, you will be required to cancel your booking. Sorry this option is not available for Guided Packages nor Events.
All cancellations and transfers must be emailed to our booking team, walk@humpridgetrack.co.nz. Any cancellation or transfer must be in writing to ensure there is a paper trail.
Should you have any queries regarding your cancellation or transfer or you are outside the parameters of eligibility, you are more than welcome to call us directly to discuss your options.
We strongly recommend that you arrange travel/cancellation/medical insurance to guard against loss of costs associated with cancellation or delay of your trip. Obtaining all necessary insurances is the responsibility of you the client and the Operator cannot be held liable for any failure on your part to get insurance. The Tuatapere Hump Ridge Track will not be liable for injury, damage or any costs incurred by walkers and customers.
Click for of our full detailed Terms & Conditions.
In any adventure activity, there is an element of risk involved. Risks in undertaking this activity include personal injury and illness as a result of adverse weather conditions.
All participants, including children, will be required to complete our Customer Declaration form before departure.
This form is available to read and download as Customer Declaration Form: please complete and bring to your pre-departure briefing.
Under New Zealand law it is extremely unlikely that you will be able to sue anyone if you are injured. In addition, New Zealand’s accident compensation scheme provides only limited assistance to visitors to New Zealand who are injured. We strongly recommend that all visitors to New Zealand have full insurance covering any injury they might suffer, including medical treatment cover, before undertaking this activity.
We do not recommend the Tuatapere Hump Ridge Track for children under 10 years. Please do not be offended if we ask for proof of age.
Seasons
Track Maps & Elevation Profile
