The New Zealand bush is often dense and difficult to travel through. So when we asked people around the country to send us bush yarns, several wrote about finding a way through the forest. Here is a selection.
What's your story?
Heading for the top
The Whanganui River flows through dense bush. In this rugged country, it is very easy to get lost – as 15-year-old Omega Hemopo found on a walk with her friend.
A cold night
This collapsing kauri dam was built by Joan Tollenaar’s Irish ancestor, John Patton, at Puketui on the Tairua River, Coromandel. In the 1980s Joan and her husband visited the dam, and did more than a short bush walk.
Budding explorer
As a boy, Phil Budd roamed Parahaki mountain, imagining he was David Livingstone, the Scottish explorer of Africa.