Trip Leader Guide—Overnight Trips
Peninsula Tramping Club 14 October 2025
Initial Preparations
Get the relevant map from the trip planner or http://www.topomap.co.nz
Familiarise yourself with the route and potential hazards. Refer to books and brochures, and ask other people who have done the trip before, so you are satisfied that you can cope with it and navigate successfully.
Decide the maximum number of people you want to take. Factors include the difficulty of the trip and transport economics.
Arrange for permission from landowners, if necessary. The trip planner can usually tell you who to contact.
Booking people on the trip
Describe the route to them, walking times, hazards, huts or camping, etc.
Ensure the person is fit enough, can handle the terrain, and has the right equipment. •
Do they have a vehicle available? How many people does it fit, with backpacks?
As if they have any special dietary needs—vegetarian, food allergies.
Ask if there are any medical conditions or special medication that you need to know about. PTC
Members are expected to carry in their packs a sheet listing next-of-kin and medical conditions.
Additionally, ask for an emergency contact for each person for the particular trip.
Before the Trip
Organisation
Organise vehicles to make the most efficient use of vehicle space and pick-ups in town.
Arrange a meeting place, usually on the side of town you are leaving from.
Decide what to have for evening meal(s). Starters (eg soup) and dessert are optional and may not be practicable on harder trips. You can share responsibility for providing meals, especially on base trips and multi-day trips.
Arrange a responsible contact person who will be in town during the trip.
Contact the gear custodian and arrange to pick up the gear you need. This will include tents, cookers plus fuel, billies, first-aid kit, emergency locator beacon, etc. Fuel is usually supplied at 100ml/person/night, but can be as low as 50ml/person/night on hard trips. The club has 2 Garmin Etrex30 GPS devices and 4 short-range Uniden transceivers. The gear custodian has a charger for NiMH batteries. The transceivers chew through batteries if left on. The custodian also has copies of the 2023 edition of Safety in the Mountains.
Calculate estimated petrol cost. This is the cost per car and is based on the IRD Tier 2 (Running Costs only) scale. See amount below.
Get a weather forecast for the area you are visiting. Consider changing the route, going elsewhere or cancelling completely if adverse weather is forecast. Let the contact person know any change of plans.
http://metvuw.com/forecast/ metservice.com https://www.yr.no/en/
Tell Participants
Meeting place and time, and/or vehicle pick-ups.
What food they need to take (usually breakfast, lunch, snacks, drinks) but can be all meals, billy and burner.
Any special equipment needed (eg ice axe, crampons, snow goggles, extra warm clothes).
Name and telephone number of contact person. If the trip is late back, anxious people can ring the contact person, not the police.
Approximate total cost (transport, huts, food, gear charge). Participants who don’t have an annual hut pass will need to purchase their own hut tickets in advance. For places to buy these, search under DoC and hut tickets.
This before-trip information is best outlined in an email, so that people have a firm idea of how the trip will run.
Tell the Contact Person and Emergency Beacon Contacts
Names and next-of-kin contact details.
Vehicle makes, models, colours and registration numbers.
Where vehicles will be parked.
The intended route.
When you expect to be back.
Beacon Contacts can be simply emailed using: plb1@ptc.nz plb2@ptc.nz and plb3@ptc.nz As a single step, pasting plb1@ptc.nz;plb2@ptc.nz;plb3@ptc.nz into the address line should work.
On the Trip
Before Starting
Zero your car odometer or note the km reading or ask google maps for the distance. Using your mouse, you can extend routes along minor roads and google maps will tell you the distance.
Introduce people who won’t be know to the others.
Briefly discuss the route and hazards.
Distribute party gear into even lots by weight but don’t object if stronger people take a bit extra
Let everyone know who has the first-aid kit and PLB—usually you or the most qualified first-aider. The PLB pouch contains ‘how-to’ information for emergencies.
On the Tramp
Encourage the group to stay together. This is particularly important where the track or route is difficult, navigation is not straightforward, or the weather and/or visibility is poor. At these times it is a good idea to appoint a competent tail-ender. At the very least, arrange for regroupings and snack stops at landmarks or at certain times.
Count your people. In rare cases you may decide to split the group if there is a wide range of abilities but you need to appoint a leader for the second group and you need to be sure both groups can navigate
Ensure that nobody is tramping alone, out of sight or sound-range of others.
Keep an eye on new or slower group members, and ensure that they are not left on their own. They may need reassurance.
Be considerate of other hut users and don’t monopolise bench or table space. If the hut is going to be full, consider tenting. Ensure that the hut or campsite is left tidy and the hut book is filled in. Replace any firewood you burn.
Back at the Vehicles
Make sure everyone gets back to the vehicles.
Pay drivers petrol money. The calculation using the RD Tier 2 rates is per vehicle so split the cost between the number of people on the trip evenly. (usually to within the nearest 5 dollars for each passenger.) The driver will be refunded this amount, minus their petrol share. Add up the total cost for all vehicles and divide by the total number of people, including drivers. This is the amount to collect off each person for transport. If you are not confident about the calculation ask someone else to do the sums. On long trips you can agree beforehand with the driver to scale back the petrol cost.
See table below.Add food costs plus the club gear-hire charge of $2 per night per person. Collect the total amount due, allowing for people who provided food, etc and distribute the final net amounts to drivers.
Make sure all cars are ship-shape and start before leaving the car park.
Back in Town
Let your contact know you have returned.
Return gear to the custodian in a clean and dry state, along with gear-hire charges.
Let the trip planner know how many people were on the trip, and discuss any issue that arose.
It's good PR to send a thank-you note to any landowner that gave you access.
If in doubt about anything in this guide, talk to the trip planner. Thank you for leading.
Vehicle Costs
All vehicles: $0.40 / km [Adjusted by the Committee from time to time - last updated 1st October 2026]