With the local logging industry on its way out and livelihoods at stake, the tiny town of Tuatapere devised a cunning plan to thrive and become even more than the ‘Sausage Capital of the World’.
Let us take a walk and I will fill you in 
Tuatapere is a wee settlement along New Zealand’s Southern Scenic Route between Invercargill and Te Anau.
With a population of around 550 people, Tuatapere has long been a great travel stop and a gateway to hunting, walking, and fishing adventures.
The community suffered when its native logging and sawmilling industry came to a halt in the mid-1980’s and the NZ Forestry Service left town.
Determined for Tuatapere to keep its mojo, a group of keen townsfolk banded together and came up with the idea to create a nature-based attraction as a drawcard for visitors for years to come.
That idea firmed into the decision to turn the Hump Ridge into a legendary walking track. The Tuatapere Hump Track Charitable Trust was formed to plan and build the three-day loop walk off the existing South Coast Track.
Work to “dot I’s and cross T’s” and get the track finished took most of the nineties, with intensive community fundraising and promotional events like the Tuatapere Wild Challenge, a 96km endurance multi-sport event that involved kayaking, running and biking.
Amongst the many people involved, Southland District Council Mayor, the late Frana Cardno, also successfully lobbied the government of the day for funding to develop the track.
Tuatapere’s genius plan to create a local attraction succeeded and the Tuatapere Hump Ridge Track opened to great fanfare in late 2001.
There was even a delightful wee song written about it…
Let’s Take a Walk
The Trust’s event committee engaged kiwi muso, the late Brian Ringrose, to be the guest artist / lead musician for the official opening events on 3 November 2001.
The day’s festivities included an afternoon street parade, displays and family activities, followed by the Hump Ridge Cabaret that night in the Memorial Hall.
As well as singing and being a whizz on a range of instruments, especially the guitar, Brian was also a songwriter. Alongside his solo work, he was in several well-known bands, including Ray Columbus and the Invaders and he toured with the Howard Morrison Quartet.
The committee asked Brian to write an original song to capture the essence of the Hump Track and recognise the community’s efforts to get the track created.
“Let’s Take a Walk” was the result.
As part of the opening day, the Tuatapere school choir performed the song alongside Brian.
Becoming New Zealand’s 11th Great Walk
In 2019 the Tuatapere Hump Ridge Track was chosen from several options for government funding to upgrade it to Great Walk standard.
$7.9 million in improvements were made to the track and it officially became a Great Walk on 25 October 2024.
A cast of thousands
The track is operated by the Tuatapere Hump Track Charitable Trust, under a concession with the Department of Conservation Te Papa Atawhai (DOC).
Trust members and volunteers continue to help with maintenance of the track. DOC manages and maintains many of the cable bridges, and the viaducts are looked after by the Southland District Council. Volunteers also undertake extensive pest control and trapping work in the area.
In the past three decades over 170,000 volunteer hours have gone into the track from the community.
The Hump Ridge Great Walk Project (which began in late 2019) is a collaboration between DOC and Ōraka Aparima Rūnaka, Hump Ridge Track Charitable Trust, Rowallan Alton Inc, SILNA landowners, Southland District Council, Port Craig Viaduct Charitable Trust, and other individuals and groups.
The upgrade, in a nutshell!
Over four years, the track got quite the makeover.
Work involved track construction upgrades, construction of a new swing bridge at Edwin Burn, an upgrade and extension of the Rarakau carpark and the new Waharoa (gateway) that stands at the new track entrance to welcome visitors.
The project team also produced and installed of one of the largest storytelling and interpretation packages delivered by DOC, which tells the stories of mana whenua and the history of the area.
Let’s take another walk
On Friday 25 October flags were flying down the main street of Tuatapere.
Congratulations banners hung outside buildings and decorations lined the town in a burst of provincial pride as the community celebrated the Tuatapere Hump Ridge Track becoming New Zealand’s 11th Great Walk.
The Trust gave permission to the DOC team for the nostalgic wee ditty, “Let’s Take A Walk” to be added as backing track to the new film made for showing at the opening event.
The song is a connection between the past and the present – and celebrating the future.
About the Hump Ridge Track
The track is in the south-western corner of the South Island, in Te Wāhipounamu, the UNESCO Southwest New Zealand World Heritage Site.
The 60km track takes three days (two nights) with walking distances averaging 20km a day on varying terrains.
Trampers are treated to spectacular and diverse landscapes, including seascapes, sandy beaches, native forests, and an alpine environment with soaring limestone tors.
There is rich cultural heritage, interpretative storytelling installations and signage, historic viaduct bridges, old timber settlements, and the longest tramway sleeper walk in the southern hemisphere.
Sounds great aye?
Just wait until you are walking along the beach at Te WaeWae Bay, and you see Hector’s dolphins, with their Micky Mouse shaped fin, surfing the waves out in front of you.
Or at night gazing up at the dark sky – with a drink in hand and a plate of Tuatapere sausages and mashed spud before you – witnessing a pulsating display of the southern lights/Aurora Australis (where the only light pollution is from your mates headtorch).
Although, before you get too carried away in thinking that every day is blue skies and sunshine – remember that Fiordland is the first bit of land to be struck by the Antarctic blasts that race across the Southern Ocean.
It can snow, rain, blow, hail, sleet and drop into single digit temperatures, sometimes in the space of just one day. You do need to be prepared for all seasons before you take a walk here!
Do it! Take a walk!
The Hump Ridge Track has a little bit of everything that indeed makes this walk great!
Get your fitness up, put on your boots, and make your way to the deep south.
The locals of Tuatapere look forward to seeing you 
For more information about the track, head to https://www.doc.govt.nz/parks-and-recreation/places-to-go/fiordland/places/fiordland-national-park/things-to-do/tracks/hump-ridge-track/.
Bookings can be made through the Tuatapere Hump Ridge Trust’s website: https://www.humpridgetrack.co.nz/
Acknowledgments:
Thank you to the team at Central & Western Archive Murihiku Southland Community & Heritage Hub, located in Tuatapere, for their kind support in providing archival news and material about the track history, the Trust’s activities, and the information about Brian Ringrose and the “Let’s Take a Walk” song. Check them out in person, or online Central & Western Archive I eHive
We also wish to express our appreciation and gratitude to the Tuatapere Hump Track Charitable Trust in permitting us to use this song for the film. The “Let’s Take a Walk” song is copyrighted to Brian Ringrose and the Trust have permission to use it.
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