Hump Ridge Track emergency & health guide: hospitals, rescue, 111 and PLBs

Emergency numbers

Mobile signal on the Hump Ridge Track is unreliable, so carry a personal locator beacon (PLB) and use it only in a life-threatening emergency; you can hire one at the track office when you check in. People who are deaf or have a speech impairment can register for 111 TXT before the trip. Tell someone at home your plans, check the NIWA forecast for Okaka Lodge and the tide times before you start, and keep to the marked track.

Rules to know

• Booking: the Hump Ridge Track is a Great Walk (since October 2024), but its lodges are booked only as packages with the Tuatapere Hump Ridge Track Trust, not through DOC, and DOC hut passes are not valid. 2026–27 "from" prices: Freedom Walk $495 in an 8-bed room (children 14 and under $247.50), $575 in a 4-bed room, Prime $1,195, Guided $2,395 (New Zealand dollars).
• Season: 23 October 2026 to 17 April 2027. The track is strictly closed in winter.
• Every walker, including children, must check in at the track office at 31 Orawia Road, Tuatapere, the afternoon before or the morning of the walk, before driving to the Rarakau car park. The track shuttle leaves at 8 am and returns at 2:30 pm ($30 one way, $45 return).
• Closed viaducts: since February 2026 the Percy Burn and Edwin Burn viaducts are closed because the old timber is unsafe. Do not cross them: use the bypass track at Percy Burn and the 58 m swing bridge at Edwin Burn. Sandhill Viaduct is open and the track remains open.
• Tides and the coast: parts of the coast, including Blowholes Beach, are passable only at low tide. Watch for surges and rogue waves and do not go on if waves wash over the track. After a long or strong earthquake, go to high ground at once.
• Camping: the only campsite on the loop is DOC's Port Craig campsite ($10 adult, $5 child a night); it and the 20-bunk Port Craig School Hut must be booked with DOC.
• Helipacks: packs of up to 10 kg must be at the Tuatapere office by 8 am. If fog or wind stops the flight, your pack goes on to the next lodge, so keep medicines, warm layers and food in your day pack.
• Dogs are not allowed in Fiordland National Park without a special permit. Unauthorised drones are prohibited, and mountain bikes and quad bikes are not allowed on the track.
• Hazards: rockfall and landslides, exposed tops in high wind and whiteout, and wasps in late summer (carry antihistamines if you are allergic). Hunters use the area, and helicopters land at the lodges: keep out of landing zones.
• Port Craig and the tramway viaducts are historic sites: leave all relics where they are. Cars at the Rarakau car park are left at the owner's risk.

Nearest hospital for each stage

Hospitals

Clinics and first aid

There is no doctor on the track. Tuatapere Medical Centre, 21 km from the car park, is a GP practice open on weekdays by appointment; it treats minor injuries but is not an emergency department. For medical advice when it is not an emergency, call Healthline on 0800 611 116 (free, 24/7).

Pharmacies, cash and supplies

• Pharmacies:
• ATMs:
• Shops:
• Shuttle stops:

There is no pharmacy on the track and none is listed in Tuatapere, and New Zealand has no duty-pharmacy rota. Buy your medicines, a blister kit, sandfly repellent and antihistamines in Invercargill or Te Anau before you go. The lodges have no power sockets: carry a power bank.

Pharmacies, ATMs, shops and stops: © OpenStreetMap contributors. Hospitals and health centres checked online.