Your safety is our top priority. Here’s how you can stay safe on your guided walk in the North Island with Walking Legends.
UPDATED: July 2023
Contract Tracing
We are no longer required to perform any contact tracing for our walkers, you won’t be asked for any additional information pertaining to your home location.
Social Distancing
We are no longer required to encourage social distancing. Of course, if you’d still like to you are most welcome to. Luckily, it is easy to do in the bush! We can each walk 1 minute apart if we like so we can enjoy a bit of peace and quiet as well.
The place where you’ll have other guests closest to you is in our van when we pick you up. We use 12-seater HiAce vans to get everyone to and from the lodges and tracks.. Our vans will have hand sanitiser available and will be thoroughly cleaned at the start of each trip. We’ve implemented increased cleaning and sanitisation of all company-shared workplace spaces, trip-supplied gear, and vehicles.
You are welcome to bring your own face masks and personal hand sanitiser if you’d like to.
We’ll be managing our group sizes to keep these small and safe. Our normal group size is between 8 and 12, so for larger groups we may split the group between two vans.
Accommodation
All our accommodation providers are still following the NZ Ministry of Health guidelines for cleaning processes. Every high-contact surface, like light and power switches, door handles, keypads, with all be cleaned thoroughly and frequently. Cleaning cloths and equipment are going to be replaced more frequently as well.
Food Service
All our food service providers will also be following Ministry of Health guidelines. Our food service model has always been table service with individual plated meals for each guest so we’ll continue to do that. Our dining areas are generously sized, we have space to seat you and your bubble-buddies apart from other guests. We’ll always let you know where and when you’ll have access to handwashing facilities.
When we stop for a hot cup of tea or coffee out on the trail we would normally provide you with a clean drinking vessel. We’ll still do that, but you’ll be more than welcome to bring your own if you’d like to!
Gear Hire
Our new hygiene practices include shelving pieces of gear for 7-plus days after use, additional laundering, and the use of a MoH-recommended disinfectant for killing COVID-19.
That’s what we’re doing to help you stay safe on our guided walks. If you have a particular concern we haven’t addressed, just drop us a line and let us know what else we can do to make you feel comfortable about travelling again.
Before you arrive for you guided walk with us we ask that you check a few things such as:
- If you’re not feeling well in the days before your trip departure, please get in touch with us and let us know. It’s no problem to transfer you to a future date! Likewise, we’ll be making sure all our guides are healthy and well before they arrive at work to greet you.
- If you have recently recovered from COVID-19 or were confirmed as in close contact with someone who recently had COVID-19 you are most welcome to join us. As long as you are fully recovered and feeling well enough to undertake the walk.
If all else fails and we need to transfer you to a replacement date, we can do that! Here is a list of our forward dates for next season – Our Walk Calendar.
Finally, be kind. We’ve all been through a lot and we’re out in the bush together for a bit of green therapy, so let’s allow each other to do that, safely.
Coming from overseas? Read more here:
The World Health Organisations’ advice for travellers
To check the current status of COVID-19 in New Zealand, read our latest Ministry of Health updates here.
The New Zealand Governments’ advice for international travellers can be found here.