You will also find other unofficial but useful forms of marking.

• Cairns: A pile of stones. Common
• Permalat: Rectangular pieces of Venetian blind nailed to trees. Red or white. Less common
• Tin lids: Yes that's right, the lids of baked bean tins nailed to trees. Uncommon
• Blazes: A square axe mark on a tree. Uncommon

Travelling off-track ('bush bashing')

Travelling off-track is a whole different kettle of fish. Travelling off-track requires very good map, compass and terrain reading ability. If you are keen to try 'bush bashing' for the first time, select an area that is small (only a couple of kilometres accross) and that is bounded on all sides by open land, roads or easily identifiable rivers. Many trampers have a funny habit of overestimating their navigation skills, don't be one of them!

• Be aware of your surroundings, observe the terrain around you and regularly compare what you see with what occurs on the map.
• River and stream beds can provide good open travel in areas that are not heavily gorged. Be wary of gorges and waterfalls when descending alongside waterways in steep terrain. It is often better to descend a ridge or spur if you are not certain that a stream is free of waterfalls/gorges.
• Ridges and spurs are excellent natural guides and usually provide good travel. Be wary of diverging ridgelines when you descend, as the junctions of diverging spurs can be easily missed and you might end up going down the wrong ridge. This is a very common mistake that can put you a long way off course. Take care to take the right one by following a compass bearing from the map!
• Handlines are any linear feature such as a creek, ridge, 4WD road, fenceline etc that you can travel alongside to ensure you are travelling in the correct direction
• Collecting features are linear features like rivers or ridges that can help to funnel you towards your destination. Aiming off is deliberately aiming to miss your destination by a few degrees so that you will hit a collecting feature. For example; you could aim 10 degrees to the west of the hut, so that you hit a stream that you know leads to the hut. The stream will be much easier to find with a compass bearing than the hut. When you reach the stream you would simply follow it east until you reach the hut.
• Deer trails are again becoming more obvious in many areas as deer populations increase. They make fantastic tracks, if you find a faint but obvious deer track in thick bush or scrub, it is worth following. They often meander to avoid things like bluffs and thick vegetation and will appear and disappear, so be patient.
• Puposeful wandering is the art of selecting a distant point, then following the line of least resistence through scrub, bush or rocky terrain until you get to that point, then selecting the next objective. This technique is great if there is enough visibility to see the point at least occassionally, and where travelling in a straight line is difficult.
• Navigation plans are a useful tool for longer off-track journeys, or any travel above the bush line. Break your journey into legs between easily identifiable landmarks. For each leg, work out the distance, magnetic compass bearing and a brief written description of what you will pass along the way (things like side streams, slips, bends in the river etc). If you know your approximate walking pace in different terrain, this will help you assess how far you have travelled against your plan. You can work out your average speed next time you are tramping and make a note of it for future navigation plans.
• Always carry a map and compass when travelling off-track, even in fine weather and good visibility, you never know when things might change for the worse

Maps

New Zealand is completely covered by a series of 1:50 000 scale topographical maps. These maps contain enough detail for backcountry navigation. They are known as the 260 Series and can be purchased from most outdoor retail stores and Department of Conservation (DOC) offices for around NZ $13.50 each. The 260 Series maps do note latitude and longitude along the margins but the grid drawn on the map is based on the New Zealand Map Grid Projection, 1949. This map grid is what is used by Kiwis when quoting a location on the map. A new map series (also 1:50 000 scale) based on the new NZTM2000 projection will begin replacing the 260 series maps from late 2009. Although the grid on the new maps will be different, the method for obtaining grid references will remain the same.

Compasses

Depending on where in the world you come from, your compass may not work well when you travel. Compasses are carefully tuned for the magnetic peculiarities of the place they are sold in. The needles of most Northern hemisphere compasses will tilt excessively and jam if used in New Zealand. Check this out before you travel. The magnetic declination in New Zealand is around 22 degrees East, ie Magnetic North is 22 degrees East of True North.

GPS

Handheld Global Position System units are becoming increasingly popular in New Zealand. If you have a GPS it is likely that it is able to be set to the New Zealand's Map Grid System, to making it easier to use local maps. GPS suffer a little here as the local terrain is often steep with a narrow range of sky visible. The dense forest canopy in some areas also hinders their use. Generally conditions are good enough for safe, if intermittent, navigation by GPS.