GO NZ: The best overnight mountain hikes

Waihohonu Hut on the Tongariro Northern Circuit is an easy 1-3 hour walk from the road. Photo / Supplied

Luckily, oxygen masks need not be carried but our great outdoors can take your breath away, writes Ewan McDonald

Call it 100% pure Aotearoa: with 87 per cent of the Team of 5 Million living in cities, one of the world's most urban populations, thousands of Kiwis live for the weekend and fleeing to the bush and rivers and valleys and mountains.

You don't need to have grown up wearing a Swanndri and boots to enjoy the greatest outdoors. Even in the heart of Auckland, beginners can escape into nature on easy walks of less than an hour – as