We are now using this App New Zealand Topo Map by Mason Blackwood : https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=nz.co.mbit.topo&gl=US It is free and really simple to use. Simply download and open it then (while you are online) scroll through the area of interest at the magnification you require and it will load it onto your phone (both topo and satellite view) . Switch your phone off the internet to see that it is still there when you are offline. You need never get lost in NZ.
NZ TOPO: This was a great App for hiking in NZ: BackCountry Navigator TOPO GPS at $12.99: http://backcountrynavigator.com/new-zealand-topographic-maps/ You can go to the map page (http://www.nztopomaps.com./) on the App and colour in the (eg contiguous) bits of map you want to download. Afterwards it works offline with your GPS. IT WAS SO EASY AND WILL SAVE LIVES! Why doesn’t someone do this (as easily and economically) for Victoria? I have downloaded most of Fiordland in preparation for a foray soon on the South Coast Track which runs West around the coast at the bottom of the South Island from approx Tuatapere.
We MAY get as far as Westies Hut at Big River (which is in a sea cave!), but anyway we WILL have fun! You can zoom on the area yourself: just come across the bottom of the South Island (westerly on thenztopomap above) until you run out of roads (Tuatapere will be the nearest town a little to the North-East of there). You will pick up the South Coast track as it wends its way around Te Waewae Bay, past Port Craig, the Percy Burn (world’s largest timber viaduct made from NSW spotted gum!), the Wairaurahiri River, the Waitutu River, to the Big River (Westies Hut) at the mouth of Lake Hakapoua. If you are a little lazy (maybe us) you can catch a jet-boat down (or up!) the Wairaurahiri River. Bookings for this, the Waitutu Lodge, Port Craig Lodge & etc, eg here:http://www.wildernessjet.co.nz/
