There are twelve national parks in New Zealand and three maritime parks. There is a chapter for every park, and each one is divided into short walks (usually less than 30 minutes), walking tracks (up to three hours) and tramping for the keen walker. Boxed material covers subjects like the weather and items of local interest such as exploring historical sites. This book was first published in 1985, since when two national parks, Whanganui and Paparoa, have been created, and chapters on them have been added to the second edition. Other chapters have been updated.