Youth Hostel Association of New Zealand

The Sunlight League was formed in 1931 in New Zealand and their attention was drawn to German youth hostels later that year;[6] youth hostels had begun in Altena in 1912.[7] The first ones in the Southern Hemisphere were those of the Youth Hostel Association of New Zealand, after its formation on 8 April 1932,[8] at a meeting of 9 Canterbury tramping organisations, brought together by the League[9] and chaired by Sir Arthur Dudley Dobson. Sir Arthur was elected as President and vice-presidents included Sir Heaton Rhodes and Professors Arnold Wall and Macmillan Brown. Cora Wilding had negotiated for trampers belonging to the clubs forming the Association to stay at nearby Le Bon's Bay, Port Levy, Pigeon's Bay, Okain's Bay, Akaroa, Duvauchelle, and Hill Top, all on Banks Peninsula.[10] Teddington and Diamond Harbour were also added in 1932.[11] YHA-NZ had 895 members by 1953.[12] in 1983 there were 47 hostels, 6,700 life members and 21,000 ordinary members.[8]

It has been a member association of Hostelling International since 1946.[8] YHA New Zealand was established in 1932 in Canterbury by Cora Wilding.[13] The national office is based in Christchurch. A national council was created in 1955. In 1965 there were 39 hostels and 7000 members.[13] Previously, the patron of the association was the Governor-General of New Zealand.

This is a list of current YHA-NZ hostels.[14] This section was up-to-date as of December 2022.

Name	Image	Region	Year opened
Ahipara		Northland
Arthur's Pass	Arthurs Pass YHA	Canterbury	1955[15] replacing 1948 hostel
Bay of Islands, The Rock		Northland	cruise boat
Golden Bay (Tākaka)		Tasman
Hanmer Springs		Canterbury
Kinloch, Glenorchy		Otago
Lake Tekapo		Canterbury	reopened 18 November 2022[16]
National Park		Manawatū-Whanganui
Nelson		Nelson
Paihia		Northland
Picton		Marlborough
Punakaiki		West Coast
Springfield		Canterbury
Taupō		Waikato	1984[17]
Waitomo		Waikato
Whanganui	Braemar House YHA, Whanganui	Manawatū-Whanganui
Westport	Westport YHA	West Coast

This section lists the locations of former YHA-NZ hostels.

Name	Image	Region	Opened	Closed
Cora Wilding, Christchurch		Canterbury	1966[7]	1997[18]
Rolleston House, Christchurch	Rolleston House YHA	Canterbury	1974[7]	2020[19]
City Road, Auckland	Auckland City Road YHA in 2010	Auckland	1990,[7] refurbished 2016[20]
71 Stafford Street, Dunedin		Otago	1969 replaced 1980[8]	listed 1986[21]
1190 Victoria Street, Hamilton		Waikato	1961, replaced 1981[8]	2006[22] to 2013[23]
Montgomery, Hill Top		Canterbury	1957[24]
Napier	Napier YHA in 2018	Hawke's Bay	1984[17]
42 Weka Street, Nelson		Nelson	1981[8]	after 2010[25]
Ōkārito		West Coast	1958[8]	1990[26]
Kukupa, Pigeon Bay		Canterbury	1952[8]	1995[27]
Raglan	Solscape, YHA Raglan in 2016	Waikato	during 2010s[28]
Trout Stream, Cooper’s Creek		Canterbury	1948[29] now derelict[30]
Whangārei		Northland		2022[31][32]

• Cora and Co: The first half-century of New Zealand youth hostelling by Dion Crooks (1982, Youth Hostel Association of New Zealand)

• Official website