Where do MPs go, when they go bush?

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There's simply nothing better than ditching the workwear for an outdoor get-up and heading into the bush.

Thousands will head into the great outdoors this summer, including MPs from across the political spectrum.

RNZ interviewed a range of politicians about their experiences going bush: the highs, the lows and the whys.

Labour's Duncan Webb is lucky to be alive

Labour MP Duncan Webb has been tramping since he was 13 and still grimaces when he recalls his first bush adventure. He followed his older brother and some of his mates into Arthur's Pass one day, clad in heavy oilskin jackets with thin sleeping bags tucked into bulky packs they'd borrowed.

"Our parents had no idea what we were doing, and neither did we," he said.

After an "extremely fatiguing" first day the boys found themselves in poor weather as they were crossing a mountain pass.

"It just rained, just constant rain and driving wind. We were freezing cold and as we came down the other side of the pass we got lost."

The group took the wrong side of a creek and ended up next to a steep gorge, when Webb's pack proceeded to fall down.

Webb said he fell into the river retrieving his pack and struggled to carry on to a hut as his drenched clothing chilled his body down.

"I was really tired and exhausted so I sat down and curled up and tried to go to sleep. I had quite advanced hypothermia."

Webb said his 14-year-old companions "kicked him" until he moved and they eventually found a hut, had a kai and got warm.

The next night proved no better after the group camped next to a lake that flooded their tent in the middle of the ni