Sunday Arvo Hikes with Noodles for breakfast

So what did we yarn about this time?

It’s hard to get past talking about how the kids are doing! We try to get onto other topics, a bit about work and we’re always chuffed if we get to talking about life and our dreams of more adventures as a family. 

Adventures on foot

Ahhh adventure. Addictive stuff. It’s nearly two years since we had a crack at Aotearoa New Zealand’s Te Araroa Trail with our three kids along for the ride. Without even an overnight hike under our belts it was a crazy move. But with a curious outlook and some nimble planning we found ourselves loving the challenges we found out there and walked onto Bluff six months later. We’d walked most of the length of the country, some 2300 kilometres. Since then we’ve made up a few more weeks of trail that we had to skip when rivers were high. And this Summer we’re hoping to knock off the final few hundred kilometres of the epic trail. Our fitness is not what it used to be so we’ll be hitting as many of our local tramps on weekends to gently build up our fitness and make sure we’re ready for the long, back-to-back hiking days so we can enjoy it.

What about sustainability out there? 

On Te Araroa, we went through nearly three pairs of shoes each, so sustainability in footwear is really important to us. The thought of all our old pairs getting chucked in landfill is pretty woeful. We’re keen to back companies that are taking this seriously and giving us the option to do better and buy better. It’s really important to us to get the best quality gear that we can so it lasts. And when it is time for our gear to be retired, then we’re keen to avoid landfill at all costs. We’re learning how to repair more, and have found some good options for recycling clothing and equipment.

We also often buy second-hand. There’s an awesome second-hand scene in Wānaka which is especially good for kids gear. They often grow out of it so quickly that you can get plenty more life cycles out of it. We’d much prefer to invest in great gear that other kids can love for years to come than poor quality that wears out quickly and it’s only option is landfill. We feel pretty passionately about our natural world and feel that the more people get out there on overnight hikes, the more they’ll learn how important it is to leave no trace and take these simple lessons home in our domestic lives as well.