Of Wild and Wonder

9/9/2019 - 10/9/2019 Party: Conor Vaessen, Maddy Whittaker, Tom Hadley This mission began on a Monday afternoon when an irresistible weather window presented itself to us for climbing Mt Brewster. There was the promise of clear skies, no wind and great snow conditions. Maddy, Conor and I packed up our stuff and jumped in Conor’s corolla to begin the journey to the Brewster track. I think we all tried to sleep at different times but the stoke of mountains meant none of us really succeeded. After a record minimum of faff time, we arrived at the bottom of the Brewster track at 9pm before heading off into the night. As we began the climb our layers came off, breathing quickened and we were sweating hard. Emerging from the bush line we were presented with a panorama of snowy mountains, softly glowing in moonlight. After the final trudge up through the snow we reached Brewster hut around midnight, it seemed we were sharing with some skiers. We jumped into sleeping bags to grab a short na...

13/4/2019 - 14/4/2019 Party: Maddy Whittaker, Rowan Cox, Torea Scott-Fyfe, Frances, Sam Adler, Conor Vaessen The weekend’s antics began on a hectic Friday afternoon in Dunedin. We quickly pieced ourselves together and went through the mandatory introductions. Me: “Hey I’m Tom what was your name again?” Sam: “Yeah good thanks”. Nice. The van trip up consisted of some medium to great chat, falafel subways and some eclectic music selection before we pulled up at the Pleasant flat campsite. After a stunning night under a smattering of stars, it was time for the stoke to begin. At the road end we met up with Rowan and Torea (who I assumed to be a couple for the rest of the trip woops).   On top of Bealey Spur (Tom Hadley) In the bush heading up the Bealey range (Torea Scott-Fyffe) The first day had us tramp along the beech forest next to the picturesque tumbling of blue water through Willis gorge. Arriving at the lush Sphagnum moss fields of the river valley (see p...

My route - 1400km long The summer I became slightly feral In the summer of 2018-2019, I spent 77 days walking the length of the South Island (1400km), with my journey mainly based around walking the South Island section of the Te Araroa trail northbound. About half of these days were spent on the TA and the other half were spent doing tramps and climbs along the way (essentially used the TA as a pathway to all these places in different national parks which I had wanted to explore). People keep asking me how my trip changed me - who did I become? The answer to that is hiker trash. I became hiker trash. Hiker Trash is a term used to affectionately describe hikers who have sunk to a lower standard of living. Nowhere is it more apparent than in a group of thru-hikers who have been living on the trails for months. However becoming a piece of hiker trash is not an exclusive process. Here is your one stop guide to essentially becoming homeless and not giving a damn: There are thre...