In this episode we catch catch up with musicians Mickey and Michelle who are currently hiking the 3,000km New Zealand Te Araroa Trail, playing gigs as they go. When we first caught up with them in episode 124 they were just about to start this amazing trail and now around five months later they have completed just over 2,200km with around 750 km left. Find out about the trail, the highs and lows, the scenery, and the people as they head towards the finish line. www.australianhiker.com.au
In this episode we catch up with Lucy Barnard and Wombat from Tangles and Tail as they make their way from the bottom of South America to the top of North America. This 30,000 km journey will take Lucy around 5-6 years to complete and if successful, she will be the first women to do so.
The last time we caught up with Lucy and Wombat was in September 2019 when they were just about to enter Ecuador. So it's been four months since our last chat with Lucy and she has now completed just on 10,000 km. Today we catch up with her in Tulcan, Ecuador in early March 2020 prior to her last leg in South America before entering Colombia and progressing on to Central America.
You can listen to our previous episodes with Lucy here:
108-Tangles and tail: an interview with Lucy Barnard May 2019
126-Catching up with Tangles and Tail: September 2019
If you hike with children or are just into board and card games then this is the episode for you. There are literally hundreds of choices available for playing games when out hiking and in this weeks podcast episode we look at some options that wont weight you down and are simple to learn and to play. While you wont necessarily take all of these with you on a single hike having one or two of them in your pack may save your sanity if you are tent bound for an extended period due to bad weather. www.australianhiker.com.au
In this our first episode for 2020 we take a look at the impacts that the current bushfires gripping many parts of Australia at the time of this podcast are having on hiking and what this may mean for the longer term. In addition, hiking is receiving a boost from state governments so we review proposed walking trails due to open later in 2020 as well as others scheduled for future years and discuss why the NSW Government in particular, is investing in these new trails. www.australianhiker.com.au
On 11 November 2019 Australian Hiker celebrated its third birthday. In this episode we reflect on our past year and where we are heading into the future. As the request of our listeners we also provide an overview of some key aspects in getting the Australian Hiker podcast to air. www.australianhiker.com.au
When you start hiking and camping there is so much to learn. What gear do you buy, how do you deal with food, where are the good walks to do and last but not least how do I go to the toilet in the bush?
In this episode we discuss going to toilet on a hike, the process and the do's and don'ts (pun intended) to hopefully give you a bit of peace of mind if you haven't needed to consider this basic function before. www.australianhiker.com.au
Start talking about food options for hiking and it’s amazing how quickly the conversation becomes heated as individuals passionately defend their preferred meal options and tell you why your choices are wrong. This is definitely a topic I try to avoid when at camp in the evening.
Having said that I do have my preferences and as much as I like cooking and eating well when I’m at home, I prefer to keep things simple when I’m on the trail. While my main meals tend to be freeze dried I also integrate dehydrated food into the mix.
This podcast discusses the pros and cons of using dehydrated food and provides a few suggestions for dehydrating. www.australianhiker.com.au
In this episode we catch up with Lucy Barnard from Tangles and Tail who is walking the length of the world from the bottom of South America to the top of North America. This 30,000 km journey will take her around 5-6 years to complete. It's been over four months since we last talked with Lucy and we catch up with her in San Ignacio, Peru where she has a two day journey before she leaves Peru and enters Ecuador. www.australianhiker.com.au
In this week’s episode we have something slightly different for you as we interview Mickey and Michelle about their upcoming journey on the Te Araroa Trail in New Zealand. This is one of the world’s premier long distance hiking trails starting at the top of the north island and finishing at the bottom of the South Island for a total distance of 3,000km.
In itself this is a big trip that presents many challenges and will take a number of months to complete but if that wasn't enough they have a few other complications to make this trip more difficult. Michelle is only 29 and suffers from Osteoporosis. In addition they are both musicians and deciding that they didn’t want to have such a long period away from music they will be doing a series of concerts along the way as a means of funding their trip and to help raise awareness of Osteoporosis which affects 1 in 3 women and one in 5 men (over the age of 50).
In this episode we provide a brief overview of the Te Araroa trail before talking to Mickey and Michelle about their upcoming journey.
What started out as a 19 day thru-hike has now been turned in to a section hike due to injury after completing 310km of this 426km trip. In this episode we discuss our last few days on the Hume and Hovell Track, our reasons for cutting the hike short, and where we go to from here. Rest assured there are plans in place to finish this trip off! www.australianhiker.com.au
In this week’s episode we talk with Blair Woodcock who recently completed a thru-hike of the 211 mile (340 km) USA based John Muir Trail. Many backpackers say this trail contains the finest mountain scenery in the United States, and runs (mostly in conjunction with the PCT) from Yosemite Valley to Mount Whitney, in California. In this episode we provide an overview of one of the world’s most spectacular trails and hear a firsthand overview of what a thru hike was like. www.australianhiker.com.au
There are any number of reasons why we enjoy hiking; the flora and fauna, the majestic views, the little stuff, the big stuff. While there might be some common themes we all enjoy, there will also be some unique reasons for each of us which are likely to be different. In episode 010 we provided a broad overview of some of these reasons and this week in episode 118 we look at some of the more 'spiritual reason' (for want of a better phrase) behind why we hike.
www.australianhiker.com.au
Over the next month Gill and Tim from Australian Hiker will commence their end to end on the Hume and Hovell Track. This track, in the state of New South Wales (NSW), travels between the towns of Yass to the north and Albury to the south, for a distance of 426 km.
In this episode we provide some background to one of Australia's lesser known long distance trails, talk about some of the logistics involved, as well as our expectations for this trip.
Once we commence this trip we will be releasing regular social media posts as well as podcasts from the trail. To follow our regular written posts go to https://australianhiker.com.au/journeys/
