One year of through hiking

Finally I'm starting to come to the end of going through all the photographs we took during a year of hiking and traveling in New Zealand and Australia. During the entire 4500km across New Zealand, Stewart Island and Australia we made self-portraits, inspired by other hikers who had done the same along the PCT. And…

Aarn Peak Aspiration Bodypack

Soon after we arrived in New Zealand we laid eyes on the first hiker using an Aarn bodypack. We did not dare to ask him, Graeme/Graham he was called, if it wasn't very awkward and uncomfortable walking with those pockets in the front of the body. How could he manage all the scrambling without stumbling…

Helsport Reinsfjell Superlight 2

Reinsfjell is a tent model just on the edge between a three- and four-season one.  After finishing Te Araroa with the Helsport Storsylen tent we wanted something lighter, especially since we were going to Australia next, without compromising too much on durability and comfort. We wanted exactly the same for our trip across the Nepal Himalaya…

Bibbulmun Fun Facts

Kalamunda - Albany 44 days Trail Slogan: Ice! In Australia! Distance covered: 966km Number of walking days: 39 Number of resting days: 5 Number of nights in a tent: 3 Number of nights in a shelter: 9 Number of nights in a tent in a shelter: 23 Number of nights in a bed (hostel, hotel,…

A Storming Finish: Peaceful Bay to Albany

    The Bibbulmun section running alongside the southwestern edge of the Australian continent, where the roaring forties relentlessly crash onto the shoreline, is in my opinion by far the most scenic one. There's a beauty in walking by the ocean, especially one as wild and untamed as this one between us and the Antarctic, especially…

Through the Giants to the Coast

  The largest wildfire of them all ravaged south of Northcliffe, burning to ash 100.000 ha of karri forest and swampland. In its fury it encroached on the town of Northcliffe to a mere 3km, at which point the townspeople were evacuated and firefighters flown in from the eastern states to aid their tired colleagues…

Forests of the southwest: the karri, the marri and the jarrah

 A very sudden and unexpected change occurred walking towards Donnelly River Village. Up until that point, the trail traversed jarrah country. In a forest conservation area we noticed a number of large gum (marri) trees. We'd only seen a handful of big ones so far: all these forests were logged during the 19th and 20th…

Fighting the Demotivation Trap

  In Collie we felt that motivation had gone down below sound levels. At first, we thought it was mostly the lack of sleep playing our minds, as 2 weeks of continuous little rest during the cold, freezing nights had been taking their toll. So we stayed an extra night to be able to catch…

Red Dust, Black Soot, Green Grass

While we munched on some delicious lunch in Dwellingup's Blue Wren cafe we ordered some gear to protect us from the cold. It was already well in the afternoon by the time we got going so after a modest 13km we reached camp for the night at Swamp Oak. As the sky darkened in the…

Freezing Forests and Kangaroos: Kalamunda to Dwellingup

  The excitement to start our second long-distance walk grew so large that we both couldn't sleep the night before departure. I had been coming down with a flu which was half healed, half not, but going out into the peace of the bush seemed like a better cure than hanging out in hostels in…