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Photography, writing, film, art. Inspired by wilderness adventures and travels.

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Ben is actually bringing this whole tube of Vegemite with him! Bloody Aussies!!! . #kimberleypackrafting2018

Final adventure logistics coming together in Kununurra this evening. We have a crew of 5 friends who have flown in from 4 different places for this mission. Our ages range from 20’s to late 50’s and we’re a combo of German, French, Australian, Swiss, Kiwi and American. Tomorrow morning a bush plane is dropping us off in Drysdale National Park. Then it’s goodbye to technology, concrete and other people for two weeks. . . . . . #kimberleypackrafting2018 #kimberley #australia #westernaustralia #expeditionlogistics #foodexplosion

60 seconds of Kimberley goodness by @ben_explores from back in 2013. Tomorrow we will have a new crew, new rivers but the same region....Kimberley, Western Australia. How good is that fishing with a hook and cloth?! . . . . . #kimberleypackrafting2018 #thisispackrafting #australiapackrafting #alpackaraft #fishing #kimberley #westernaustralia #wildandinspire

Local wildlife while packrafting in New Zealand 😀There are a bunch of high country stations in various parts of the South Island (mostly grazed by leasehold farmers) ... farming and wilderness coming together... . . . . . . . #thisispackrafting #dulkarapackrafting #alpackaraft #packrafting #clarenceriver #highcountryfarming #highcountrystation 📷 @ben_explores from a trip we did down the Clarence River

[Kimberley Packrafting - April 2018] . Crocodiles! . Going on a trip in croc territory is pretty intimidating to me. Luckily two of my teammates, Ben and Seb, have clocked up several trips in crocodile territory between them so they are really familiar with best practices. Myself and Brad and Marg, from Alaska, are croc rookies! Here are a couple of (freshie) croc pics from Ben’s trip in the Kimberley last year. The first river we’re paddling, the Drysdale, has a big waterfall (Solea Falls) that acts as a natural (salty) croc barrier. When we walk across to continue paddling our second river we’ll have to be a little more careful. There’s no barramundi (croc food) so it’s unlikely there will be salties up that far, unless they’ve been forced up in a territorial dispute. We hope to at least paddle the headwaters and will have to switch to walking at some point. We’ll be “croc camping” - some of the things we’ll be doing: not staying anywhere more than one night, not camping by the water, staying away from the river at night and walking down to the river at different places instead of the same route. . A few years ago the thought of going on an adventure in grizzly bear territory scared me, now I love it. It adds a really special element to a trip...a reason to learn even more about the environment you’re travelling in which ultimately needs to a deeper connection to that place. Respecting the local wildlife, and adjusting the way you live and travel in those environments also becomes a priority. I’m excited for all of the unique wildlife we’ll be seeing in the Kimberley! A totally new adventure for me. . . . . . #crocodiles #australia #drysdalenationalpark #kimberley #westernaustralia #kimberleypackrafting2018 #expedition

You’re looking at my check-in and carry-on luggage for a two week international packrafting adventure. I managed to stick to my 13kg weight limit...including a paddle, PFD, helmet, packraft, 2 person shelter and all of my personal stuff! . Wouldn’t have been possible without my fave lightweight expedition kit @hyperlite_mountain_gear Porter pack, Ultamid shelter and stuff pack (most versatile and lightweight carry-on bag ever!) If you’re curious to know what kit we’re bringing, swipe right for packing lists. . . . . . . . . #whereverlitetakesyou #hyperlite_mountain_gear #thisispackrafting #expedition #dulkarahyperlitemountaingear #dulkarapackrafting #adventure #sheexplores #shewentwild #wildandinspire #kimberleypackrafting2018

My good mate @ben_explores stoked on wild blueberry season in Alaska during our last mission together! . Ben is one of my all-time fave adventure buddies. We met just over 2yrs ago and bonded over a shared love of packrafting, wild places, travel, photography and film. We’ve already been on so many cool adventures together....New Zealand, Europe, Alaska and in a few days time...Australia! Will have to plan for something in Africa, Asia or South America next time @ben_explores! Bike-rafting in Nepal??!??

World-famous in the local newspaper...sharing the front page with a funeral services advertisement (swipe right)😁 . Got home last night and my flatmate pointed out that it could almost be seen as a subtle dating advert: “This year I’m working on creating a sustainable balance between routine and adventure...the truth is that a life of constant expeditions becomes lonely and being detached from a geographical community for months and years on end can be really challenging...” I guess I’ll just wait for the dinner invitations to start rolling in 😂 Most probable response? “Sorry I’m away packrafting [or any other outdoor activity]” . @alpacka_raft #thisispackrafting #packraftingwomen #dulkarapackrafting #packrafting #alpackaraft

Yum! Wilderness pizza 👍I’ve shared some thoughts on planning food for longer wilderness trips on the @emspowercookies blog. Link in my bio.

For every second picture of pretty alpine camping you see in my Instagram feed... this is what’s behind it! Some of the most magical places in NZ don’t have trails going to them so you’ve gotta learn to embrace bush-bashing 😛 Swipe for a couple of examples from this summer. The ultimate bush:alpine ratio for me? About 1:8!

Some more pictures from a weekend mission in my local National Park. I’ve always wanted to walk the whole Matiri Range and it lived upto my expectations 🙂An awesome mix of well-established trail, time wandering in the alpine zone and thick bush-bashing with too many little bluffs that don’t show up on the TOPO map! On our second day it was raining and howling a southerly on the tops and after a section of slow travel through thick bush we were stoked to reach Hurricane Hut for the night. Most of these pics are from the second part of the trip, from Hurricane Hut across to the Wangapeka Saddle. Now there’s still time for 2 days paddling in Murchison before heading back to work.

Blue mushrooms!!! This magical little fungi is endemic to New Zealand. You may have seen it on our $50 note - the only banknote in the world with a mushroom on it!

We’re camping on the summit of The Haystack! . Tomorrow we’ll continue along the Matiri Range before bush-bashing down to Hurricane Hut to avoid the cliffs and then climb back onto the Matiri Range - Wangapeka Saddle - Mount Luna - Kiwi Saddle - Mount Patriarch - Gibbs and out the Wangapeka.

Go to the link in my profile for a Q & A with women’s adventure blog @shewentwild_ . Includes inspiration for alps traverse, some insights into logistics for longer expeditions, a brief recount of one of my fave missions from last year and what inspires me to keep spending time outside. . Follow them for stories about women who love adventures

Disclaimer: for every minute of idyllic sailing into the sunset we had at least one minute of battling into a strong headwind and going almost nowhere! . Weekend kayak mission in the Marlborough Sounds with @q_hornblow - we’d both finished the GODZone adventure race a week before and thought it’d be cool to do a relaxed trip. I’d pictured time to chill in the afternoon sun, time to laze around by the ocean. We thought we’d be able to portage a small piece of land...turned out it was a bit of a gnarly climb with a kayak so we had to backtrack and our Saturday paddle turned into a longer adventure! We got to camp after dark both nights and ended up paddling more in the weekend than the kayak legs in GODZone! Sailing is pretty sweet and it was super cool to be back on the ocean 🙂 looking forward to more salty adventures this year... I love the ocean

Newsflash! I have an address 😳 It has been 7 years since I spent more than 5 months in one place. Since 2010 my life has been a whirlwind of incredible back-to-back adventures but alongside the epic times have been many lonely times. Living everywhere and nowhere at the same time and not being part of a geographical community can be more challenging than you think. . My top priority for 2018 is to find a sustainable balance between routine and adventure. For now that means embracing the life of a “weekend warrior” and planning some epic longer missions every 2-3 months to break up the routine.

On Thursday evening we crossed the finish line in Te Anau after 550km of racing through Fiordland. It was an epic course for my first official adventure race. We completed the full course in 15th place after over 1 week of racing. It was not as fast as we had hoped but considering all circumstances I think we did okay. We started alongside 80 teams, 25 of them completed the full course (the last team rolled in this morning). The rest either pulled out, elected to switch to the short-course or didn’t make the time cut-offs to complete the full course. All of those people who soldiered on regardless of what course they completed (or perhaps they pulled out because their bodies were broken) are legends in my mind. There will be so many stories coming out of the woodwork in the next few weeks. . For many teams this years GODZOne became a race for survival as opposed to placings. It was the longest and most difficult GODZOne to date and Fiordland is wet. Foot issues were rife. Stage three was a 150km packrafting and hiking leg which was estimated to take 48hrs for the fastest teams. Many people spent over 90hrs on that leg, making it one of the longest legs in the history of adventure racing. Top New Zealand Adventure racer (and five times world champ) Nathan Fa’avae said it was in the “top 3 most brutal expedition race courses” he has ever completed! . Many, many people were suffering from trench foot, fungal and bacterial infections or cellulitis. Even experienced people who carefully looked after their feet were not immune for this Godzone event. And some people are just more susceptible than others. The finish line (and town) was full of people hobbling around nursing battered feet. Some competitors had to be lifted out of their kayaks and carried across the finish line by teammates. A few had to be taken to hospital to be put on a drip or to have surgery. . The actual terrain was on par or easier than most of my personal missions in this part of the island, the brutal part was the lack of sleep and the foot issues that can arise when you can’t keep your feet dry for 8hrs a day. . Continued in comments below...

What do you wear on the start line of a 10 day expedition adventure race? Your usual ripped up, holey merino top of course 😂 Fancy stuff is overrated.

Quick mash-up from team Loose Moose #35 . For a longer version check out my Facebook page. Link in my profile.

Loose Moose - team #35 . Curious to see how we’re going over the next week? Live tracking starts tomorrow, link in my profile.

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