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Mountains New Zealand Stories

Magic on the Milford Track

“Be careful out there, it’s very addictive,” warned our hut ranger Grace, as she bade us farewell from Clinton Hut with a twinkle in her eye.  We already knew that, of course. Afterall, this had been our third try at booking the Department of Conservation (DOC) huts on the Milford Track. Armed with learnings from […]

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New Zealand Projects

Street Art Run Wellington

Last month over the Easter break, we decided to book a city getaway to Wellington. It was the long weekend right before our big marathon race, so the plan was to relax… and do nothing. But after walking through the colourful streets of the quirky capital, we couldn’t help ourselves – and ended up plotting […]

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New Zealand Projects

Street Art Run Auckland

2021 has turned out to be another bumpy ride so far. Auckland went into and out of lockdown twice in February, turning our plans into custard. So instead of heading out into the trails, we went for an adventure by mixing up our default city run route. As we ran past these colourful murals from […]

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New Zealand Stories

Harvesting the energy of Great Barrier Island

The Great Barrier Island adventure begins even before you arrive. Located in the Hauraki Gulf about 100km north-east of Auckland CBD, visitors have two options to get there: a four-and-a-half-hour ferry ride or 35-minute flight from Auckland. Given our limited time on the island (an extended long weekend of four days), we opted for the […]

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New Zealand Stories

The power of the long run

Runaway thoughts on my first 100km ultra “Shall I fetch the doctor?” offered a volunteer, as the grimacing fellow runner hobbled towards the final aid station of the race. He shook his head slowly, as if in disbelief over his own insanity for being here.  “I need a psychiatrist.” We chuckled sadistically.  “Don’t we all?” […]

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New Zealand Stories

Rediscovering Nutrition, Running and Life

Food for thought from the people met and books read in 2019 I know 2019 already feels like a long time ago, but last year had been one of many unexpected, bewildering revelations. As I allow them to sink in slowly, I thought it’d be worthwhile to look back on the several encounters, which had […]

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Mountains New Zealand Stories

Backstories from the Backcountry Huts of Kepler Track

I love dinner times on a multi-day hike in the backcountry. Any hot food tastes absolutely divine after a full day tramping on the trails – just focusing non-stop on placing one foot ahead of the other with a 7kg backpack on the shoulders. Along the way, the stunning vistas had tugged at our heartstrings […]