Wilderness April 2022

THERE’S A DAD joke that goes, ‘How do you eat an elephant?’ Answer: One bite at a time. Yeah, it’s cringe, but its also a phrase used to describe how we can tackle big, seemingly overwhelming, tasks. Do it gradually, one bite – or step – at a time. That’s how I’ve been tackling the Walk1200km challenge. I’ve walked for 168 days in a row now. Bite sized walks with a few big ones thrown in to boost my total distance walked. That’s how you build a habit out of walking and exercise and rather than new places visited, though there have been plenty, or big trips completed, it’s that habit which will be how I judge my personal success in completing Walk1200km. I want to be healthier and fitter every day…

WALK1200KM CHALLENGE JUST RIGHT I disagree with Jeremy Cole (Pigeon Post, March 2022) who believes the Walk1200km goal is too short a distance. While it’s great that he is able to be as active as he is, and has time to walk 100km weekly, this is not the norm for most people. If I can be an example, I live in Auckland, I have a 60-90min return commute every day to work. Between my work, home, and social life, I would consider myself time poor but usually manage a decent day walk once a month, and multi-day walk 3-4 times a year. I would struggle to walk 1200km in a year. I have now been participating in the Walk1200km challenge for a few months and have contributed some of my own photos and…

REPAIR WORK BEGINS ON HEAPHY TRACK Work on repairing damage to the storm-ravaged Heaphy Track has begun, although through-trips remain off the cards. DOC closed the track in February after torrential rain swept through the West Coast and the 147m-long Heaphy River suspension bridge was written off. The Gunner River bridge was also damaged, the Pitt Creek bridge washed away and there was a slip on Mackay Hill. The track has since been partially reopened for return trips from Golden Bay and the West Coast, but the section between James Mackay and Heaphy huts is likely to remain closed for several months. Work began in March to salvage the Heaphy Bridge for parts that can be used in a replacement bridge and to clear the site, said Suvi van Smit, DOC’s Buller operations manager. DOC has…

I’M WALKING FOR OXFAM Jenny Manton is using the Walk1200km challenge to train for the Oxfam Trailwalker. By Aaron Van Delden Jenny Manton likes a challenge. Last year the Nelson hairdresser took part in the 50km Oxfam Trail-walker. This year she’s signed up for the 100km version. The team event raises funds to help lift people in the Pacific out of poverty. Jenny’s team of four, which includes her husband, niece and a hairdressing client, are planning to walk their 100km around Nelson after Oxfam decided in February to move the event online in light of the Omicron outbreak. “We are still excited and pumped to complete the task,” Jenny says. Her training started during lock-down last August and when she found out about Walk1200km, she realised it would marry up with her trailwalker training and hold her…

Anne Henley lives on Australia’s Sunshine Coast, but calls herself a QueeNZlander. A deep family history has seen Henley visit New Zealand countless times, usually with one thing in mind: walking. Growing up on the edge of the bush in Sydney, Henley was on the move from a young age. “My mother remembers me crawling off in pursuit of our two red setter dogs, out the back gate and into the bush. She would watch me until she couldn’t see my nappy anymore.” However, Henley’s lifelong love of walking was in danger of being snuffed out prematurely by chronic hip pain. In December 2020, she had a hip replacement, which she says has been life changing. “The Walk1200km challenge came up at about the time I was starting to walk again. It was a…