Meet Oli, hailing from the small Canadian town of Portage La Prairie, where winters freeze candle flames and summers buzz with mosquitoes. He jokes he’s ended up as far from home as possible. When he’s not guiding, you’ll find him enjoying life by the beach with his partner, sipping coffee his the driveway, surfing (badly), running, reading, or tinkering with an ancient vehicle he can’t probably fix. With a laid-back style and a good hat (or coffee mug) always in hand, he’s here to help you navigate New Zealand’s “undulating” trails with a grin and a good story.
It’s the kind of place you stop for petrol on your way to somewhere else. A little place called Portage La Prairie, or PLAP for short. Where candle flames freeze in the winter and the sun is blocked by clouds of mosquitoes in the summer. It was a flat walk to school, 1000 kms both ways. When your dog ran away you watched it run for a week.
According to my calculations, I’ve successfully ended up as far away from it as possible.
If I’m not working I’m hiking and if I’m not hiking I’m working.
Or, I’m enjoying home near the beach with my lovely partner, Raine. Probably smashing coffees in the driveway and soaking up the sun, trying to surf, running, and reading if I can sit still for long enough. Or, I’m spending money on a vehicle twice my age that I have no idea how to fix.
There’s a little Indian supermarket in Christchurch that sells three fresh samosas for five dollars. I’ll buy six (sometimes nine), eat three (sometimes six) in the car on the way to a hike, and will demolish the other three for my first dinner on a multi-day trip. And of course I get tamarind sauce!
I think the key is to know to ask your guide to differentiate between ‘flat’ and ‘New Zealand flat’. That’ll eliminate any cause for confusion. Familiarise yourself with the term ‘undulating’. And understand that undulations exist on a spectrum…
Everyone responds differently to the majesty of their surroundings when adventuring throughout Aotearoa. It is a privilege simply to bear witness to the myriad of raw emotions evoked in fellow travelers - whom only days prior were strangers - and to be alongside them as they push to personal triumph on hikes. I absolutely adore when someone makes themself proud.
Do snacks count? If not, it’s got to be a hat. Always need a good hat. Or coffee. I have been seen guiding in the rain (snow) atop Key Summit early in the season with a travel mug containing a lovely, steaming single origin. My group and I descended past a group of trainee guides from another outfit, who a day later stopped at the same roadside loo (New Zealand's) most inland Loo, of course, and they all recognised ‘the chill guide dude with a cuppa’.
My first ever overnight hike in New Zealand saw me arrive late at the trailhead to Mueller Hut. I raced the setting sun up the 2200 steps, and set my tent up near the hut (camping was cheaper). After a beer with some fellow hikers at their camp, I wandered back to my tent, and marvelled at the fact that I could see the milk of our galaxy as I laid there. Until I asked myself how I could see the milk of our galaxy from inside my tent. Something had torn my tent fly. The following day I met the culprit. The Kea, New Zealand’s alpine parrot.
Selecting one favourite is impossible. During our tours, however, hiking along the Pororari River on the West Coast of the South Island is at the top. I’ll often head back between tours to share this highlight with friends. Few hikes are so immediately satiating and otherworldly. Metres from the highway, we are engulfed in the rainforest below towering limestone cliffs, epiphytes overhead and the tannin stained Pororari cascading lazily by with the occasional Tuna (New Zealand Longfin eel) swimming in the deep pools. Ending the hike at the Punakaiki River with a quick swim is the perfect refresher before hopping back in the van.
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