Meet our Guide: Rick B

Rick spent a lifetime trawling the globe in an effort to avoid the sort of unsavoury career befitting a commerce degree, accumulating a small-language-model's worth of mostly useless facts along the way. Never really a city boy he eventually concluded that the natural beauty of his childhood home surpassed the streets of London. His office based "career" has since been discarded as shenanigans and he much prefers skipping through NZ's glorious forests, often likened (usually politely) to a mountain goat. Helping other people enjoy NZ’s special landscape whilst sharing tales and useless facts is a joy. The fact that it is also a job is one of life’s little quirks.

Rick - Guide

Tell us about your Hometown

I hail from Whangarei, a small northern beach city and spent my hoilidays split between sport, frollicking in the sea and being a nuisance on relatives’ farms. It was a priveleged (typically NZ) upbringing in terms of access to the outdoors. Indeed being in the house was anathema except for dinner, which was generally hoovered down to minimise indoor time.

What do you do when you are not working or hiking?

I still frollick in the ocean during the summer months but much of my downtime is spent reading anything non-fiction and planning or executing an overseas trip.

What piece of gear can you not live without on the trail?

I swear by the plastic poncho. An item that weights less than a whisper yet keeps you bone dry, provided you leave your vanity at home, they are far from elegant. This leaves room in my pack for the other essential hiking accoutrement the coffee plunger. That said a thin sock is the thinking hiker’s filter.

Do you have a favourite trail snack or meal?

Fresh mountain water. Honestly. That and red wine which, in judicous quantities, can elevate a mountain sunset to spiritual level.

Do you have a favourite hike in New Zealand?

Always a dilemma divulging secrets but there is a stretch of ancient bush track in the North Island’s Whirinaki hike that is like no other I can find in the World. I could easily spend a week in one spot just staring at the gigantic trees, listening to the peace and drinking in the lush air.