Anne brings warmth, grit, and a deep love for wild places to everything she does at Hiking New Zealand. Raised among kiwifruit orchards in Te Puke and now based on a lifestyle block near Rangiora, Anne’s journey has taken her from the city to the trails of Spain and back home again. When she’s not out hiking or planning the next adventure with her crew, she’s juggling life on her lifestyle block, family, and a business built around her passion for the outdoors. Anne’s the kind of person who always packs an emergency meal - and will make you glad you did too
I grew up in New Zealand’s kiwifruit capital, Te Puke – surrounded by kiwifruit! There was so much kiwifruit that we used to buy the non-export fruit for NZ$10 per ton to feed to our cows. We had to ration the cow's kiwifruit supply, as they loved it, and too many kiwifruit resulted in some pretty messy cows in the shed!
I moved to the big smoke, Auckland, for university and worked in the city after I finished my studies, but the lure of overseas travel was too much. After meeting Dan in London and a stint guiding and managing a lodge in Spain, we decided that it was time to head back to New Zealand and make the South Island home.
Rangiora is where we call home. A classic New Zealand small-town - we love it! We raised our two children here on our lifestyle block (a small farm of 6 acres) so they experienced the joys of growing up with space and having animals to care for.
When I am not working or on a mid-week mission with my girlfriends I am generally talking about work or planning our next mission. I’ve written a few blogs about our Women’s Adventures over the years.
It is an occupational hazard when your passion becomes your work and you work with your spouse - the line between work and home life is somewhat blurred!
My top tip for someone that is new to hiking in New Zealand is making sure you do not underestimate the weather. The weather here is incredibly changeable and if you are in a mountainous region it can be dangerous if you are not prepared. Visit the Mountain Safety Council website and consider using their Plan My Walk app.
I always pack my backpack considering whether I would be comfortable if one of my hiking buddies had an accident or medical event and we were stuck on the trail overnight before help could reach us. This usually means I have an extra layer for warmth and an emergency meal. When I pull these out of my backpack at the end of my multi-day hike rather than berate myself for taking excess kit I fist-pump, thinking "sweet, I haven’t had to use any of this and that’s a win."
The piece of gear that I have come to love is my walking pole. I am amazed it has taken me so long to adopt hiking with a walking pole. I feel like it adds about 5-10% to my speed up a hill (important when you are chasing a hiking guide husband up a hill), I guess I could also use it as deterrent for said husband to pass me?
I haven’t been over Waiau Pass in Nelson Lakes National Park so it is on my list of hikes to do. I do wish I had done this hike before the Te Araroa Trail (TA) grew in popularity as the TA traverses Waiau Pass and I prefer to go hiking where I am less likely to see lots of people.
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