TOM NAPPER

A three day loop hike via Roberts Ridge to Angelus Hut. Sunset Saddle and Angelus Peak. Then down to Hopeless Hut. Drama ensued. As usual!

Freshwater Hut to Mason Bay Hut - 3-4 Hours - 15.5km My New Zealand visa was running out for the fourth time so I needed to get the hell away from my emails. After booking and cancelling the Rakiura Great Walk (thanks bed bugs) a group of us had come up with a nice little adventure plan on Stewart Island. We'd get the ferry to Oban. Have fifteen minutes to hop in a water taxi which would take us to Christmas Village Hut on the North East coast. There we would summit Mt Anglem

Day 1 - Dart Valley to Scott Basin Another weekend. Another Otago outdoor epic! This time I hopped in the car with Tamasin Christina Langton to head up to Scott Basin. A lesser known track just below the Routeburn, it's a quick 3-4 hour track straight up Scott Creek (and by up, it just goes up for nearly the whole thing!). Following a creek in New Zealand means lots of tree falls and landslides to pick your way across but I find this much more enjoyable than a groomed gravel

I'd never even heard of a gravel bike before. My solo travelling experience consisted of a weekend away in Lyme Regis. How do you even bikepack!? And yet there I was, at Cape Reinga just about to ride the Tour Aotearoa. A month long, 3000km bikepacking epic down the entire length of New Zealand. The excitement and anticipation were like nothing I've felt before. A weird cocktail of looking forward to the exploration, but also wondering if I'd make it all the way. What if my b