TOM NAPPER

Ahh it's good to be back... country! Aspiring Flats plein air. Prints available. I've somehow been back in New Zealand for a month without going on a proper back-country mission! After bimbling around the UK for their Summer, I'd come back with the intention of bashing out as many hikes as possible. It's my happy place after all. But this whole last month has been spent distracted by lovely jubbly friends! I'll always drop everything to spend a night under the stars but after

Well that happened. All prints from 2022 available on my shop The fireworks popped off to bring in the New Year. Tiny amongst the twinkling lights of Queenstown and reflecting on the lake. I was watching them with friends from the top of Telecom Tower, 2100m up. The third time I'd been up there and one of my favourite "minimum effort, maximum reward" trips. The difference this time was that I actually I had friends with me so it was a warm fuzzy affair... In theory. In realit

Arrrrrrgghhhhhhhhh, I'M BACK IN NEW ZEALAND!! The Remarkables from Kelvin Peninsula - Prints Available After seven months of bimbling around the UK, a rather wonky month in Nepal and a few weeks in Canberra, my Kiwi tourist visa has reset and I'm back baby! And oh boy does it feel good. Before the plane had even landed I had an overwhelming feeling of returning home. Which isn't so surprising as I spent two intense years here during the pandemic. It was one of the most transf

Today's goal was exploring Kathmandu Durbar Square with Molly. Being nervous of stepping too far outside of my Kathmandu comfort zone, this was a small step up from yesterdays Garden of Dreams. All five minutes further down the road! I woke up feeling relaxed after standing up for myself the night before and getting my room changed because it was too noisy (a theme that would follow me for the next two weeks). I wolfed down the buffet and tried cheese nuggets and curried pota

Back from Chitwan it was time to start exploring Kathmandu. Which, for the record, as someone who is nervous of solo travel, is completely, utterly bonkers. Talk about being thrown in at the deep end. At first glance, the streets are complete chaos, with hundreds of motorbikes and little taxis whizzing around crammed dusty streets. All beeping their horns in the hope nobody gets run over. There are no street markings. No traffic lights. Everyone just kind of gets stuck in and

I sat in the garden of Kathmandu Guest House at a dark 5:30am and watched the hotel slowly wake up. I'd been in self isolation for a week so had quickly snapped up an invite to join Jen the "trek mum" for safari action in Chitwan National Park. Anyone who's ever been to Nepal raves about it so it seemed rude not to! In true Kathmandu style we were loaded onto an unlabelled bus with zero explanation and sent on our way. Hopefully in the right direction! Kathmandu is HUGE. But

Five days in and I'd been helicoptered off the Everest Base Camp trek, diagnosed with HACE. In all honesty, as life threatening conditions go it was a bit anticlimactic. Don't get me wrong, I still felt like complete and utter crap for four days straight and hanging around any longer would have likely resolved in death. I don't wish it on anyone. But as I got in the helicopter I was in good spirits. Overwhelmed with relief at having the chance to get the hell out of there. Th

Last year I was an extremely lucky chap and won a trek to Everest Base Camp with 360 Expeditions. I'll never forget the moment. I went in to shock and felt completely out of my own body. Why ME!? Is this even happening!? Does this actually happen to people!? I was still stuck in New Zealand with no idea what the heck my future held and all of a sudden it seemed my destiny was set. In eighteen months time I would be flying to Nepal and painting the Himalayas. Phwar! If you'd h

Waiting for my New Zealand tourist visa to reset, I've been dabbling with nomadic living in the UK. It's been a rather weird Summer full of highs and lows. Staithes, Yorkshire - Prints Available I've seen some beautiful places (like the Yorkshire coast... who knew!?), learnt some lessons, and time and time again I've been reminded that I have so many wonderful people in my life. Experimenting with being nomadic has been a really uncomfortable chapter of my life and having fri

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