It took me a long time to decide which backpack would accompany me along Te Araroa. I read, again and again, about all the different brands and models they had. I went from outdoor shop to outdoor shop to check out what was there and what seemed useful. In the end I had narrowed it… Continue reading Osprey Xena 85L Backpack
Today, it has been exactly one year ago since we stepped on a plane in Oslo and headed for New Zealand. The excitement, the nerves, the anxiousness… When I think back about it today, I think about two rookies about to embark on the hike of a lifetime. And I wish that today was that… Continue reading Reminiscing Te Araroa
Kalamunda - Albany 44 days Trail Slogan: Ice! In Australia! Distance covered: 966km Number of walking days: 39 Number of resting days: 5 Number of nights in a tent: 3 Number of nights in a shelter: 9 Number of nights in a tent in a shelter: 23 Number of nights in a bed (hostel, hotel,… Continue reading Bibbulmun Fun Facts
The Bibbulmun section running alongside the southwestern edge of the Australian continent, where the roaring forties relentlessly crash onto the shoreline, is in my opinion by far the most scenic one. There's a beauty in walking by the ocean, especially one as wild and untamed as this one between us and the Antarctic, especially… Continue reading A Storming Finish: Peaceful Bay to Albany
The largest wildfire of them all ravaged south of Northcliffe, burning to ash 100.000 ha of karri forest and swampland. In its fury it encroached on the town of Northcliffe to a mere 3km, at which point the townspeople were evacuated and firefighters flown in from the eastern states to aid their tired colleagues… Continue reading Through the Giants to the Coast
A very sudden and unexpected change occurred walking towards Donnelly River Village. Up until that point, the trail traversed jarrah country. In a forest conservation area we noticed a number of large gum (marri) trees. We'd only seen a handful of big ones so far: all these forests were logged during the 19th and 20th… Continue reading Forests of the southwest: the karri, the marri and the jarrah
In Collie we felt that motivation had gone down below sound levels. At first, we thought it was mostly the lack of sleep playing our minds, as 2 weeks of continuous little rest during the cold, freezing nights had been taking their toll. So we stayed an extra night to be able to catch… Continue reading Fighting the Demotivation Trap
While we munched on some delicious lunch in Dwellingup's Blue Wren cafe we ordered some gear to protect us from the cold. It was already well in the afternoon by the time we got going so after a modest 13km we reached camp for the night at Swamp Oak. As the sky darkened in the… Continue reading Red Dust, Black Soot, Green Grass
The excitement to start our second long-distance walk grew so large that we both couldn't sleep the night before departure. I had been coming down with a flu which was half healed, half not, but going out into the peace of the bush seemed like a better cure than hanging out in hostels in… Continue reading Freezing Forests and Kangaroos: Kalamunda to Dwellingup
For our final training trip we made our way back to Jotunheimen, one of Norway's most amazing national parks. We decided to make a detour on the way home to Oslo after finishing a summer of work in FlĂĄm. With its 2469m, Galdhøpiggen is the highest mountain in all of Scandinavia. Lying in a spectacular Alpine area,… Continue reading The roof of Scandinavia: Galdhøpiggen
Team Belgica 