Outdoor Community blog

For magazine articles which correspond to the Outdoor Community manual, but don’t fit in any existing Wilderlife categories

Outdoor Community blog

Back to the Wild A Wedding Anniversary Tramp With Our Toddler

By Sonia Barrish|2023-01-20T04:02:45+13:00January 16th, 2023

What better way to celebrate a wedding anniversary than by embarking on a family tramping adventure? On this occasion, a trek over the Kelly Range/Taipo River/Harman Pass tests skilled tramper and mum, Sonia Barrish, as she navigates slips and steep climbs on a four day, 51 kilometre tramp with her partner and 15-month old.

Outdoor Community blog

Youth Outdoors The Murchison Camping Club

By Guest Author|2022-11-26T05:54:08+13:00November 23rd, 2022

It all started in the nineties with a group of paddlers keen to meet annually and paddle whitewater. Now an official tradition after twenty years, this tight-knit group continues to gather every Christmas to pass on their knowledge and love of kayaking to the next generation.

Outdoor Community blog

Training Grant Snow Skills Weekend

By Guest Author|2022-11-21T13:42:45+13:00November 21st, 2022

After a close call occurs during a club outing, the North Otago Tramping and Mountaineering Club (NOTMC) recognises the need to offer winter skills training for its newer members. With support from a FMC Training Grant, they organise a backcountry training weekend with a well-respected mountaineering and ski touring guide.

Outdoor Community blog

Training Grant PRANZ Skills Development Programme

By Guest Author|2022-11-02T04:39:01+13:00November 2nd, 2022

With packrafting on the rise, PRANZ recognises their responsibility to establish a culture of safety and training around this popular sport. With support from the FMC Training Grant, they have developed and are now road testing a curriculum for packraft instruction.

Outdoor Community blog

West Mathias First Descent by Kayak

By Guest Author|2022-10-27T07:49:02+13:00October 20th, 2022

Four kayakers embark on a first descent of the West Mathias river, completing the pinnacle of whitewater kayaking with a broken thumb and triumphant spirits.

Outdoor Community blog

Kindred Organisations Forest & Bird and Predator Free 2050

By Guest Author|2022-10-08T09:12:05+13:00October 8th, 2022

What is Forest & Bird's role in conservation and how can you get involved? Former Acting Manager of National Projects, Gillian Wadams, breaks down F&B's contributions from the local to the national level and how their mission relates to Aotearoa's goal of Predator Free 2050.

Outdoor Community blog

Training Grant Avalanche Awareness

By Guest Author|2022-10-05T07:05:35+13:00October 5th, 2022

With support from a FMC Training Grant, the Canterbury University Tramping Club (CUTC) gains essential, hands-on knowledge in avalanche safety and response.

Outdoor Community blog

Citizen Science The New Zealand Bird Atlas

By Guest Author|2022-09-24T07:55:49+12:00September 24th, 2022

What's one simple and easy way you can help with conservation? Whether you're lounging in your backyard or out for an overnight mission in the bush, noticing and logging the bird life around you on the eBird app has a profound impact. Dan Burgin, NZ Bird Atlas Team, takes readers step-by-step into how they can begin 'Atlasing' on the eBird app and develop competency in their bird identification skills.

Outdoor Community blog

Video Paddling the Sinbad Gully: Part II

By Guest Author|2022-09-22T05:20:14+12:00September 22nd, 2022

In Part II of their adventure, three mates continue on their three-day winter whitewater mission in Fiordland.

Outdoor Community blog

Video Paddling the Harrison River: Part I

By Guest Author|2022-09-22T08:50:12+12:00September 16th, 2022

Oddly for these three mates, the depths of the southern winter seem to inspire thoughts of overnight whitewater missions. And this year was no different . . .

Outdoor Community blog

Whitewater Kayaking Top Choices for Whitewater Huts

By Shaun Barnett|2022-08-15T10:51:19+12:00August 15th, 2022

After asking paddlers from Whitewater New Zealand about their favourite huts for whitewater kayaking, Shaun Barnett shares their top choices along with a few of his own.

Outdoor Community blog

Video Paddling the Albert Burn

By Guest Author|2022-07-14T15:59:04+12:00July 14th, 2022

Three mates enjoy a wonderful day out, exploring a beckoning gorge amongst the incomparable Otago Alps. No helicopters needed for these guys, as they commit to a walk-in mission on the lower gorge of the Albert Burn, Lake Wānaka, Aotearoa New Zealand. Paddlers: Ewen Rodway, Michael McDonald, Ruari Macfarlane. Film by Ewen Rodway [...]

Outdoor Community blog

Volunteering Revegetation of a Club-Owned Pine Forest in Natives

By Guest Author|2022-06-18T12:35:32+12:00June 18th, 2022

When a friend of the early Otago Tramping Club (now OTMC) gifted them a large block of land in 1930, it came with one requirement: protect and preserve the skyline hills as an asset for future trampers and walkers of Dunedin.

Outdoor Community blog

Volunteering for Biodiversity How I Became a Trapper

By Guest Author|2022-06-02T15:06:14+12:00June 1st, 2022

While trapping began as a way for Marcia to bond with her teenager daughter, it evolves into her own personal project. In this honest account of what it takes to be a trapper, Marcia pushes past her comfort zone to overcome challenges and develop backcountry skills.

Outdoor Community blog

Volunteering for Biodiversity Is it Just Giving Back?

By Guest Author|2022-05-30T11:55:22+12:00May 30th, 2022

While volunteering in conservation requires a generous sacrifice of time and effort, Tony Walton of the Auckland Tramping Club shifts the perspective from ‘giving back’ to ‘receiving back’ and shares the many rewards he has gained from his time as a volunteer.

Outdoor Community blog

Volunteering What is ‘Volunteering for Biodiversity?’

By Daniel Clearwater|2022-03-21T16:36:10+13:00March 21st, 2022

What does it mean to 'Volunteer for Biodiversity?' As this year's Outdoor Community Campaign and celebrated activity, Dan Clearwater outlines the many practical ways you and your club can get involved.

Outdoor Community blog

Training Grant First aid refresher

By Guest Author|2022-02-18T12:35:24+13:00February 7th, 2022

Need a first aid refresher? Christchurch Tramping Club member, John Kerkhofs, provides a quick, helpful guide to remembering the basics after the FMC Training Grant funds his club's first aid course.

Outdoor Community blog

Volunteering for Biodiversity Adopt a Plot

By Guest Author|2021-12-02T10:53:05+13:00December 2nd, 2021

Do you want to take the next step in volunteering and make conservation a lifestyle? Mary Jowett shares how the 'Adopt a Plot' scheme allows volunteers to take ownership over a plot of land and save its native vegetation without the use of spray.

Outdoor Community blog

Volunteering for Biodiversity Arthur’s Pass Calling

By Guest Author|2021-10-25T11:15:03+13:00October 25th, 2021

Gerald Bruce-Smith reports on pest-busting in the South Island’s first national park, Arthur's Pass.

Outdoor Community blog

Family Bikepacking 300km with a Toddler

By Guest Author|2021-10-14T13:52:50+13:00October 8th, 2021

Travelling with a toddler always has its uncertainties. But travelling 300km by bike while towing a toddler is a next level adventure. For this brave family of three, the experience is even better than they imagined.

Outdoor Community blog

Trapping For Health, Welfare and Nature

By Guest Author|2021-10-25T11:10:07+13:00September 23rd, 2021

After realising they need a near miracle to significantly reduce the pest population in their region, a generous donation and a team of volunteers arrive on the scene.

Outdoor Community blog

Volunteering Getting More Than You Give

By Guest Author|2021-08-21T09:53:17+12:00August 20th, 2021

'There always seems to be more to gain no matter how much you give.' Guided by this philosophy, Cath and her partner become active volunteers in the trapping community in Southland. After relocating to Central Otago, the pair are introduced to a new landscape, as well as the wildlife and pest diversity that comes along with it.

Outdoor Community blog

June 2017 Applied Tramping

By Guest Author|2021-07-21T14:39:05+12:00July 21st, 2021

What is 'applied tramping?' Esther Pothuis, from Holland, joins the Palmerston North Tramping & Mountaineering Club and discovers a new way of hiking in the Ruahine’s Pohangina River.

Outdoor Community blog

Training Grant Outdoor First Aid Course

By Guest Author|2021-06-13T14:22:26+12:00June 7th, 2021

Funded by the FMC Training Grant, Sue Weller and the Christchurch Over Forties Tramping Club (OFTC) learn outdoor first aid skills to better equip themselves and save lives in the backcountry.

Wilderlife

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