http://www.summit-seekers.co.uk/

Summit Seekers, Llanberis (2025)

13/02/2024

• SHE DID IT •
I know we are all flooded daily with posts about how good cold water is for so many things, and it totally is, but for some of us, that cold water is sometimes too much.
That said, Lake Hawea has something special about it. It's cold, yes, but it's clear as a bell, and you feel incredibly clean after you have been in.
I do have the intention to continue to dip even as the summer moves into autumn and perhaps even winter, but we will see.
Took this one a week and a really hot day to brave it, but she felt amazing afterwards...

07/02/2024

• MISSION UNDERWAY •
Plans are afoot....

06/02/2024

• ALL THE GIRLS •
It's such a joy to have my eldest daughter here with us. The world feels a little less out of tilt with 2 out of my 3 here with me.
As a mum, I'm very much of the opinion that we are simply temporary caretakers and guides (that comes with a whole host of jobs and responsibilities, of course) for our offspring. That part of our role is to show them to follow their hearts, take risks, and choose yourself.
However, not having all 3 of my kids here with me has definitely proven to be a much harder obstacle to overcome. It feels physical the missing them, the wanting or needing to be with them. It's a bit of a battle between what I want, need, and am able to do.
So the joys in seeing my eldest choose her own adventure and to start it here with me fills me with endless joy!
Now I hope I don't drive her too mad, dragging her into the many hills and adventures I've been dying to do 🤣
♡

30/01/2024

• COUNTDOWN •
There are only a few days to go before gets here, and I can't wait.
I'm excited to see her, to show her off, show her round, and show her up (I'm just resigned to that one as a mum 🤣🤣).
I love the slow place adventures I enjoy with my youngest daughter, but I'm very excited to get a little further and push a little harder with my older daughter 🧗‍♀️
Also she is bringing my gravel bike and come hell or high water, ice, snow, wind or rain I will be biking to work every day a nice round 40km trip to keep me in as much shape as possible now I'm sitting on my butt all day 😆
# work my age

28/01/2024

• SHE IS JUST THE TONIC •
It won't be long before she is bored of hanging out with me...so best I make the most of it!
What a place this is ... we have been to one of the highest lakes in the world, and yet this is the first time we have seen actual glacial ice bergs up close ... a really good family-friendly wander!
Available in my Komoot, of course!
Plus, we even managed to combine my training run in on our way back... it's the little wins!

23/01/2024

• SUMMER SNOW •
Just over here revelling in the little wins... such as a spattering of snow to tempt forth some winter vibes!!

21/01/2024

• SUNDAY ~ FUNDAY •
So now I've had to pop all my life inton2 short weekend days 1 is for chores/jobs and general life admin while Sunday is my day.
Mountains, huts, exploring, lake swims, and quality time with this little wee wanderer.
Make it count...we bloody well will!
☆
🗺 If you are thinking of coming to New Zealand at ANY time, you should totally check out my komoot collections. They are growing, and they are mighty good mountain adventures. PLUS, I record even the tiny wee walks to places of interest, so a little bit of something for everyone 😊

18/01/2024

• SPONSORED TO STAY AND PLAY •
When you are as old and decrepit as I am (by working holiday visa standards), thanks NZ Immigration 🤣 the next thing to look for is sponsorship.
A few years back when I was last here it was quite easy and straightforward to get this but now it's much harder, so I do feel very lucky to have found a company that wants to use my skills.
Sadly, they don't need my mountain skills, more my brain and uber organisation... BUT this is not the end for me.
Nope, this is perhaps another beginning.
I am going to work towards my NZOIA qualification, particularly my Alpine 1 qualification, which is the closest equivalent to the Winter ML, which I trained for in the UK.
In the meantime, I embrace my laptop during the week and will escape to the wilds at the weekends like normal folk until a time when I can bring Summit Seekers to the Southern Hemisphere...

16/01/2024

Moeraki Boulders
Worn down by time and sea, the perfect spherical balls of mud and clay sit along the Eastern coastline of Otago.
Dating back as much as 10.5 million years, the once huge round globes are shrinking. Eroded as nature intends.
Some of them resemble sleeping giant turtle shells.
A huge attraction as is anything that seems so out of the normal in a familiar setting.
Worth the long stroll along the beautiful sandy beach for sure.

15/01/2024

• DAY 4 ~ MOTATAPU TREK •
There is no big reel this time, just this amazing image of my absolute super star daughter (and a hell of a morning sky!).
I know folk see her hiking with my time after time, mainly because it's just the 2 of us mostly, and so where 1 is the other usually is too.
I know her getting up mountains is no big surprise either, but the reality of this trek and her success is actually incredible.
In my job, I've worked with a huge number of adults all that come with their own various skills and strengths and also cut-off points.
I know that what she achieved, this time, goes above and beyond most adult hikers 'over it' standard would be and here she is on the 4th and final day at the beginning of another long day smiling her head off and being an absolute trooper.
Getting outside is 100% a necessity for me, for my mental health and physical well-being. Spending time with Awen is also a necessity to ensure she gets the best of me as a mum. Also, who else is there? So I do count my lucky stars that she is always game for giving it a go, even if she isn't always having her best time and wishes I was lazy 🤣 (her words!) She still comes at me with a smile and gets it done.
I've said it before, and I will say it again... I struck gold when I was given the 3 children I was given. I'm a lucky woman, and I count my blessings every single say!!
🥾 Macetown Campsite to Arrowtown
📍Queenstown region, Otago
⛰️ Cardrona Range

05/01/2024

• WITH A WEEK OF ADVENTURING ON THE HORIZON •
For the first time, I've been spoilt for choice and really struggled with what to do!
However, I think we've nailed it, and just in time. I think we will have it all...
Including...
✅️ Overnights/multi day tramping
✅️ Valley level wanders
✅️ Ridges and Summit views
✅️ Swimming/dipping
✅️ remote
✅️ quieter spots away from the peak season people
✅️ no rebooting huts required

TO say I'm excited is an understatement... feel like it's about time we got out and explored some of this beautiful new home!

03/01/2024

• THE TRUTH BEHIND THE TRAIL •
I often get asked if Awen really likes hiking? Are the mountains as much her passion as yours?
The simple answer is no, of course her love for the great outdoors doesn't run as deep as mine...she is 7!
However, her love for me runs deep enough that she can understand on some level my need to be amongst the mountains, and her desire to spend time with me is enough to motivate her.
There are the usual refusals, the moans that come when she realises we are once again heading out for an adventure, and sometimes I hear her need for doing something else and we change our plans.
I trust myself as her mum to hear the difference between the normal childlike preference to be sitting all day watching cartoons - to when she genuinely isn't feeling the hike...like all of us. There are some days when it just isn't going 😁
That said, regardless of our 30 year age gap the same rules apply, once we are out on the hill and have pushed through that first excruciating half hour of warming up the mountain muscles, Awen like any of us finds her groove. Once she submits to nature, she looses herself to it, with that innocent childlike wonder... every stick, every insect, all the types of poo and the wider world about her.
If I didn't see the rewards being out in the mountains gave her I wouldn't do it- but I do.
So, each hard start, each time I have to feel a bit like a bully and force her companionship, I know it will be rewarding for us both.
⛰️
Lastly, after huge days like yesterday, where I probably expected more of her than she wanted to give, leaving me worrying she didn't have fun, I don't have to because she will come out with amazing one liners like her first words this morning "we have a really good life mum don't we? I love our life " 😍

16/12/2023

• IT DOESN'T ALWAYS NEED TO BE FAST PACED •
Strolling along the river bank it was a pleasant slow pace with a group of little legs with us. Plenty of snacks, plenty of water and some well needed shade meant an enjoyable day for everyone.
Watching groups of people letting the river take them slowly down stream laughing, chatting and generally just being in the moment - it was a gentle reminder that when the sun shines and the stars align it's the perfectly OK to just be.

14/12/2023

• JUST AROUND THE BEND •

There can always be an adventure just around the corner, whatever that means to you.
At this time of year, a lot of people are gearing up for a festive break from routine, spending much needed time with family and friends. Overindulgence of all the good things with the promise of pushing themselves extra hard as the clock ticks over into a new year.
Here, on the opposite side of the world from most of my loved ones, while I am enjoying the summer sun and ever new horizons that come with being away, I am missing my people.
It makes me think of those of you who dread this time of year, the enhanced loneliness or anxiety, at trying to meet the expectations of children on Christmas morning when you just don't have spare resources. The short days and long nights accompanied by the harsh weather, keeping normally outdoor loving folk inside.
I hope that regardless of the stresses and worries that someone, somewhere this season, shines a little light into your world and reminds you that it is only a couple of days that roll around every year. That even if you are not surrounded by people or piling presents under the tree, the new year that follows closely behind is as much your chance to breathe deeply and reset as anyone.
That you can build your own adventure and that fresh starts come in all shapes and sizes.
I'm not where I imagined I would be this Christmas, I'm not where I had planned to be at 38, but I am choosing to go with the flow of the universe and accept the cards. To forge ahead and trust the process.
That's life.
A process of moments joined together to create one immense story.
I wish all those who might be feeling a little Christmas blues the biggest love and am sending positivity with bells on to you 🎄

Summit Seekers

13/02/2024

07/02/2024

06/02/2024

30/01/2024

28/01/2024

23/01/2024

21/01/2024

18/01/2024

16/01/2024

15/01/2024

05/01/2024

03/01/2024

16/12/2023

14/12/2023

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