The newest addition to our hiking family
Waitomo based Irene has tramped her fair share of New Zealand's ridgelines and explored many of our greatest walks. She's excited to combine her two loves (hiking and wild food), while showing visitors around our beautiful regions.
Irene loves sharing our great outdoors with like-minded souls. “I really enjoy meeting new people, learning from them, seeing the wonder on their faces when we show them our special places. It’s great having a global network of people who just love being ‘out there’”.
A local Waikato girl through and through, having retired from a business management background a few years ago, she now runs a farm at Waitomo but regularly gets out for hiking adventures on her own or with friends when the mountains call. Favourite kiwi foods include watercress (how very healthy!), mutton or wild pork in the slow cooker, mussels, crayfish, snapper, flounder - in fact any self-harvested fish or game, topped off with a Nelson sav.
Irene has been a volunteer bush craft instructor with the New Zealand Mountain Safety Council for 15 years, so has oodles of experience. She loves learning about the bush, is positive about sustainability and minimalised living.
Of her overseas travel, she fell in love with the mountains in Switzerland, “the summer alpine life, spending time in the smaller villages, their customs and traditions.” The Scottish Highlands hold an appeal for future travel.