Trail Notes, Trip Stories and Honest Advice from the Field
The Freewheeling Kiwi Blog
Sharon Evans is the founder of Freewheeling Kiwi and one of Australasia's leading small group Himalayan trekking specialists
She has walked the full length of Te Araroa — 3,000 kilometres from Cape Reinga to Bluff — and led multiple groups to Everest Base Camp with a 100% summit success rate. She also treks in Australia, Bhutan, the Annapurna region and across New Zealand.
Reset and Recharge at Lake Ōkataina
There's a particular kind of quiet that settles over a group standing above a lake nobody's spoken about yet. That was Rotongata, sun on the water, no one in any hurry to say something.
The July Reset and Recharge Walk took us into the Ōkataina Trails near Rotorua, through towering kahikatea, twin crater lakes, and a 10 metre waterfall called Te Auheke — tumbling water.
This is the story of that day.
What a Zipline Tour Taught Me About Running Adventure Experiences
A zipline tour in Rotorua became an unexpected reminder that great adventure tourism has very little to do with adrenaline alone.
From safety culture and guest experience to trust, storytelling and operational leadership, the parallels between guiding trekkers in the Himalayas and running high quality adventure experiences in New Zealand are surprisingly similar.
Sharon Evans is the founder of Freewheeling Kiwi and one of Australasia's leading small group Himalayan trekking specialists
She has walked the full length of Te Araroa — 3,000 kilometres from Cape Reinga to Bluff — and led multiple groups to Everest Base Camp with a 100% summit success rate. She also treks in Australia, Bhutan, the Annapurna region and across New Zealand.