Books from the Backcountry

I have always been drawn to books about people who do life differently.

People who walk for months, live remotely, raise families a long way from town, or simply decide to see how little they really need.

I first read Miriam Lancewood's Woman in the Wilderness in 2017, followed a few years later by Wild at Heart. I have her third book on my bookshelf to be read.

There is something about the freedom in her books that appeals to me. A life stripped back to what is needed to survive, rather than everything we seem to think we need.

I've also read the three Gorge River books — Robert Long's A Life on Gorge River, Catherine Stewart's A Wife on Gorge River and their son Chris Long's The Boy from Gorge River.

I loved being able to read about the same extraordinary life from three different perspectives. Catherine's stayed with me particularly. Raising children in one of the most isolated places in New Zealand might sound wonderfully free, but meals still need making, children need raising and a family needs holding together.  Simple does always mean easy though.

I've also read a number of books about walking Te Araroa, but Naomi Arnold's Northbound is probably my favourite.

Naomi didn't brush over the boring parts of walking the trail. You felt the cold, the hunger, the exhaustion and the days when there was just more walking to do, to get to where you had to get to. I remember her being low on food and feeling that fear with her.  The way she writes has you walking the trail right beside her.

I've also read Victoria Bruce's Adventures with Emilie, about walking Te Araroa with her young daughter, and later their children's book Emilie Walks Te Araroa. I always find books like this inspiring. Children are incredibly adaptable and way more capable than we often give them credit for.

My husband is an avid hunter and our children have been walking in the bush and staying in huts since they were young. A while ago they asked me to make some candles they could take with them.

My usual candles were simply too cumbersome when everything has to be carried in a pack and every gram counts, so I made them smaller

A little 9.5 cm stick candle weighing around 35 grams. Enough light for an evening or two without carrying more than you need.

We have been burn testing them this week, lighting them for a few hours, putting them out and relighting them again,  much like how they might actually be used in a hut.

We called them Trail Candles.

100% New Zealand beeswax and cotton wick.

35 grams. Around six hours of light.

Small enough to earn their place in a pack.