Kaaren and Jeph were based in Christchurch and won a grant to travel down the Mekong. They have also worked in Nepal. They are both doctors and have been taking their littlelies out heaps.
Not sure where they are now. Someone might know. Jeph was contributing articles to the Press about their river trip. I think he may have written a book. He writes beautifully.
I saw your flyer in Vernon Park and want to get in touch with you re. tramping. I have 2 children, 5 years and 20 months. Have you an email add/cell no. that I can contact you on?
Garth, Izogi:
Couldn't agree more. With the current carrier, Macpac basically owns the market for all people who want to do a bit more than average with their children. It's a bit of a pity that there is not more competition in that segment, as there are clearly things that could still be done better. Don't get me wrong, the Vamoose is a great carrier, but not quite perfect yet.
Honora:
Sounds like an interesting family, will see if I find the time to google them a bit more. Thanks for the info!
Timmi:
Would be cool to get in contact, please email me - see below!
EVERYONE:
Here's my email address for anyone who would like to get in touch: [Email address removed]. We're looking forward to hearing from you!
Cheers,
Matt
PS: Matthew, if it's not ok to post email addresses here, please let me know and obviously feel free to remove it.
Ok so that didn't work too well, obviously I can't post my email address here.
Matt, how can I let other people know how to contact me? Or is the only way through the internal private messaging system?
If the latter is the case, anyone interested please send me a message through the mail system of this forum; you find the "inbox" button at the far top right of this page. I assume and hope that I can then send you my email address from there...
Cheers,
Matt
Hi Matt,
Email addresses are stripped so that they are not harvested by spammers. However, I'm going to start another thread asking about that, as I'm aware it is a hassle.
For now, people should contact you via internal mail -- and I need to make the links for this more obvious, which I will get onto. Yes, in the internal mail you can put whatever you like. It's not about stopping people share email address: it's about protecting you from spammers.
MW
Hi again,
sorry, I totally forgot to come back to this thread and finally post my email address in a way that the software allows!
So here it is:
trailbabies[AT]gmx[DOT]net
Anyone curious about tramping with babies and toddlers and / or keen to join us for a few walks, send us an email!
Cheers,
Matt
Hi young families,
the Trailbabies are going for a little meet'n'greet walk on Sunday, 23. May. Read more here:
http://www.tramper.co.nz/?view=topic&id=934&messageId=6666&response=messageAdded&CFID=36732341&CFTOKEN=59730902
See you there...?
Cheers,
Matt
Hi everyone,
sorry it's been a while since I last posted an update about our activities here - that's simply because I don't have time to do that!
We've been on a number of walks in the meantime, did a nice overnighter together, and learned a whole lot again. Summer is close now, and we're getting ready for some bigger trips!
To collect family tramping specific knowledge and experiences in one single place, we have set up a specialised forum for tramping with babies, toddlers and children:
www.trailbabies.net
If you are interested, please feel invited to have a look around and, if you like what you see, sign up as a member and be part of everything right from the beginning!
We are looking forward to get to know you.
Happy trails!
Matt
for the Trailbabies
A tarp huh. So sandflies..... ? my wife and I have a 6 month old and are hardcore trampers like you (off track being the definition)
and every weekend - well that was before lucy arrived.
So then we had a baby. We did a trial in the back yard in a tent went fine apart from all the crying at night which is normal.
Then when out in the wild it was much harder - when it got windy on exposed grass land she couldnt breath, and if stopped to breastfeed anywhere below 1100m the sandflies came and it was not fun.
putting up the tent and cooking dinner was harder being a person down(looking after little one).
We used a mac pac carrier we use (koala?) i purchased the rainbow thing- which is awesome and the sombremeo sunshade which holds it up - it has mesh but its is loose and has large gaps! maybe for aussy flies? doesnt really protect from sandflies.
the gear and baby was much heavier and much more bulky for the bush bash part. the nappies got very heavy just over night! . 8-9 days id like to know what your doing for nappies.
ive read a couple of these baby outdoors articles they skim over the real hard bits like nappies, sandflies and moaning tired babys that wont fall asleep.
at the end of the trip I felt like id rather not have gone out! a day at the beach or a short walk would have been nicer - and thats very weird for me an outdoors junkie. im not adapting well and although i love the little one I cant help wanting the old days.
I wondered how much is baby really taking in, that they woudn't from a visit to botanical gardens or beach.
my own first over night tramp was with dad when I was about 6 or 7 - I liked it that way. I was very excited and before then had only done day walks.
Having had our own baby I really miss the freedom to do hard trips and catch up with freinds doing it. No one else says this! - am I the only one who really wants to go back to the freedom! The outdoors used to be an escape from lifes pressure and responsibility and a place of adventure - now the outdoors is just a big giant responsibility and domesticated.
We spent a few days with a lovely family at Routeburn Falls hut one time. Dad was washing the cloth nappies in a side creek. He called it 'Nappy Creek'. There was a pot belly stove at the hut which dried the nappies. Very laid-back family and we were staying near the snow line there in June so no other visitors.
They had a lot of activities for the 2 older girls to do. I'd say it's a helluva lot easier staying in huts than camping with the little ones. Makes me admire the tangata whenua in the pre-European times. They had the woven baskets which they lined with spaghnum moss. A lady told me dried celmisia leaves were used to protect against scratchy moss for the women's use.
