“Because in the end, you won’t remember the time you spent working in the office or mowing your lawn. Climb that goddamn mountain.”
Anonymous
This quote (often misattributed to Jack Kerouac) sums up how I’ve come to feel about my hiking. Although I very much enjoy my work, and a freshly mowed lawn is rather satisfying, the most vivid memories that remain with me are those of the wild scenery I’ve encountered on many walks over the years, most of them accessible day walks.
Hi there. My name’s Edward, and this is Hiking Scenery, a blog dedicated to the scenery I’ve viewed on many wonderful hikes. I hope to inspire a few people to get out and go hiking, or you can at least hike vicariously through me. I’m not a photographer, but I aim to faithfully represent the natural environment as best I can with my humble photographic equipment.
Apart from the photos, I include basic details of the walks and some links to more detailed track notes when available. And you can always contact me for more details or ideas.
My Hiking History
I mostly walk with my wife Sophia, and you’ll see her pop up in some of the photos. We used to hike in our respective home countries of South Korea and Britain when we were kids. We met in Australia, but it wasn’t until we returned after a few years overseas that we began bushwalking regularly; that was in 2006. We lived in Sydney for many years, which is surrounded by national parks and wilderness, and many of our walks have been in these areas, however we’ve also travelled and walked more widely in South Eastern Australia. And in 2008 we began a sordid love affair with New Zealand’s South Island, particularly around the hiker’s paradise of Queenstown, where we’ve been lucky enough to have a place to stay. To continue our NZ affair we lived in Christchurch for four years and walked most weeks during our time there. We’ve also walked in South Korea a few times and hope to do more in that region in the future.
The Obsession Grows
As the years have progressed, I’ve found myself taking more and more photos, and thinking more and more about when I can next get up a mountain. It seems that what began as the rekindling of a childhood hobby has now turned into a mild obsession, and in the natural progression of any modern-day obsession, I decided to start a blog: this blog. (It turned out that posting too many pictures on my personal Facebook page wasn’t enough). So although I do hope to inspire others to go hiking and see these scenes for themselves, really I’m just feeding my obsession. And secretly hoping that if I rave on enough about the places I’ve hiked on this blog, then somebody might pay for me to go and hike in other fantastic places, so that I can rave on about those too. Just saying.
FAQ: Are you one of those crazed multi-day thru-hikers?
At the time of writing a large majority of our walks were done in a day, which allows you to return to the creature comforts of your home/accommodation for a nice glass of some muscle relaxing beverage. Nevertheless, some of them have been very long days, particularly when in NZ. Since around 2022 we started doing some two or three day walks, and these have been amongst the best of walking experiences. So there are walks to challenge the fit people amongst you, as well as shorter ones for the less gung ho.
If you want advice on good walks in any of the areas I’ve been to, but you can’t find a particular walk, then contact me in the form below, and I’ll see what I can remember.
Cheers, Edward
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