Recording interviews with his laptop perched on an ironing board in his accommodation in Fiji, Jonty Crane is celebrating tramping in New Zealand with his new podcast, ‘The Tramping Life’. 

“I fell in love with podcasts about a year ago and was surprised by how few covered tramping,” Crane said. “Suva is a pretty sleepy place, and this has given me time to create ‘The Tramping Life’. It has also been a way to stay connected with home while dreaming about future trips.”

Crane said he was inspired to start the podcast as a way to give back to the tramping community. When he first moved to New Zealand from the UK in his late twenties, he had little tramping experience. His first multi-day tramp, the Routeburn Track, had him hooked.

More than 40 trips later, Crane says he can even claim to have had Angelus Hut to himself for two nights in March 2020, “only to come out and find the whole country in lockdown”.

So far he has interviewed former Department of Conservation director-general Lou Sanson, Federated Mountain Clubs president Megan Dimozantos and Wilderness editor Alistair Hall. 

“Memorable stories that guests have shared include roasting and eating possums, running out of food on a 13-day trip, and carrying a huge transistor radio into the bush to combat the solitude,” Crane said.

He hopes listeners will come away with an appreciation for the huge variety of experiences tramping offers, and the volunteer efforts that keep the backcountry accessible.

In another podcast, Paul Roy voices RNZ’s ‘Search and Rescue’, in which he chronicles the stories behind search and rescue operations.

The first podcast interviews Helen McClemmens, who slipped and lost her footing when walking along Cascade Saddle in Mount Aspiring National Park in 2005. McClemmens was just 26 years old at the time and tramping with her partner, Donal Derry. Derry threw himself across the slope to try to catch McClemmens, but they both plummeted down a near-vertical face. McClemmens survived with serious head injuries and a broken pelvis, but Derry lost his life.