Before you go tramping read this book!
'Mia and Leo Go Wild' in bookshops now
Book News
"What a great, useful, and fun book for kids (and parents). It has it all - a story with dramatic moments, tips, activities, and fun illustrations." Kids Books NZ
Mia and Leo and their family plan and undertake their first overnight tramp. Along the way they make some nature discoveries and, as they are well prepared, they are able to help out other trampers. Here’s a bit for me about Mia and Leo:
“ The two children in the story have quite different personalities which reflect two different pulls I feel when I’m tramping - the desire to stop and look at every awesome insect, bird and flower on the way and also the desire to stride strongly on, getting to the destination in good time so I can put down my pack and immerse myself in the wilderness.”
I’m sure you can guess from Gavin’s cover illustration which child is the ‘stop and look at everything’ child, and which is the ‘stride on to the hut’ type! Read more in this interview with me in Stuff.
“Written in collaboration with the NZ Mountain Safety Council, Mia & Leo Go Wild! captures Kiwi kid’s adventuring spirit. Most importantly, this story highlights in an entertaining way, the need for proper preparation before setting off into the New Zealand bush”. What Book Next
USEFUL FACTS ABOUT Mia and Leo Go Wild
NZ Mountain Safety Council supported this project, and created the activities and additional information in the back pages of the book and on their website.
Potton & Burton published this book - they published my other 11 books.
Illustrator Gavin Mouldey designed the book including the hand-drawn lettering.
The RRP is $24.99. It’s in all good bookstores and available for purchase online.
It fits into an A4 envelope.
Kids (1-13 years old) can enter a colouring competition, see more below under Nature Activities.
AND YES, I WAS ON BREAKFAST TV!
I talked about the importance of taking plenty of food and water on any adventures with children. Children need regular fuel stops, and a few treat foods can be useful enticements if enthusiasm is flagging. In my book, Mia and Leo’s mum shows them how to make Scroggin. This is a highly recommended activity! Even if you are just going for a day tramp. And it can easily be adapted to suit your family’s taste.
I took the Scroggin that I made for the TV interview along to my tramping group’s working bee the next day. Some liked the jet planes, other’s not so much. According to Sue, a tramping friend, SCROGGIN stands for Sultanas, Raisins, Orange peel (candied), Ginger, Imagination, Nuts. Imagination could be jet planes or banana chips as illustrated here. But there are lots of other options including pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries, chocolate covered nuts.
Recent nature highlights
IN THE BUSH
What to look for out tramping? Get your eye in to looking at details and you’ll be amazed what you can see in the bush. You don’t need to go far, all of these sightings were within 20 minutes walk from residential streets in Wellington.
I found lots of delicate leaf skeletons in Otari/Wilton’s bush - this photo was selected to appear in the raumati/summer edition of Wild Things, the Kiwi Conservation Club magazine.
Now I know what to look for, I’m finding glow worms along dark tracks. Look for the webs of sheet web spiders in niches in banks alongside the track - these spiders often set up their webs below the glowworm lights. This one was in Belmont Regional Park, but I’ve also seen them in Otari/Wilton’s bush and in Porirua Scenic Reserve (near Spicer Park).
You can’t miss these lovely star-like clematis flowers in the bush in spring. One Māori legend says puawhananga is the child of two stars - autumn and summer, heralding the spring. Another reference I found says the name means ‘flower of the skies’ perhaps referring to these vines grow and flower on the tops of the bush.
1000 SIGHTINGS ON iNATURALIST
I was excited to realise I’d reached a milestone of 1000 observations posted on iNaturalist. We’re so lucky to have free access to this amazing identification tool which brings us into direct contact with scientists who use it. I’ve learned a lot from the scientists I’ve interacted with, and been delighted when some of my observations have been used in their research.
Nature Activities for Children and Families
RAINY DAY ACTIVITY & PLAN YOUR WALK
Find tips for planning an outdoor adventure and other activities on the NZ Mountain Safety Council website section devoted to Mia & Leo Go Wild!, including this colouring/activity sheet to download. Enter and be in to win giveaways each month until the end of January 2024.
The NZ Mountain Safety Council have created a Website and App called Plan My Walk. This is a great a planning tool for family tramps and would be ideal for teens who are starting to plan their own adventures. The App lists short hikes of a couple of hours through to multi-day tramps.
NATURE HUNT IDEAS
A nature treasure hunt can inspire children to slow down and look more closely on a bush walk. (Ideally they’d tick items off a list or take photos rather than collect things.) You can find many ideas for hunts online, for example, finding items of different colours and shapes. However many are designed for other countries. So I created this Nature Hunt that you can download from my blog. It’s been designed to lead to success on most NZ bush walks, even in regenerating bush.
If you’d rather use an App, Seek is a family-friendly App that sets you challenges based on iNaturalist. Sign up as a family - it could be a useful tool to encourage observation on a bush walk.
Recommended Reading
The Observologist by Giselle Clarkson
I highly recommend this book. It’d be a great companion book for older fans of my Explore and Discover series. The focus of the book is everyday nature, the small things that are accessible to people living in towns and cities - insects, snails, sparrows, fungi, grass. The author prompts readers to do their own investigating, while encouraging a caring attitude towards spiders, bees and so on. Giselle Clarkson is best known as an illustrator, and this book is highly illustrated making it very accessible to readers of all abilities. Her illustrations are both fun and informative, but she’s an accomplished writer too, using clear language peppered with humour.
From age 8 up (although younger children may enjoy it too).
Adventures with Emilie by Victoria Bruce
This is by far the best Te Araroa story I’ve read. In 2021 and 2022, Victoria Bruce took on Te Araroa with her young daughter. Along the way she blogged about the journey and raised money for Mental Health Foundation and the Federated Mountain Clubs. Victoria’s book, completed after they finished the trail, moves between descriptions of the journey - the environment, the progress they made, the people they met - to the mental journey that she was undertaking as she hopes to better deal with childhood PTSD. It’s a big journey in all senses - distance, wide open spaces, wilderness, a mother and daughter alone in the hills, along with a tough mental journey. As a tramper I loved the descriptions of the forests, mountains, rivers and lakes. And the descriptions of what nature threw at them - wind, mud, sandstorms - along with the delights it provided - idyllic camping spots, whio sightings, skinny dipping. The book is a wonderful testimony to nature as therapy. Victoria emerges at the end of the trail with hope for the future, knowing that walking the trail brought her one step closer towards sustained well being.
For adults.
Back to Nature: how to love life - and save it by Chris Packham and Megan McCubbin
A quick mention of this inspiring UK book written during lockdown by two of UK’s nature heroes. The book started off talking about the small things we can do in our gardens and communities, definitely the positive/ feel good part of the book. By the end though it left me examining exactly how committed I and others need to be in order to play a meaningful role in halting global biodiversity loss and climate change. I didn’t find the UK context a barrier to appreciating the messages, in fact I welcomed learning more about the conservation issues they faced.
Young adult/ adults.