Patrick Outside

Food that'll get you there

Sometimes clients ask us how they can get enough energy on backcountry trips if they’re on a restricted diet.

It’s the same as at home except that you’ll be mainly rehydrating the staple dried ingredients which will be typically rice or oats and then adding high energy fats and oils.

The main rule is make sure you can digest the food prior to going on the trip.  For example toasting desiccated coconut takes minimal fuel (see pic), gives heaps of output and makes the meal taste better, but you need to like it.  Oats for breakfast with your choice of dried fruit/nuts, even pollen, molasses (they give it to racehorses too :o)  and I like to include moist prunes to assist the digestive system.

Bring that dehydrated meal alive - for lunch I suggest having a boilup of buckwheat noodles plus tomato paste (from a tube) and tahihi.  Add in a couple of tablespoons of dehydrated coconut cream if you’ve got a big afternoon planned.  Roasted almonds are good anytime.

Dinner is probably something similar and Asian style foods are really good (miso soups etc.). Essentially I say get away from eating what someone else has made up and find what works best you.  Spend the time prior to the trip repackaging most ingredients and if you want nice condiments then take them in portion sizes suitable for the trip.

People watching

It's funny how you come home from a trip away and the one event that's really big for you is often not anticipated during planning.  Although the officaldom in the outdoors is not big on disasters, I think it's the reason we go back for more.  Part of us just wants to near enough to the edge. This summer I discovered you don't need to get too close as people watching can be done from a respectable distance and I learnt also the art of living with small amounts of water.

The field team in the South Island completed a survey of mountain parrots for the kea conservation trust.  During the survey we encountered fewer birds than anticipated and consequently spent a large amount of our 8 hours observation time per day checking out our neighbouring survey teams while on the lookout for the birds.

No revealing pictures are included, but kea hunting expeditions are a different proposition from a morning on the high street given that we were all at least 1km apart on steep rocky hillsides (see pic).  Another point of difference is that most of us had high power binoculas which is perfectly fine in the outdoors but probablly offside outside you local cafe.

Needing to carry your water (that's about 1kg/litre) for at least one day and night at a time also made this trip different to wandering downtown. The hills were big and some poeple found that by the time they reached their campsite up on the bushline they'd used most of their water getting there.

Lets skip table manners and check out food.  Basically you can eat as much as you can carry or catch.  Fat and oil is "in" big time, salad and greens are for when you get back home.

Yes we did find and process some birds and if any one is keen to help out with next year's survey they should contact the kea people www.keaconservation.co.nz . You may have to carry your own water, but you certainly won't be distracted by someone elses table manners....

Orientation to the outdoors

If you're new to the outdoors then we can help you get started, training is in easy access front country environments; in lowland and coastal forests. Learn how the plants and animals in these areas live together and what makes them special.

We also provide outdoor bushcraft modules to business and other organisations.

If you want tips on where to go for your adventure then talk to us.

Biodiversity Assessments

We've been completing terrestrial biodiversity surveys for about ten years now.   Have capacity for small to large projects.

Scope of services provided to the private and public sectors includes:

Threatened species surveys for resource consent purposes including kiwi, bats, lizards, Hochstetter's and Archey's frog.

Distance sampling of forest birds.

Plant pest monitoring.

Private conservation covenant monitoring and technical support.

Low Client to Instructor ratio's

Safety/bushcraft skills in the outdoors.  Small groups are our preference.  Contact us about individual sessions.

Award holder since 1992

Environmental Education

We’ve run a field program for the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic Diploma in Environmental Management since 2002.  Students complete leadership, safety and bio-monitoring modules in year one.
In year two we find a conservation project that needs monitoring and get the students out there to complete threatened species surveys...high level of challenge for participants; philosophy of optimal learning experience and contribution to the project, resulting in practical knowledge to go into theoretical components of years two and three (statistics and planning  ecological restorations).