Life in the Open

My sister and I would stand on the wharf waiting for Dad to come back in on his fishing boat. While we were waiting, we would just be jumping off the wharf into the water.

My earliest memories of swimming come from Karitane, a small seaside village on the coast of New Zealand’s South Island. Karitane and the beach there definitely hold strong memories for me.

My own connection to the outdoors really started with my dad. He was a fisherman, a real man of the sea, so I spent a lot of time outside and out on the ocean with him growing up. In winter, when he was not fishing, we would spend our holidays at a little place in Queenstown and be up in the snow. My whole childhood was connected to the ocean or the mountains.

Where Life Leads

Now I live in Central Otago up in the mountains and lakes of the South Island, in Wanaka. It’s pretty amazing here, but whenever we get away I always find myself searching for the ocean again.

I work for myself so I have a lot of flexibility while the kids are at school. I usually try to fit some training in before I grab the kids. After school it’s just full noise. They're into everything that mom and dad are. They swim, they bike, they do athletics. We do lots of mountain biking here and that is probably where we spend most of our time as a family. 

Family First

My husband Layton and I have been together for about 25 years. We met when I was 17. We have two kids, Henley is 10, Ida is 7, and they keep us incredibly motivated and busy. They’re already following in our footsteps and enjoying the things we love to do.

Henley is an incredible little swimmer. He has really picked up the swimming bug and he’s more confident swimming in open water than I am! There was a triathlon moment where he jumped on his bike and I could see that his tire was flat.

Luckily our friend Craig was volunteering nearby and had a bike pump with him. He stopped Henley, pumped the tire up, and sent him back out. What made me so proud was that when Henley came back, he was not crying or upset. 

He knew he was no longer where he had hoped to be in the race but he kept going and finished it. Afterward he said to me that he really needed to thank Craig. Seeing that resilience and that gratitude meant so much to me.

What Ida Has Taught Me

Ida has had a very different journey. She was born with a heart condition and has already had four open heart surgeries in her life. Over the years we have probably spent about six months living at Starship Children's Hospital in Auckland while she was being treated. She now has a mechanical mitral valve and takes a blood thinner which limits her endurance capacity, but she is an absolute firecracker. She can outsprint me without a problem.

To be honest, when people talk about courage or belief, I feel like Ida is the one who has taught me those things. When I am out there suffering in a race, all I have to do is think about what she has been through and it puts everything into perspective.

A Community Outdoors

All of our friends hold the same values as us, so we're really fortunate to have that kind of beautiful community around us. It’s really cohesive. We’re really open and we welcome anybody in to enjoy the things that we all love.

Wanaka is like a beacon for people who live this lifestyle. It’s full of people with the same mindset about getting out and enjoying life every single day. Whenever you want to go for a bike ride there are always five or six people you can call. We’re not here to just work until we are 50, 60, or 70 and then retire. We’re here to make the most of life right now.

Our core group is incredibly supportive. We’re really fortunate that many of us have kids around the same age, so we naturally combine training with spending time together. Everyone loves to swim, bike, or run in some way, so it turns into something like a training camp mixed with a social weekend.

Come Out and Play

Even when the kids were really little, the way we filled our time was outdoors. That is just how life is for us now. If we’re inside too long you can see it straight away. The kids start bouncing around like ping-pong balls. It is basically open the door and get outside, and everyone is happier.

There is something cleansing and calming about being in nature. It’s great for your mindset and your emotions, and there are so many different ways to enjoy it. That is something I really try to teach the kids as well, so we’re always encouraging them to get outside and do things.

We actually just moved recently. We used to live right in the middle of Wanaka but now we are out on three and a half acres that we call the ranch. It’s full of trees and has a beautiful view of the mountains. We wanted to pull the kids away from suburbia and give them the chance to be outside and figure things out for themselves.

They’re getting to that age where I don’t want to tell them what to do all the time. I want them to go outside and work out how to entertain themselves. It isn’t always easy. They definitely test me sometimes and ask what they should do, and I just tell them to figure it out.

As the kids get older I actually feel like they need me more than when they were little. When they are young it’s all physical needs, but as they get into that tween stage it becomes much more emotional. What I am really trying to do is help them build confidence through sport, through their connection with nature, and through spending time together as a family.

Layton and I love the same things and when we do them together with the kids it strengthens that bond. Spending time outside together, doing the things we love, builds that relationship and that trust.