Ceana Priest spent her summers in rivers and the beach forest near Mt Ruapehu and wanted her son Finn to experience the same kind of adventures.
“But when he was little, I really struggled to find information on whether I could take the buggy, whether there was a toliet nearby and often what we would find is that we’d go on adventures and just get stuck with the buggy at the top of the stairs and have to abort and turn home,” she tells Kathryn Ryan.
“It just became super, super frustrating.”
With a lack of information on child-friendly adventures, she set out to write the book she needed. She’s just released her third book Kid Friendly Adventures: Auckland - The Ultimate Family Guidebook.
Photo: supplied
Priest’s basic kit involves taking appropriate clothing, drinks and snacks. She’ll also screenshot a map on her phone in case there isn’t coverage in the bush.
“As a bare minimum we’ll always have a stash of polar fleeces and rain jackets at the bottom of our daypack...often they’re only used for sitting on but if there is an injury and you are in the bush it gets chilly really really fast.”
Bingo sheets and magnifying glasses are great for keeping kids engaged while building an awareness of what’s happening around them, she says.
“I think it’s too easy to jump on a trail and the kids tear ahead and perhaps not absorb it as much as what they could and there’s so many benefits to being in nature that sometimes slowing kids down is something that I try and do.”
Simple adventures are the best, she says. On one adventure Priest and Finn spent a good half hour with a magnifying glass looking at fungi, ten minutes into a track.
“It doesn’t have to be about the destination and sometimes kids need a little bit of an activity as well.”
On another adventure Priest cut out swatches of colour from magazines and she and Finn tried to find those colours in nature.
“Keep it simple and being flexible are super important, to take it at everyone’s pace and to have no expectations definitely helps.”
Before Finn, Priest was running long distances but she says everything got shorter and flatter when he arrived.
She had to let go of her destination goals and adjust her mindset.
“I had hoped that we would be on some mad crazy missions as soon as I was able to pop him into the front pack and we did do a couple overnight ones and it was OK but it was super hard work.”
The process of letting go also required her to think of Finn’s capabilities and what he was enjoying, she says.
Now that Finn’s six, he wants his friends to come along on adventures.
Seeing him build confidence and resilience has been an awesome journey, she says.
“I’ve really cherished the times Finn have sat and pondered the simple things like where the rivers go and how the trees grow, it just gives us a chance to recalibrate before jumping back into our lives again.”
