Forging friendships from Mt Ninderry to The Great Wall of China
Forging friendships from Mt Ninderry to The Great Wall of China
Community Leader Spotlight: Di, Liz and The Adventure Angels hiking group
on the Sunshine Coast, Australia.
In 2015, while in recovery from breast cancer, Di Olson pledged to walk 5 days along The Great Wall of China to raise funds for cancer research. “I’ll do it with you!” was the instant commitment from her best friend Liz Ward. Little did they know, this hike would spark a love of hiking for more than just the two of them.
Di and Liz and The Adventure Angels on a sunrise training hike on the Sunshine Coast, Australia.
New to hiking, Di and Liz were aware of the challenges of the 5 day hike they had planned nearly 12 months away. With difficult access to parts of the trail, some less well-maintained sections, and heights up to 3250 m (10,662 ft), both knew they would be disappointed if their physical fitness let them down. So they began scheduling regular training hikes in their local areas on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia. Before long, a group of friends and acquaintances were joining them on sunrise hikes up Mt Ninderry, Ngungun and Mt Coolum.
After months of religiously meeting at 5am for a hike, several times a week, a core group of women had become close friends. “Acceptance, tolerance and camaraderie became what our group was about,” Di recalls the atmosphere of those training hikes in the early days of The Adventure Angels.
The group is made up of women between the ages of 47 and 67 who are also business owners, parents and professionals from a variety of backgrounds. Like Di, some of the women are also cancer survivors.
Di Olson climbing the Great Wall of China.
In the lead up to The Great Wall of China hike, not only did they become fitter and stronger, but almost everything in their lives soon revolved around hiking and hiking equipment. They laugh about becoming complete gear nerds and their long conversations about the virtues of walker’s wool for blister protection.
The Adventure Angels on The Great Wall of China.
After successfully completing their very first multi-day and international hike along The Great Wall of China, Liz and Di were exhilarated. However, on returning to Australia, they realised they had accomplished more than just a hike, they had created something so valuable in the hiking group, that they just couldn’t stop.
“The momentum snowballed from there”, Liz says, “and in the months afterwards we were training and completing Coastrek 30- and 60-kilometre charity day-hikes all over Australia, from the Fleurieu Peninsula in Adelaide, the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, to Bondi and Palm Beach in Sydney”. Together the group hiked the 125km multi-day Cape to Cape Walk in southern Western Australia - the highlight being able to combine hiking with incredible beaches, wine and food!
In late 2019, Liz, Di and I (Meg), walked the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage trail in Japan. Together they hiked the 4 day Nakahechi route from West to East across the Kii peninsula, with the highlight being the Kumano Hongu Taisha temple, deep in the middle of the peninsula. After so many hikes together, Liz and Di developed a post-hike recovery tradition of icy cold beer and hot chips.
Highlight of the Kumano Kodo: The Kumano Nachi Shrine and Nachi Falls.
Liz and Di’s families and children are incredibly supportive of their new found love of adventure, and can see how hiking has changed their lives. Di recalls, “I’d never been exposed to much sport growing up, so I’m proud of myself at my age for doing what I’ve done physically and mentally, and on the back of that, also forging friendships I’ll have for life. Now, nothing is a barrier for me.”
The Adventure Angels group travelled to Western Australia to hike the Cape to Cape Track, a 123 kilometre trail along the Leeuwin-Naturaliste Ridge, between the lighthouses of Cape Naturaliste and Cape Leeuwin in the Margaret River region in the far south west of Western Australia.
From two friends to a group of at least 6 women, The Adventure Angels have found support, fitness and friendship in their regular sunrise hikes. While the COVID pandemic and long lockdowns in Australia have made it difficult for the hiking group to get together in the last 18 months, Liz and Di are determined to keep the group hiking together as often as they can.
With their sights set on Machu Picchu and the Via Alpina in Switzerland, The Adventure Angels are only just getting started. Together they are committed to hiking for as long as they can, both questioning: “Why didn’t we do this sooner?”
Author: Meg Appleby, Die Basler Wanderdamen hiking group
Meg always enjoyed being outside but an unexpected relocation from Australia to Switzerland plonked her in the outdoors equivalent of Mecca. Inspired by the über-fit Swiss she met on her day-hikes, Meg co-founded a hiking group and walked The Haute Route with the help of The Hiking Club. She lives to hike/snowshoe most weeks all over Switzerland and can’t think of a better pastime as she negotiates major mid-life changes.
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