​About us

​Hi my name is Michelle, I’m a freelance harpist from Melbourne, Australia. My partner Mickey is a jazz fiddler and singer originally from Sydney.

We are currently thru-hiking the length of New Zealand, 3000km on Te Araroa Trail and performing a series of concerts along the way.

I’ve been hiking since I was 23, (now 29) and long distance hiking has become a big passion of mine since I completed the Australia Alps Walking Track in 2017. Although I have never attempted one as long as Te Araroa!

Having just completed the AAWT, Dec 2018

Click for full interactive map

The Project

How the idea came about...

I decided about a year ago that I wanted to do an even longer distance hike that the Australian Alps Walking Track (650km). Te Araroa ticked that box (3000km!), it's a quick flight from my home Melbourne and New Zealand is absolutely stunning.

Mickey was keen, but the time away from playing music was a concern. And then it came to us, why not do a musical tour along the way? At first this seemed impossible, but with research and many discussions, we’ve come to realise that we can make this happen.

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Music & hiking

Basically, we are going to do a series of concerts throughout New Zealand while we hike Te Araroa, with the idea being to walk to each concert. We’re currently in spread-sheeting heaven, investigating and drawing up a list of venues that are close to the hike. Mickey toured both islands back in 2016 with his band The Squeezebox Trio, so we've already got some great contacts. Through traveling and touring we have both found that the best times are when you tap into community; it’s a much more organic experience, music seems to give people license to open up and welcome a cultural exchange.

Osteoporosis

“Osteoporosis is one of the most common chronic diseases. It causes a person’s bones to become more porous and fragile, greatly increasing their risk of suffering a fracture. Sufferers of these serious yet largely preventable injuries often experience severe pain, long-term disability and even early death. The burden to health systems, economies and society is also huge – and on the increase… 1 in 3 women and 1 in 5 men over the age of 50 will experience an osteoporotic fracture.” – The Global Burden of Osteoporosis: A Factsheet

​We are raising awareness and money for osteoporosis while on Te Araroa. My connection to this disease is personal. I was diagnosed with osteoporosis (OP) at 24. When my scan came back indicating that my bones were frail I felt lost. I had no way of gauging how fragile I was, how this would affect my life or how I could move about without the constant fear that one badly placed step could lead to a serious fracture. As you can imagine this was quite a shock and has had a huge impact on my life.​

Now at 29, I’ve learnt a lot more about bones and my body. Through research, doctors and personal trial and error I’ve made my body stronger and increased my bone density through diet and exercise (at this young age I’ve been advised that this is the best course of action - I may need to consider medication when I’m older). I have gone from osteoporosis to what is technically termed ‘osteopenia’ - put simply, my bones are a little denser and stronger! My future and bone health is brighter than 5 years ago and I now believe I’m strong enough to walk 3000km with a pack, or at least give it a good go :)

My hope is to give this ‘silent’ disease a voice. When I was first diagnosed I knew basically nothing about OP and associated it with old people… a perspective so far in the future that it could not possible apply to me. Bone loss is a natural part of aging, but there are lifestyle choices that can help reduce the likelihood of developing OP. 

Lovely picture my sister drew for me which was placed as a surprise in one of my AAWT food drops.

For these reasons, we will be raising money for OP research.
We reached out to Dr. Peter Ebeling, head of the department of Medicine at Monash University. Dr. Ebeling encourages people to know their bones, and stresses the importance of bone care in younger people (sufficient calcium intake, avoid smoking etc). For this reason we have decided to make a donation to his research.
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​We will personally contribute a $500 donation to start it off and when we commence walking we will encourage others to donate through a button on our website. Finally, 20% of our total merch sales on tour will also be donated to OP research.

Get involved?

The first hurdle is that our instruments are too heavy to carry – harp, 20kg in its flight case and violin, 3kg in hard case (I know I know, everyone told me to play a smaller instrument!). The plan is to ask people to transport our instruments from gig to gig, ideally without us.

We’re hoping to tap into a few networks including the Trail Angels and Folk Clubs of New Zealand to help us. We think this'll be a challenging part of the project, but are optimistic that we can make it happen.

​Do you think you can help out? If you're interested in being involved, whether that be driving our instruments somewhere, holding a concert or a place to stay, please contact us!