Dropped off by helicopter into remote Fiordland, Tanya Bottomley embarked on a 600-kilometre journey to traverse the 45th Parallel, from Caswell Sound to the beaches of Oamaru.
Starting at the end of January, her trip lasted 26 days- 300 kilometres of which was on foot, 22 kilometres of paddling, and around 270 kilometres of cycling.
She had no track to follow and multiple mountain ranges and lakes to cross.
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Listen to the full interview
“The fact that it started in the wilderness of Fiordland and ended in the farmlands of Oamaru and all the amazing mountainous country in between it was just really appealing as a line to take across the country.”
Bottomley became interested in endurance activities when she was recovering from an abusive relationship, she told Kathryn Ryan.
“Seven years ago, I left an abusive relationship. And I've spent the last number of years recovering. And I've done a lot of that through spending time in the mountains and running and racing and doing ultra distance racing.
“The 45th parallel was taking the next step for me and moving on from organised events and going out and forging my own path.
“It was to take that next step and doing something that was kind of scary, and overwhelming. And I guess proving to myself that I could and showing other people that I could as well.”
She began to heal, she says, as she embraced running.
“When I left that relationship I was pretty broken, I was really just a shell of myself.
“But being in the outdoors and running specifically at that time gave me a sense of freedom and happiness, and kind of a limitlessness that I hadn't even known, and a whole bunch of confidence.”
The 45th Parallel Traverse Photo: Tanya Bottomley (Supplied)
The 45th Parallel was a step up however and she threw herself into the planning.
“I printed out topographic maps covering the 45th parallel from the west to the east coast. So, I lined my hallway with A4 pieces of paper of topographic maps and started to plot the course that I was going to take across the country. So section by section going to and figuring out how I was going to get through.”
The day she and her partner, a videographer, set out from the shores of Lake Te Anau the weather wasn’t kind, she says.
“On the day that we set out on our trip the weather was rolling in. It was raining, it was windy it was really, really overwhelming.”
And the terrain was unforgiving, she says.
“It was quite an awakening to the terrain. We got halfway on the first day and came into some really quite steep terrain and I'm standing there looking at the topo on my phone and looking at what's in front of me going this is not what it says on the map, which became a very common theme for Fiordland.”
As the journey progressed, her confidence grew, she says.
“Fiordland took us a lot longer than we thought it was going to take. As I say there was the navigation, which was harder than I expected.
“I'm also quite a small human, I'm 5’1 with 17 kilos on my back's pushing through deep bush climbing over boulders and trees and all of that kind of thing it was just slow.
“It was so much slower than I thought it was going to be.
"But, I mean, the belief was always there. I knew we were going to finish, it was always going to get faster as we got further across the country. It was a matter of taking on each day, but they were big days.
“We were moving 11 to 16 hours a day. We weren't stopping to take in all the views like we'd hoped to do. Four weeks is not a long time to do that trip.”
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Despite the arduous moments, she saw things she’ll carry for the rest of her life, she says.
“For me, at least, all the hard stuff is so that you can walk on that hallowed ground and see those things and go to those places. It's just stunning and breath-taking and I get to carry those memories with me for the rest of my life. And it was it was stunning, it really was.”
Photo: Supplied
So, what has she learned from this epic journey?
“I have learned that you can walk with fear and that's probably a big lesson. You don't have to be fearless to do hard things.
“And also, that you need to just believe and hold belief in yourself and in your abilities, because not everyone will believe in you and not everyone believed that I could do this trip either. But you've got to hold the belief in yourself and know that you can do the hard things and if you just keep believing you can.”
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Tanya Bottomley is speaking at the Mountain Book and Film Festival later this month and will be releasing a film about her expedition next year.