Wainuiomata Fern gully to Lees grove loop track

CAUTION:
THIS IS NOT THE NORMAL LAID BACK FNA ATTITUDE
this walk is about a serious issue that i want your help with.

I have been thinking about revisiting this track for awhile

A friend and i use to do it all the time afterwork.

its sheltered from the wind, sun and rain, walking through the beech forest it was like been miles away from civilisation. We would collaborate on ideas, talk about our problems some trivial some not so.

but afterwards we would always emerge from the track with a smile on our faces with what was achieved.

As our lives got busier and different pressures caused the walks to be less frequent and the chance to connect and recalibrate become an impossibility. I still look back with those adventures with great fondness and appreciation of the direction it has taken me on a personal level and lighting the fire that started FNA.

What I want to do is recreate that safe place were problems can be shared and sometimes solved within a walk.

So lets do this track learn it and if you want to do it again with me or anyone then just contact us and lets walk it one on one anytime

sometimes if the track of life is putting you in a dark place and you need guidance their is always a meetup member with more batteries in their head torch to help guide you out.

unfortunately my friend lost their battle with the darkness and i wasn't there to guide them out.

I never want another friend to get lost in the darkness again and i want those that participate in this walk to take the opportunity to think of an idea or an everyday gesture on how we can stop this terrible problem from happening to another friend, family member or person in our community.

this wont be a deep and meaning-full event where we throw petals in the stream or anything like that but a subtle event where we put one foot in front of the other and move forward.

Sorry for the overuse of metaphors on this trip description but just don't want to be too blunt on this sensitive issue.

For the walk its easier than what we normally do, we will walk clockwise around to lees grove and exit

https://www.wellingtonregionaltrails.com/trails/east-harbour-regional-park/fern-gully-track/

jacket
water
headtorch
sensible shoes
kick butt attitude

I promise that this hard content will be the only FNA adventure with this focus for awhile and normal FNA fun and adventure focus will continue on as normal but its something i needed to do and hopefully make a difference to someone.

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Post Event Information

Now what?

I just want to let people know their is always someone that you can reach out too.

I ask people to think about putting their names forward in the comment section to be available to others if they need a walking companion.

Please post any suggestions you might have of activities we could do in the future to helpout other meetupers

Mental Health awareness week is coming 27 September through to 3rd of October

https://www.mhaw.nz

We also have some books (recommended by the Mental Health Foundation) to share with the group that could be shared amongst us as a community resource.

If you want to reach out to someone outside of the group these recourses are available where you can get professional support

https://mentalhealth.org.nz/books

https://mentalhealth.org.nz/suicide-prevention

Helplines: https://mentalhealth.org.nz/helplines

Worried about someone? (Support for others): https://mentalhealth.org.nz/help/supporting-others

Community Support Groups: https://mentalhealth.org.nz/groups

And a big thank you from me and the other organizers of all walking meetups that we walk together and thrive to be stronger as humans Individually.