From bright lights, big cities and big stars to the New Zealand bush, Peter Hitchman has learnt a lot along the way, including survival skills. Shane Gilchrist reports.
Peter Hitchman's knife might not be as oversized as the one brandished by Paul Hogan in Crocodile Dundee, but it's impressive nonetheless.
Ranging from quite sharp at one end to really sharp at the other, the 30cm-plus specimen was made by the same company that supplied the blade for Hogan's 1980s Hollywood blockbuster.
Though there are no muggers to deter in the bush 10km west of Queenstown, Hitchman says such a knife has a range of uses: the oh-so-sharp area can be used to clean game, the slightly less well-honed part to hack through vegetation, cut down small trees or carve notches into small pieces of branches to fashion a trap.
Knives, traps, the great outdoors ... all of this conjures images of Bear Grylls, the English star of the survivalist television series Man vs Wild.
Hitchman, who owns Queenstown-based Guided Walks NZ with wife Karyn, has put his own spin on the survival theme.
Titled "You vs Wild", his walks are less about dangerous experiences, focusing instead on advice, tips and tricks the 51-year-old Briton has learned first-hand and from sources both local and further afield.
Survival, Hitchman says, is all about being in control.
Specifically, he means being in control of your environment or situation and, most importantly, in control of your emotions when confronted with a stressful situation.
In the bush or backblocks of New Zealand, where the weather can change almost in an instant and rivers can rise in a matter of minutes, even a little bit of knowledge can help.
For instance, if you know how to light a fire with two bits of wood (yes, he showed it can be done, and in more than one way), you're more likely to stay in one place, an oft-repeated piece of advice for those who find themselves lost.
Hitchman reveals more than just fire-making tips, however.
During an arranged one-on-one journey earlier this week, he also explains how to find north by both the sun and stars, filter water so that it's safe to drink, make traps to catch small game, or fish and eels, and where to find huhu grubs (apparently, a great source of energy).
At various points along the 3km track to Sam Summer's Hut (part of the Department of Conservation-administered.
Mt Crichton Scenic Reserve off the Queenstown to Glenorchy road), Hitchman stops to point out various leaves and fronds.
Out here, he says, nature offers a veritable medicine chest.
Great (or common) mullein might be regarded as a weed by some, but should you find yourself lost and/or unwell in the bush, the distinctive plant offers a range of benefits: its leaves can be steeped in hot water to make tea or even dried and smoked for use as an expectorant to aid respiratory ailments; the root can be made into a decoction to treat cramps and convulsions; and its seeds, when crushed, can be thrown into a pool of water to kill fish (which remain edible).
Elsewhere there is wild oregano (with its antifungal properties it makes a good poultice for wounds), kotukutuku or tree fuchsia (its papery bark is good for starting fires and its berries are a good source of vitamin C), kapuka or broadleaf (has arnica-like qualities), Dracophyllum (sometimes referred to as turpentine plant because its sap is combustible, meaning it will catch fire even if damp); bulrushes even get a mention (the thin white roots are high in carbohydrates).
In an increasingly technological age, Hitchman offers skills that have been forgotten - or never learned - by many.
By all means take modern equipment into the bush, he says (after all, a GPS locator beacon is more likely to attract rescuers than the pot lid he has polished to use as a mirror), but be prepared to fall back on more basic resources.
Take the humble shoelace: its primary purpose aside, it can be used, a) as a snare; b) to start a fire (it's a key component in a bow-shaped device used to rapidly spin one piece of wood against another); c) to climb trees (tied together, laces offer better purchase on a trunk); d) to collect water more efficiently from a vertical trickle (a lace offers more surface area and better directs the flow to a container).
"Of course, in half a day you can't teach people everything they need to know," Hitchman concedes.
"I try to make it fun, to give people skills they can use.
"I like people to show me what they've just learnt as it's the best way for them to remember," he says, espousing a three-pronged teaching method:
"Show me, help me, let me."
Having bought long-running Queenstown company Guided Walks NZ in 2007, Hitchman and his wife introduced snowshoeing trips in 2009, then the "You vs Wild" concept in October last year.
His first such trip involved a group of 10-year-old Queenstown children, but the venture has quickly grown and now includes corporate groups.
The more adventurous can also do a "Drop Zone" trip in which clients are taken by helicopter to a remote location and left to find their way back to civilisation with their guide.
Srangely enough, Hitchman garnered many of his outdoors skills by way of a job involving bright lights and big cities.
Raised in a small market town in Shropshire, Hitchman was just 17 when he was approached in a Birmingham gym by a "big guy" who offered him a lucrative job as a bodyguard.
A former bodybuilder who has represented Britain, Hitchman was soon protecting none other than 1980s pop stars Duran Duran (he also worked for Roxy Music and Sade).
And his colleagues? Well, they were former SAS soldiers.
"Any chance we had to get away from high-maintenance pop stars ... we'd take," Hitchman recalls.
"They'd say, 'Come on - we're going up into the hills to play survival games'.
"Or we'd go to a local park and they would show me all the things you could eat or make out of rubbish - all those sorts of tips or tricks. We'd go at least once or twice a week.
"And if we were in a city and didn't have access to the outdoors, we would put on a pair of overalls and go into the storm drains and go under the city.
"They used to call it 'culverting'."
After two years, Hitchman changed course, running a string of nightclubs, including one owned by Duran Duran member Andy Taylor.
However, after meeting Karyn, a Kiwi, the pair moved to New Zealand in the late 1990s.
"I worked at Telecom for two years; it was a soul-destroying computer job," Hitchman says, adding he decided to utilise some of the skills his SAS friends had taught him by enrolling in a course at the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre at Tongariro.
He then worked as a senior outdoor instructor for the Christchurch YMCA, organising survival camps for teenagers and corporate groups.
"I was with the YMCA for about seven years. A lot of the work involved team-building, motivational stuff with kids.
You put them outside their comfort zone, but well within their safety.
"You learn to deal with all sorts of people, from all walks of life.
"You learn to never underestimate a 10-year-old. Kids can throw you all sorts of curve-balls."
As can nature.
For more information, visit: www.nzwalks.com
