Hey there, I’m Gabrielle

I spent my childhood travelling Australia and internationally. I’m currently living in Tasmania studying a bachelor of nursing. While I do study a lot my life isn’t all essays and exams. There are so many awesome hikes here in Tassie that I’ve only just started to work through. I especially love climbing the mountains here. I also spend a lot of time playing Ultimate Frisbee.

I guess you could say I had an odd childhood. My family (mum, dad, two brothers and two sisters) have always been quite nomadic. I was born in Cairns, in the tropical far-north of Australia. But, until uni, I didn’t live anywhere much longer than a year! To start off we just travelled around Australia. We did nine months in a tent when I was 7. Then we upgraded to a caravan. Once we got sick of that, I convinced my parents that they wanted to go to Europe. They liked it there a bit too much and wouldn’t leave! We spent eight months in twelve different countries before coming back to Australia.

After I turned 15 I started feeling restless. So, I convinced my whole family that we should go to New Zealand to hike the Te Araroa. That was heaps of fun, although we had to pull out after 685km. I decided to work on ‘responsible’ things for a while. I got a job at an aged care home, saved lots of money, got accepted into uni and started studying at the University of Tasmania. Still, it was bothering me that the only long-distance trail I’d been on I hadn’t been able to finish. That’s why I decided to hike the 470km Tasmanian Trail solo during uni break. In doing so, I became the fastest unsupported female and the youngest solo hiker. Last summer, I hiked the Great North Walk from Sydney to Newcastle with my 13-year-old brother in eight days.

I just love to have a new goal to look forward to. Having random adventures in uni break makes essays a whole lot more bearable.