North East couple Mick and Jackie Parsons have the best of both worlds.
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Based in Italy from April until November and at Porepunkah in between, the couple have hosted their gourmet walking tours on two continents for almost a decade now.
Hedonistic Hiking has offered guided food and walking holidays for small groups to Italy and throughout North East Victoria since 2007.
Mrs Parsons said they added Slovenia to their itinerary last year and France would come on board for the first time this year.
“Italy has so much to offer,” Mrs Parsons said.
“We don’t do every region but we do cover a lot of it; we offer one new itinerary every year for our regulars.”
Both fluent in Italian, Mr and Mrs Parsons have lived in Tuscany for 15 years and each has 25 years’ experience in the travel industry.
They met in Italy where they were Contiki tour guides about two decades ago.
English-born Mrs Parsons brings her love of Romance languages and Latin cultures to the tours while Mr Parsons, who hails from Wagga, has a background as a chef.
“We never see a full winter because we’re living across two hemispheres,” Mrs Parsons said.
Mrs Parsons said the tours attracted like-minded travellers.
“We market them in the UK, US, Canada, Brazil, Japan and Australia,” she said.
“The people all have the same love of food, wine and walking; they are people who really like walking.”
Hedonistic Hiking takes small groups (maximum 16) on eight or nine-day guided gourmet hiking tours in Tuscany, Umbria, Piedmont, the Italian Alps and Lakes, Slovenia, Abruzzo, southern Italy and France.
It hosts 12 different itineraries and 16 tours for which hikes are graded.
Hedonistic Hiking will offer its next long weekend tour in the North East on March 4-7.
The Highlights of Mount Buffalo National Park includes dinner at Tani, Simone’s of Bright, a sunset picnic on Mount Buffalo and wine tasting at boutique wineries.
Daily walks for the tour range from 5 kilometres to 15 kilometres.
“It can be a taster weekend for people who want to try out our company before going on a longer tour or for people who want to explore our own backyard,” Mrs Parsons said.
The North East weekends do not provide accommodation unlike the European tours which are all-inclusive of boutique accommodation, food, wines and snacks.
Hedonistic Hiking will host an information night at Wodonga Travel and Cruise at 86 High Street on Monday, February 8, from 6-8pm.
