IN THE MEDIA
READ OUR INTERVIEW IN THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE OF SU MAGAZINE
READ OUR INTERVIEW ON WOMEN TRAVEL NZ, SEPTEMBER 27
READ OUR INTERVIEW IN THE PRESS, JULY 27
by Liz McDonald
... “A lot of women over 30, want to be outdoors but have a big fear of being the slowest or unfittest.
“Often they’d love to have a go at something. But then they don’t know where to start. Or they don’t have someone to do it with and wouldn’t feel safe on their own.”
By June, Pastoors had dipped into her savings and launched Sidetracks Women and a new website, after “working all day, every day and using all may energy to get it running”.
The first tour is scheduled for spring – wilderness tours for small groups, with simple accommodation “no minibars”, and home cooking.
She’s already had a good response, with bookings coming from around the country.
“I’ve had to reinvent myself more than twice in my life, you have to have ideas in a drawer in case things don’t work out,” Pastoors says.
With many people on reduced incomes or burned by Covid travel cancellations, she is keeping deposits low and bookings transferrable.
“My intention is to get the tours running, so me and my staff can survive. I have put the idea of profit in the background, it’s about survival at this stage...