Side by Side Nature Walks - a message for new walkers

Escaping Your Comfort Zone has been a body positive adventure group that Richelle Olsen (that’s me!) has been organising for 10+ years, across Victoria, I love being out there with people who appreciate the outdoors without going fast, or far, just having fun and enjoying nature. The group has taken many forms over the years, but the Victoria-wide aspect was a mammoth task for me (while working, running a household and everything else!), that has gotten too much for me, and it has been quiet over the last few years.

Until 2025, when an opportunity came up for a federal grant, working with Outdoors Victoria, the City of Greater Geelong and the Surf Coast Shire for me to start up a "short and slow" women's walking group down this way, with a view to creating a program that other councils across Australia could start up themselves. This massively tickled my fancy as it was local!

Which started "Side by Side Nature Walks". It initially started as intergenerational walks - young women, walking with younger women (18-25), but unfortunately, despite a huge amount of effort, we have not been able to work out a program that attracts the younger group. But what I have found is that there is certainly a demand for these kind of walks for women over 50, who might be new to the area, might be recently retired, or might be looking for more connections. Walking in a group without the stress of "Will I be able to keep up?? Will it be too far? And will everyone already be in their established groups?" has turned out to be pretty popular!

So here we are. I'm absolutely loving reconnecting with some of my favourite nature areas on the Bellarine, Geelong and beyond and sharing them, and I do love the routine of every Thursday and Saturday mornings we walk. Life gets busy and my time in nature gets de-prioritised, so its great for me to have these locked in! I grew up in Queenscliff, a free-range kid who loved exploring cliffs and caves, and I have many stories to tell of that area.

In terms of the grant, it covers our tea, coffee, chai and hot chocolate, and the work I do in the background putting together the packages for other council areas. It also covers our public liability insurance through Bushwalking Victoria. We do have some reporting and research happening behind the scenes (mostly about the benefits women get from groups like this, and what we can learn from our group to pass onto other regions), so there may be a few surveys for you over the next 6 months. The grant period finishes up in August 2026, but these walks will continue as long as you want to do them...indefinitely!

I lead the walks as a volunteer, and am very keen to get some other walkers who might be keen to lead some walks too, to add variety, and to cover me if I'm away.

Walks are free, I just ask that you bring some morning tea to share every now and then! And BYO mug!

How to Sign Up for Walks:

We're using a simple website called Groups. Place to help you sign up for walks. This site lets you see all the details for each walk and lets us know who is coming. It also lets you see who is attending, and lets you chat together to arrange carpooling, and ask questions.

https://app.groups.place/group/EYCZ-Geelong-Surfcoast-Bellarine

Once you're on the website, you'll need to register to join the group. There's 2 ways you can do this:

1. Click on the register button and go through the signup process. OR

2. Send me your email address via email hello@escapingyourcomfortzone.com and I'll email you a magic login link.

Once you have an account, you can RSVP to any events you want to attend. Please be considerate of the leader and other participants by changing your RSVP if something happens and you are unable to come. You will receive a reminder email with my phone number 2 days before the event you had said you are coming to.

Please be sure to read this before joining any walk: https://www.escapingyourcomfortzone.com/read-this-first

Super excited for you to join us!!