Audiobooks for bushwalks, road trips & rainy days

Listen up, outdoorsy types! This is a sign for all hikers and dog walkers, foragers and explorers, runners and road trippers. You too, meanderers – don’t think we’d forget you.

You can be two places at once. You can see two worlds in tandem. The secret is in strengthening an oft-neglected muscle: your imagination.

You can flex your imaginative muscles without sacrificing the routines and beauties you know and love. Follow your favourite familiar paths, jog your usual routes, enjoy the fresh air and the lush blooms of the season of rebirth – just add headphones and a great audiobook. The Libby app has countless adventures waiting for you, free from your library. Tune in with your feet on the ground and your head in the clouds.

We’ve rounded up the very best audiobooks for springtime – not just for sunny-day bushwalks and beach lounging, but escapist essentials, too, for the dreary days that trap you indoors.

Enough by Melissa Arnot Reid

This powerful memoir navigates a climber’s journey to overcome personal demons while tackling treacherous paths to the world’s highest peaks and her owl soul.

Northbound by Naomi Arnold

Award-winning journalist Naomi Arnold recounts her 9-month solo journey walking the length of New Zealand, exploring challenges both physical and emotional. 

Daughters of Batavia by Stefanie Koens

Secrets spanning generations link two women living centuries apart, revolving around the famed shipwreck of the Batavia.  

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

This science fiction novella follows Murderbot, a self-aware security droid, as it grapples with its identity while reluctantly protecting a team of scientists on a dangerous planetary mission.

Accomplice to the Villain by Hannah Maehrer

Evie didn’t mean to become the apprentice to the kingdom’s most dangerous villain and ends up tangled in a chaotic mix of treason, magical mishaps, and an unexpected crush on her boss while trying to survive her treacherous job.

*Title availability may vary.