New Zealander Mary Hobbs published the award-winning New Zealand Outside magazine for 10 years. She is the author of Kiwi Tucker for the Soul, a bestselling collection of inspirational stories about New Zealanders; Letters to New York and America, from New Zealand with Love; and The Spirit of Mountaineering, Volume 1, about the early history of mountain guiding at Aoraki-Mt Cook.

Mary is also the author of Matagouri and Other Pricks - The Journey to Aoraki-Mount Cook, which was published an printed in New Zealand in 2010. It's a rollicking read that takes the radar from Tibet to Antarctica; to Nepal with Sir Edmund Hillary; and to New York, Washington and the White House in the aftermath of 9/11. It includes the thrills and spills of a nursing profession; the excitement of launching a new career as a writer and publisher; the challenges of running a guiding business; and also the story of The Old Mountaineers' Cafe, Bar, Restaurant and Gallery in Aoraki-Mount Cook National Park - the only business ever opened by Sir Edmund hillary in the village. 

Mary and her husband Charlie live at Aoraki-Mt Cook where they own a guiding company and The Old Mountaineers', an historical mountaineering themed restaurant and gallery and have an organic farm nearby.