For those of you who don’t know. Well here’s what Wikipedia
says!
Te Araroa (The Long Pathway) is
New Zealand’s newest long distance tramping route, from Cape Reinga to Bluff.
The 3000 km route officially opened on December 3, 2011 after 10 years of
work by hundreds of volunteers. Construction coordinated by the Te Araroa Trust
is ongoing.
The trail has approximately 300 sections ranging from walks of 1–2 hours
through to a 9-day route in the South Island where full equipment must be
carried. Te Araroa joins a mixture of existing tracks and walkways, new tracks
and link sections alongside roads. 40% of the trail crosses conservation land
and the Government allocated $NZ3.8 million for development of new sections of
the trail on conservation land in 2007.
For more information, visit: www.teararoa.org.nz
The straight line distance from Cape Reinga to Bluff is 1475 km,
but the Te Araroa Trail covers a longer nominal distance of 3000 km and
has since been adjusted with upgraded sections. Tramping the full length of the trail takes three to
six months. The fastest effort was by British ultramarathon runner Jezz Bragg,
who managed 53 days during the 2012-13 season, although he contracted giardia
and was lucky to survive being swept away by a river in the Richmond Ranges.
Some bloggers report around 100
days, but many take their time to enjoy the whole season and spend around 150
days.
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| Route Subject to Change! |
For more information visit:
Between these four sites, you’ll find all the information
you’ll need to plan your trip. All these resources are compiled by the Te
Araroa Trust, past, present and future hikers. A big thanks to all.
Who are we?
Glen – A Kiwi (Living in UK the last 15 years), former
electrician and building services engineer and now a budding yoga teacher. I
have historical experience with the New Zealand wilderness however after 20
years of being a ‘city slicker’, I harbour no illusion that this will be an
easy feat.
Sherren – A British Police Officer, budding yoga teacher and
adventurer.
Why are we walking it?
When we decided to come to Aotearoa, we agreed to buy a car
and travel the length of the country to see as much as we could. After about a
week Sherren said “can you cycle it?”
Well of course you can, so we started researching this option
and happened across the Te Araroa and were sold. After all, why not walk?
After all this is about our experience in the now and not
being one of those old farts sitting around saying “I wish I’d done that when I
was younger!”
When are we walking it?
We are planning to set off from Cape Rienga on the 28th
September. This route is referred to as SOBO (south bound). Hoping to have
completed the north island by Christmas when we will take a break to catch up
with family and complete a 3 week yoga workshop before setting off from Picton
on the 17th/18th January also SOBO
What challenges we expect?
1)We both have vegan diets, which is difficult at the best of
times when undertaking a hike of this magnitude and New Zealand doesn’t make
this any easier (for obvious agrarian economic reasons).
Therefore a lot of time and effort has gone into researching
what we can eat and re-supply with along the way. Which will mean we will be
sending more food parcels ahead and carrying more food than most folks when
these parcels arrive. I don’t think we’ll be facing starvation at any point
however we’d like to enjoy what we’re eating along the way as much as possible.
2)We both have a daily Ashtanga Yoga practice. For us it is
not an option to put this on hold. Therefore we will be up before dawn each day
to complete our practice before setting off. The practice is 90 minutes and
usually consumes about 600kcals. Therefore we expect to walk less than the
average walker each day and will plan on taking extra rest days to prevent
exhaustion. The Ultimate challenge here will be finding groundspace flat and
stable enough to practice on. It could end up getting a little mucky.
One product we did manage to find is http://www.yogapaws.com and here’s what they
say.
“You can take YogaPaws Anywhere,
meaning you can Do Yoga ANYWHERE! Mountain Top, bike trail,
airport, rest area, back porch, Water Fall, Central Park, in the Rain, in the
Ocean. No Matter how crazy or slippery from sweat or sea water, YogaPaws
will keep you solid in each pose. The world is your studio with YogaPaws.
So
wherever life takes you, take your practice with you!”
So we’ve decided to give them the Te Araroa Test and see how
they hold up. And if you see us along the way don’t be shy, Join in. Your
ceased joints and stiff muscles will thank you for it.
Why are we not walking to raise funds for a charity?
Two vegan yogi’s walking the length of New Zealand and not
doing it for charity. Hard to believe isn’t it?
But with most western government regulation dictating that
only a meagre 5% actually has to go to any given cause, I have a hard time
watching the other 95% fill the coffers of these so called do gooders. If you
feel charitable please donate your time and efforts to helping your preferred
cause.
However if you are walking for charity and that’s something
you believe in, don’t let us deter you.
Will it look good on your CV?
If you’re a graduate who speaks 4 languages, are on the
equestrian, chess or fencing team, plays cello in quartet, with a keen interest
in conquering any challenge that lay ahead and you’re walking for charity, etc.
And you’re aiming for an internship with a multinational powerhouse, then
probably. Otherwise it will look better than any other unexplained 6 month
absence from education or work (I.e. Prison)
Equipment research and acquisition.
We decided to walk the trail about a year ago and began
loosely researching and planning at the same time. Some of the best research
you can find will be from previous and current walkers via the Te Araroa
Facebook , Wiki, and forum pages. Once you get an idea for something you want
or like, just hit the internet for reviews and comparisons (I.e. Outdoor Gear
Lab is a fantastic site). It’s time consuming but it’s all part of the fun.
One difficulty we’ve had with the purchasing of our desired
equipment is that we left the UK 7 months prior to our planned set off date,
visiting India, Thailand and Australia on the way with a total of 8 flights prior
to landing in New Zealand. Ideally, I wanted to purchase all our equipment in
one go and ship it in but it was just too much to lug around for so long. If
you are travelling from Europe or the Americas, I would recommend bringing
everything you need including batteries as New Zealand can be notoriously
expensive and under stocked. Therefore, we purchased and carried what we could
and then shopped around once we got here.
However given the lack of stock in the country we have been
completing our purchases online and have ordered in from the UK and USA.
Delivery is actually extremely quick and we’ve not yet had to wait longer than
a week.
That said, we have managed to get some good deals here too.
It’s just been a matter of checking for online sales regularly or just asking
for discount in store (which has proven effective on all occasions) and having
somewhere to send the gear or knowing someone local who can pick it up is a
huge help (thanks Mum). Of course this method also requires time.
Stores and online retailers we’ve used for gear and food are:
Trail Designs - USA
Yoga Paws - USA
Amazon - UK
Springfield - Camping UK
Chain Reaction - UK
Simply Cycle - UK
Banana Fingers - UK
Ellis Bingham - UK
Bivouac - Tauranga
Kathmandu - Tauranga
R&R Sport - Hamilton
Blademaster - Auckland
Hunting and Fishing - Tauranga
Kmart - Mount Maunganui
The Warehouse - Tauranga
Payless Plastics - Tauranga
The 123 Mart ($2 Shop) - Mount Maunganui
Rebel Sport - Tauranga
Countdown
New World
The Asian Supermarket - Tauranga
Bin Inn - Tauranga
Wild Earth Organics - Tauranga
Merchant Gourmet - Tauranga
I have this romantic notion, that if you’re from the USA you
can just walk into REI and purchase every thing you need in one go, get a huge
discount and walk out – Job done. However I stand to be corrected and as
frustrating as it has been locating gear at a fair price, it has been fun
searching.
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