(Photo: Liv (R) and Ali (L) on Breast Hill overlooking Lake Hawea in New Zealand)

Te Araroa adventure: My 1300km hike through New Zealand

Te Araroa adventure: My 1300km hike through New Zealand

The Outdoors Fix podcast and a lot of my outdoors adventures over the past few months have stemmed from the Te Araroa thru-hike that I completed in 2018.

It was the most incredible experience and I’d encourage anyone to go and do it. There might always be reasons stopping you from doing it, but seriously, take the chance and go!

Here’s a bit more about it:

I trekked through the South Island of New Zealand for 68 days on the Te Araroa trail in early 2018.

1300km of walking through the middle of the island, from Ship Cove on the northern tip, to Bluff right at the bottom of the country.

Even writing those words about it make me smile – it was such an incredible adventure and something that I’ll never forget.

(Photo: Hiking in the Richmond Range near Nelson in New Zealand)

Map of our route (see South Island)

Who did I walk the TA with?

I was lucky enough to do the thru-hike with one of my best friends, Ali. We’ve known each other for 20 years and before the trek we were both unhappy in our jobs, restless for adventure and postponing the pressure to settle down.

One day in April 2017 she told me she had got a sabbatical from work and had seen this long walk in New Zealand called the Te Araroa trail. In that moment I got a rush of adrenaline and knew that this was something I’d love to do with her.

My work also amazingly gave me a sabbatical to go and do the trek and on January 8 2018 we set off!

(Photo: Ali and I at Ship Cove at the starting point of our Te Araroa hiking adventure)

Here was our kit list:

50 litre backpack with waterproof cover

Tent

Groundsheet

Tent pegs

Lightweight sleeping bag

Sleeping mat

Blow up pillow

3 dry bags for inside pack. S, M, L

Underwear

2 or 3 pairs of wool socks

Thermal long-sleeved top

Thermal trousers

3 T-shirts (not cotton)

Hiking trousers or shorts (2 pairs)

Rain jacket

Flip flops

Walking boots

Cap

Sunglasses

Headtorch

2 litre platypus

Lightweight towel

Loo roll

Hand sanitizer

Plastic trowel

First aid kit (ibuprofen, paracetamol, plasters, compeeds, bandages, rehydration salts, needle and thread, zinc oxide tape)

AA batteries for headtorch

Kindle

Phone/ phone charger cable and plug

Phone battery pack charger

Guthook map app/course notes downloaded on phone

Print outs of maps/course notes

Cooking stove

Gas for stove

Spork

Penknife

Bowl

Mug

Sponge/washing up liquid

Lighter

Water filter

Water purification tablets

Zip lock plastic bags

Wet wipes

Deodrant

Suncream

Lipsalve

Insect spray

Insect head net

Ear plugs

Hair brush

Toothbrush/ toothpaste

Walking poles

It came to a horrendously heavy 17kg which we had to carry for about 9-11 hours a day. When I first put the backpack on, I couldn’t stand up. This isn’t a joke.

The trail is divided up into sections, each lasting up to eight days. You have to carry everything you need to survive; enough food, water purification systems, first aid, navigation equipment, shelter and clothes. Most of the sections are extremely remote. The only way out is by helicopter. And that’s only if it can find a safe place to land. Your life is completely in your own hands (or in my case, in Ali’s. She’s a doctor).

In between the sections, there is the chance to stock up on food in small towns, and have a shower and do some washing!

(Photo: Descending the terrifying Waiau Pass in New Zealand)

How did we navigate, where did we sleep?

Along the trek we followed orange triangles nailed into trees or poles stuck into the ground which indicated the TA trail. We also used an app called Guthook which showed our GPS position and worked even without phone signal.

At the beginning of the trek, our average distance covered each day was about 16km, but by the end we were hitting 37km days! Our bodies got stronger and more used to carrying the weight each day.

We wild-camped, stayed in camp sites or in backcountry huts while we were on the trail. The huts were one of our favourite parts of the TA. They were very simple wooden structures dotted along the trail with between two and 20 bunks. They didn’t have electricity but did have a fireplace and some had a rainwater tank. They were places of pure bliss after a long day’s walk – we’d get out of our sweaty hiking clothes, have space to cook dinner, chat to other hikers, read and fall asleep by 9pm.

(Photo: One of the many huts we stayed in on the trail. This is Martin’s Hut in Southland)

Who did we meet along the way?

We’d meet five or six people a day on the trail. Most of them were German, Swedish or American. The age range was from 18 to 70.

Each had their own intriguing story to tell about their non-trail life, and why they were here. There was a couple in their thirties from Vermont. He was a furniture maker and she was a potter. They often worked hard for a few months and then took off travelling. Then there was a woman in her fifties who lived in Seattle but had been born in New Zealand and wanted to get connected again with her roots. And the 20-year-old from Germany who didn’t know what she wanted to do with life. “Walking is just a good thing to do when you don’t know what to do”, she said one evening.

(Photo: Laura from Germany)

We carried all of our food while walking and carried water purifiers to filter water from streams for drinking.
Our diet was quite bizarre but it gave us the energy we needed to be walking so far nearly every day.
Here’s a sample of our diet:

This is one day of food. Multiply by number of days on section. (We also always carried at least an extra day of food for emergencies)

Breakfast

Porridge with handful dried raisins

Tea with powdered milk

Mid-morning snack

1 or 2 Protein cereal bar (ones with at least 10g of protein in them)

Lunch

2 wraps- one with peanut butter, one with cheese

Rice crackers (6/7 small ones)

Handful of fruit and nut mix

Dried apricots (4/5)

Sweets (wine gums or fruit pastels)

Afternoon snack (optional)

Protein cereal bar or fruit and nut mix

Dinner

Noodles with packet of tuna

Hot chocolate

Lots of chocolate

(Photo: Crossing a scary river near Arthur’s Pass)

The dozens of river crossings are a big hurdle on the trail. The rocks and power of the water often made wading through it, sometimes up to your thighs, a truly heart-racing moment. It was always in the back of our minds that with one slip, we could knock our heads on a rock or be swept away. Ali and I often held hands – we said for stability, in truth because of fear.

But the views made every day absolutely incredible. Here are just a few of the landscapes we got to walk through:

(Photo: Looking over Queen Charlotte Sound at the start of our trek)

(Photo: Stunning Blue Lake in the Nelson Lakes national park)

(Photo: A view over the Rakaia river in New Zealand during our hiking adventure)

We reached Bluff on the 19 March 2018, 1300km from where we had started. There’s a yellow signpost that marks the end point of the trail and Ali and I held hands as we ran to it. We unscrewed tiny bottles of sparkling wine we’d picked up the evening before and toasted our adventure.

I never thought I’d do anything like the TA trail in my life. I never thought I was adventurous enough, or brave enough to duck out of normal, responsible life for a while.

I am so, so happy I did.

(Photo: Liv and Ali at the end of the Te Araroa trail in Bluff)

Practical information if you’re keen to do the TA: 

Lots of useful information on the Te Araroa Trust’s website.

When to go:

If walking southbound, the TA trust recommends a late December/January start. They don’t recommend being in the South Island past early/mid April because of the weather. Our walk took us 71 days (including rest days).

How to get to the starting point:

We flew to Auckland from London, then flew to Wellington on an internal flight. We got the Interislander ferry from Wellington across the Cook Strait to Picton on the South Island. Ferry journey takes about three hours. We stayed a night in Picton before getting the local ferry to the start of the South Island TA trail at Ship Cove in the morning.

Navigation:

For navigation and route planning, we used the TA trail notes and maps downloaded as PDFs on our phones. We also printed these out. They give lots of detail about each section, campsites, huts, useful phone numbers etc.

We also relied heavily on the phone app Guthook with the Te Araroa guide loaded. This is indispensable. It has maps of the route and can pinpoint your location on GPS even when there is no phone signal. It tells you how far you are away from the nearest shelter, and water source, and can tell you the altitude you have to ascend, descend each day.

Camping/huts/hostels:

To use the huts, you need to buy a 6-month Backcountry Hut pass in Wellington. It’s $92 and it means you can stay in any of the huts for free. It is worth booking campsites or hostels in the villages/towns a few days ahead of your arrival as there are lots of tourists there at that time of year. You can book these when you have internet in between sections.