But we’ll let her tell you what it was like. When the stakes are high it’s not worth pushing it. Before I left home I read accounts of other hikers doing 40km day, adamant there was no way I’d be doing the same, but within a few weeks I did it and it was really quite okay. A hiking trail the Length of New Zealand. At an average of 25 kms a day, the trail takes 120 days to walk – four months. Running the length of New Zealand from end to end, the Te Araroa (TA) Trail officially opened in 2011 and has seen a steady increase in walker numbers over the years. A short film about running the length of New Zealand. In dense forest and scrambling over the Alps however you’ll be doing a lot less. Te Araroa, 3000 km, 1864 miles, about 300 days. To bring Te Araroa to life, Geoff walked New Zealand himself - covering the North Island in 1998, then the South Island in 2002. Thirty-five years in the making, the trail officially opened in late 2011. An ultralight tarp tent and a super thin down jacket might work for some but I knew that I would need something warmer, and I was grateful for my choices when a week of snow hit during a South Island summer. Suddenly you’ll realise you’re capable of anything. You’ll get most of your fitness when you finally hit the trail. But be warned though that after completing a journey like this you will have opened Pandora’s box. Because of the length the South Island section of Te Araroa has been split into four parts, each about 300 kilometres long . I walked Te Araroa – the 3,000km trail that runs the length of New Zealand – between September 2019 and March 2020, and documented it all here on this blog. I don’t remember thinking about it for too long before I decided it would be either the length of New Zealand or the UK and the deciding factor was that New Zealand has one single designated trail running the length of the country called the Te Araroa trail as opposed to the UK where I would have had to put a lot of work into creating my own. Everyone’s different. * Te Araroa popularity creates pressure points. points described in the Trail Notes. This trail is also known as The Long Pathway. A long distance hike can be a great way to liberate yourself from all the pressures we live with day to day in modern society. Te Araroa is away from digital connectivity for the most part, you can concentrate on the basics of existence and find a distraction free perspective on life. Laura Waters embarked upon a 5-month hike from one end of New Zealand to the other – the Te Araroa Trail – having only completed a handful of multi-day hikes in her life. Te Araroa - New Zealand's Trail - is a continuous 3,000 km walking track from Cape Reinga to Bluff. It’s all good. Learn the best way to cross a river, have some idea about weather patterns and clouds. You can take months to walk the whole thing, or a few hours or days to walk a local segment. The trail is best tackled north to south, beginning from the top of the North Island at Cape Reinga in late spring. Shot by @1andre, Millaa Millaa Falls is an 18 metre high heritage-l, Hiking attire has changed a lot over the last cent, There’s nothing better than crawling into your o, How's this for a home on wheels?⁠ So she was back at home with her parents resting up and plans to complete the Te Araroa next season. I got caught in a sudden snowstorm in the South Island that could have ended very badly, and I had several tumbles because I was rushing. The 3000km route stretches from Cape Reinga in the north of New Zealand to Bluff in the south. ; 1000kms on England’s South West Coast path in July 2018. This 3000.0 km route stretches from Cape Reinga in the North Island to Bluff, located on the tip of the South Island. If you don’t know what is ahead you can’t prepare for it (mentally and physically) and ensure you have the right gear and skills. Te Araroa is the ultimate Kiwi experience. Accept the challenges, allow them to pass and then move on. Don’t push on when you’re knackered or injured – this is likely to lead to mistakes and perhaps further injury. Stretch. Te Araroa means “The Long Path” and so it is. I nearly got blown off a mountain range in the Tararuas, a region in the North Island notorious for strong winds. Te Araroa - New Zealand's Trail. It consists of 156 individual trails and tracks. www.runnz.org A small donation will help fund the education of orphaned children in India. It consists of 156 individual trails and tracks. If you like to hike the full length of the trail from north to south you start off from Cape Reinga in Northland in the North Island and finish in Bluff at the southern tip of Southland in the South Island. Te Araroa is a 3000 km long route that runs the length of both islands of New Zealand.This is a new route that was opened on December 3, 2011. These sorts of distances are definitely reliant on easy terrain however. Like the Appalachian Trail in the U.S., the Camino de Santiago in Spain, or the Great Himalayan Trail in Nepal, New Zealand's Te Araroa is more than just a hike. The book maps the 3000-kilometre trail in 40-kilometre sections, with maps by leading map maker Roger Smith of Geographx. Learn to tune into your intuition and if it doesn’t feel right deep in your gut don’t do it. you can find a list of these maps on This Page, Popular One Day Walks on the North Island, Popular One Day Walks on the South Island, Te Araroa Trail (Hike The Full Length Of NZ). Don’t beat yourself up over a short day on the trail if it works out that way. You’re capable of much more than you realise. I learned many lessons the hard way, pushing the boundary and then regretting it afterwards. Any niggles you have will be magnified once you’re out on the trail, day after day with a pack. As with many trails of this length, there is significant diversity in terms of terrain, weather, difficulty, and other factors. . Traildino grading: SW, Strenuous walk, mountain trail; Hut tour grading: T2, Mountain walk. I walked 2 hours a day for three months before departure on my daily commute to work, getting my feet used to the daily pounding, and I carried a fully loaded pack for the last month of it. Be kind to yourself. The 1,864-mile trek spans the length of New Zealand's two main islands, starting at the northernmost tip … The sprinkling of road sections, overgrown forests and exposed tricky alpine passes are a surprise to some, to the point where a few give up when they reach them. Over your lifetime everyone can walk the length of New Zealand. I have joined all the maps together without the coordinates and map information. For me that meant working with a physio for eight months before I left to strengthen my core and gluts, two weaknesses that made me prone to sore knees. Te Araroa (The Long Pathway) passes through all of New Zealand, in one of the world's most famous long distance trails. You might come across anything from raised eyebrows to outright disapproval about the choices you make but it doesn’t matter. Determine what factors are important to you (warmth, weight, durability, comfort…), do your research and make your own decisions. Find walking maps and guidebooks, self guided walking holidays and hiking tours. Te Araroa Trail was founded by Geoff Chapple, a journalist and keen tramper who first promoted the idea of a length of New Zealand walkway in a newspaper article in 1994. It was helpful. This page contains maps and description for each of those trails. An accident, by definition, is unplanned. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them. Geoff wrote extensively about Te Araroa, first releasing a publication in 2002 Te Araroa: The New Zealand Trail (One Man Walks His Dream) then in 2011 Te Araroa: A Walking Guide to New Zealand's Long Trail. . If you’re planning your own long distance hiking adventure, here are a few tips that might help you. In the summer of 2018-2019 I walked the length of New Zealand along the Te Araroa Trail. Te Araroa, or The Long Pathway is a hiking trail that runs the length of New Zealand. On the maps I have  marked the starting and finishing points and other Tramping the full length of the trail generally takes three to six months. Nothing can fully prepare you for the main event, but an understanding of what lies ahead will go a long way. Feed yourself well. A casual hiker with a dozen or so multi-day hikes under her belt (longest, 65km), I was about to attempt 3000km across the country’s famously rugged terrain, through dense forest, over exposed alpine passes, across scores of unbridged rivers and following a route that often doesn’t have an actual ground trail to follow. This was a little of what I saw. The trail is best tackled north to south, beginning from the top of the North Island at Cape Reinga in late spring. If you like to hike the full length of the trail from north to south you start off from Cape Reinga in Northland in the North Island and finish in Bluff at the southern tip of Southland in the South Island. Take the wisdom you gather in the wilds to grow your life when you return. You never know when you might need help so carry the means to call for it if the worst should happen. '&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src= 'https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f); })(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-KN4ZHF7'); // ]]> Te Araroa, or The Long Pathway is a hiking trail that runs the length of New Zealand. Don’t blindly follow others, perhaps across swollen rivers, up wrong tracks, across dubious fresh landslips, don’t go out in bad weather just because others are. The North Island route is just over 1,600 km long, and the South Island just under 1,400 km. Te Araroa means “The Long Path” and so it is. It surprises me the amount of people who venture out on this trail with no real idea what they are getting in for. The couple walked the length of New Zealand’s Te Araroa in 2014-15 and are currently on a nationwide speaking tour about their trek. I wanted to find out for myself what the Te Araroa trail entailed; to photograph both it and the view of New Zealand that it presents. Te Araroa – 3,000 km walk the length of New Zealand. Long Distance – Te Araroa Trail NZ and South West Coast Path UK. Learn some basic navigation skills and don’t rely purely on technology that can sometimes fail you. I may have been a little ambitious when I decided to hike Te Araroa, the world’s newest long distance hiking trail running from one end of New Zealand to the other. It takes four to six months to complete an entire thru-hike (called a thru-tramp locally). During the first half of 2015 I tramped the length of New Zealand – from Cape Reinga to Bluff, via the 3000 km Te Araroa trail, New Zealand’s long distance walkway, photographing the landscapes and locations encountered along the trail as I walked.. The trail travels from Cape Reinga on the North Island to Bluff on the South Island, passing through 9 distinct regions on its way. Writing the blog post for each day of the walk was one of the highlights of each day. ⁠ Visit Laura’s website, Soul Trekkers for more info on the trip, gear lists and inspiration for your future adventures. Te Araroa means 'The Long Pathway' in Maori and is a combination of older tracks and walkways, new tracks and link sections alongside roads. Study the trail you are doing. ⁠ This is the guidebook of Te Araroa: New Zealand's Trail, a continuous trail running from Cape Reinga to Bluff. The Te Araroa Trust has made up Trail Notes for each section of Te Araroa Trail and maps to go with it. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it's gained a reputation for being challenging - but it also looks fantastic. 3000kms the length of New Zealand’s Te Araroa trail thru-hike over the 2017/18 season. Te Araroa is NZ's walk of a lifetime. Te Araroa is New Zealand’s premier long-distance hiking trail, stretching 3000 km (1860 mi) across the country’s two main islands. The Te Araroa Trust was founded in 1994 to revisit the original idea, and it is working with local organisations and land owners to incorporate existing tracks and establish new tracks as needed. * Te Araroa Trail - is it paradise lost? In the wild and windy Tararua Range in the North Island for example, it took an exhausting nine hours to cover just thirteen kilometres. Search for: Menu Toggle Icon. But also know that, barring injury, you absolutely can do it. Carry a first aid kit and carry a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB)! At an average of 25 kms a day, the trail takes 120 days to walk – four months. It is about 3000km (1865 miles) long. [CDATA[ (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start': new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'? Thanks for taking the time to share your insight. I may have been a little ambitious when I decided to hike Te Araroa, the world’s newest long distance hiking trail running from one end of New Zealand to the other. Life will never be the same. Hike in a way that meets your own needs, goals and likes. This will make it clearer on the maps of where start and stop and a wider overlap of consecutive maps. Celia has first-hand experience of Te Araroa, having walked the full length of the trail. Feral horses are out of control in NSW’s largest, Peekaboo, Wombat found you.⁠ It spans about 3000 km and takes you into jungles, across beaches, over … Add in a few weekend hikes to test out and refine your gear selection and you should be fine (note: assuming you’ve already got some multi-day hikes under your belt and have some idea what you’re in for!). Don’t bring those old judgements and pressures with you on the journey. What's Life Like On A Wild South Island Merino Farm. Pre-planned routes might mysteriously drop off your device (it happened to me), batteries can run out and satellite signals are hard to find in gorges or steep landscapes – so carry a map and compass and know how to use them. Some might tell you you’ll never make it (as I experienced). Te Araroa Day 104 – Goat Pass. Here's a short highlights video of our walk across New Zealand on the Te Araroa. From Cape Reinga to Bluff. This year, Te Araroa snagged a spot on the National Geographic’s list of 20 World’s Best Hikes and CNN’s list of 10 World’s Most Amazing Long-Distance Trails. While we were on trail during the 2014-15 hiking season, we heard reports that nearly 150 people were hiking the whole thing, and even more just doing the South Island. Search Icon. View my itinerary here. Easy To Read Joined Maps For Te Araroa Trail ... We have tramped together in New Zealand and Patagonia and we both hope we can put up with each other for the length of the trail. Some pride themselves on speed records while others like to have regular rest days in search of a massage and a bottle of wine (also me). Jan Sedgwick She has more than 35 years experience in media, marketing and public relations. Te Araroa comprises 87 separate trails stretching from Cape Reinga to Bluff. The best source of information about this trail at present is the Te Araroa Trust website , where there are guides and maps, as well as reports from people who have walked the trail. You are the person most responsible for your safety. Shot by @j, How Feral Horses Damage Australia’s Precious Alpine Environments, Trek to Maitland Bay Along The Bouddi Coastal Walk, The Intriguing History (and Exciting Future) of Hiking Clothing, The Petrel Patrol – Searching For NZ's Endangered Seabird, RacingThePlanet – The 250km Race Across New Zealand, This Couple Is Thru-Hiking Between Gigs Across NZ. In moving past the obstacles you face you will grow like never before. View my itinerary here. Discover remote villages, magical kauri forests, breathtaking volcanic scenery and bustling cities on New Zealand’s Te Araroa trail. There is no one definitive ‘ultimate’ set of hiking gear. Onward and upward! //