It was refurbished by local members of the Te Araroa Trust. What Te Araroa offers is a snapshot view, at walking pace, of the best of New Zealand. The trail travels from Cape Reinga on the North Island to Bluff on the South Island, passing through 9 distinct regions on its way. In recent years, fast hikers have completed the trail in 100 days. Support the trust today so that you can enjoy the trail tomorrow, either one day at a time, or all 3000km! This is a guide for people wanting to through-hike the Te Araroa Trail in New Zealand going from south to north. In the 1960s the nation enjoyed surfing a single emotion - the Beatles right? As a general rule, around 80% of the North Island is camping (or tenting as Kiwi's call it) at designated campsites or holiday parks, while about 80% of the South Island is in backcountry huts. To get to and from Bluff at the southern terminus, a bus is required again between Bluff and the bigger city Invercargill, which has plane and bus links to other cities. These skills include trip planning, navigation, and river crossing skills, all of which are prerequisites to good decision making and capability in the field. The quality of the tracks is variable, and sometimes questionable, and it's not always the case that there will be a path present. She also completed other long walks, spent time in Australia diving for coral, crocodile hunting and opal mining. Created with sketchtool. It passes through the spectacular Waitomo Caves. But it was something of a baptism of fire to long distance walking. Everyone will give advice on how to prevent and treat blisters. Written by: McKenzie Barney. They were surprised by the amount of road walking, the amount of mud, the poor quality of the tracks, the inability to just wild camp anywhere, and surprised by the number of towns the trail led us through. As it was, it would have been unwise to continue had my injury recovered because the seasons were already starting to change and I still had 1,000km left to walk. There may have been other hikes - but the first one everyone knew about was when A.H. Reed, then aged 85, walked the length of New Zealand between 22 September 1960 and 12 April 1961. If you come from overseas you will notice New Zealanders tend to wear heavy boots, gaiters, shorts over longjohns, heavy Gore-tex rain gear and sturdy packs. Te Araroa is New Zealand’s premier long-distance hiking trail, stretching 3000 km (1860 mi) across the country’s two main islands. Some will work, some not. The post office in Kaitaia after the first section down Ninety Mile Beach does a roaring trade with walkers sending home extra weight they've decided not to carry. How it compares to other long-distance walking trails. They now have a dedicated website. I spent most of my walking time thinking about how much pain I was in and focussing intently on foot placements so I didn't slip or fall over. Within the space of a month I walked in temperatures in the mid-30s and also in snow and torrential rain. Located 7 km north of Atene, 2 km south of Koroniti and 43 north of Whanganui. The TA really is a grand mix of urban, rural, and wilderness hiking. Most walkers seem to start out with too much – my pack weighed 17kg but I met people who started with 25kg. Logistics and planning each day's point A to point B walk can be challenging in places, particularly on the North Island. Being the first person to walk the length of New Zealand was just one of James’ adventures. A statistic I heard was that 30% of walkers drop out after the first two weeks. Two weeks before I did this section, a German girl got lost in the forest and fell off a waterfall at 9pm and was forced to call for search and rescue. They consist of a fireplace, a cooking bench and sleeping bunks. Te Araroa is the birthplace of noted Māori politician Sir Āpirana Ngata. Read about my North Island experience, including my favourite sections and getting lost in the Tararua Ranges/ It is a great place to celebrate completing the North Island, or to ready yourself for the journey north. In 1998, when the online journals were in their infancy, Geoff Chapple was one of the first people to walk Te Araroa. Buying a backcountry hut pass from the Department of Conservation will be needed. Some people also think northbound is harder because of some of the tracks and because the trail notes northbound are incomplete, and so it presents more of a challenge. Long-distance walker Esther James reaches Bluff 18 June 1932 – NZ History, Photo: Esther James. You can show your support and with recieve rewards. The Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) Topo 1:50,000 topographic map is now the primary basemap for Te Araroa trail maps. Katrina Megget offers the lowdown on this classic Kiwi mega-tramp, and advice on gear and logistics. What are the best resources? She wrote a bestselling book, stood for parliament, designed and built houses and ran several businesses. Their stories give us a powerful insight not just into Te Araroa but to New Zealand. The first person recorded as walking the length of New Zealand was the indomitable Esther James, architect, inventor and fashion-model. This makes navigating interesting at times. The trail travels from Cape Reinga on the North Island to Bluff on the South Island, passing through 9 distinct regions on its way. The downside of trail runners is they wear out much quicker than traditional hillwalking boots. That said, the walkers I met were all ordinary people. Many walkers also try to hitchhike from Kaitaia. Te Araroa (TA), or “The Long Pathway,” is a hiking trail across the North and South Islands of New Zealand. The Te Araroa Trail was officially opened in 2011, and in trail terms it's still considered new and some sections are still under development. I also brushed up on my navigating and map reading. Most walkers use a GPS app on their phone, with Guthook being the most common, although the TA Trust introduced its own trail app last season, which seemed to get pretty good reviews from the people I spoke to who were using it. Te Araroa, Cape Reinga: Address, Te Araroa Reviews: 4.5/5. Navigation on the trail can be pretty sketchy in places. Visit remote villages, hike coastal cliffs, and savor Kiwi culture at its best. In the end you will figure out what works for you but I recommend hardening your feet and breaking in your footwear before starting the walk. Again, hitchhiking to and from Bluff is also possible. What is the Te Araroa Trail? This is mainly a result of agriculture with farming runoff. He took one of the earliest digital cameras, a laptop and a mobile phone and posted stories of his journey. Page last updated: Oct 31, 2020, 10:32 AM. To bring Te Araroa to life, Geoff walked New Zealand himself - covering the North Island in 1998, then the South Island in 2002. This is what is written on the Te Araroa Trail website: "Tramping many of the Te Araroa's tracks requires the bush craft skills of an experienced backcountry tramper. Ref: PAColl-5744-10. New Zealanders have coined the word tramping, which I like to define as extreme hiking – the Te Araroa Trail gives the hiker a proper taste of what this means. But different from Te Araroa - exclusively, as ours is not, a coastal, bush, and mountain range trail. Furthermore, the water tanks at huts can be contaminated with possum droppings or dead rats. The free demo covers a 60-kilometre portion of the Te Araroa in the Auckland area on the North Island of New Zealand. You don’t … Hike the best parts of the Te Araroa Trail on the North Island of New Zealand. For example, you should only camp at the designated campsites on Ninety Mile Beach, the very first section of the trail SOBO, which means on day two of the walk you have to cover 28km and on day three, 30km – making it a rude introduction to the trail. Geoff Chapple's Reports from North Island Trail, North Cape to Wellington, 1998, with photographs and maps. The trail is best tackled north to south, beginning from the top of the North Island at Cape Reinga in late spring. Every dollar makes a difference. and it got right behind AH. New Zealand is where I was born and raised and it will always be home, even though I've spent the past 14 years living in the UK. Increasing numbers of walkers start the trail in September – often to avoid getting stuck in a large bubble of walkers – but they run the risk of heavy spring rain and track closures in September and October due to farming and forestry operations. One of the particular advantages of this trail is that New Zealand has no bears, mountain lions, snakes, poisonous insects or insect-borne diseases, meaning there is one less thing to worry about. The Te Araroa trail is diverse and potential walkers should expect beach walking, road walking, exceptionally muddy native forests, traversing bustling cities, climbing active volcanoes, crossing farms with paddocks of bulls, six days canoeing down a river, majestic mountain trails, and crossing tidal estuaries and more than 200 rivers. North Island Trail. Death from crossing rivers is one of the top contributors to deaths in the New Zealand backcountry. "I must honestly say that I did not." The saying goes that if you can do the first two weeks, you can do the whole trail. Increasingly, however, as the trail has become more popular, more trail angels have popped up to help with logistics and provide accommodation. There were plenty of rest days – 29 to be exact, with 12 on the North island and 17 on the South island. For a trail like the TA, that is rugged, remote and potentially dangerous, carrying safety kit is paramount. You also need to know what survival equipment to carry and how to avoid getting hypothermia… A moderate level of fitness is all that is required to make a realistic attempt at a through-tramp.". Mostly corrugated iron, they can be draughty and are home to legions of mice and rats. She was working for the New Zealand Manufacturers' Federation promoting buying New Zealand-made goods during the depression. The trail conservancy hopes to reduce this amount in future years. The old man - founder of A.H. and A.W. The Mangaokewa River path is barely a foot wide and in poor quality, traversing high above a river. Some were in their 60s, some were overweight, some had knee injuries, some were smokers, some carried 25kg on their backs. They covered roughly 3,000 kms - with a third of that each on foot, bike and kayak. Keeping food as lightweight as possible but being calorific is the prerogative. About 14% of the trail is road walking with around 40% going over private land, which requires negotiations for through-access with landowners, councils and local indigenous Maori tribes. (Updated 25 September 2020) Basemap legend. And along the route, class after class of school-children were gathered for compulsory, but unforgettable, immersion in the eerie spell cast by this old, gaunt giant of early hiking. The TA Trust, which manages the trail, recommends that walkers consider a backcountry/bushcraft survival course, especially a river crossing course. If you appreciate UKHillwalking then please help by becoming a UKH Supporter. We need to look at new ways to ensure we can keep providing our content and features whilst maintaining our key aim of allowing free access to everyone. Te Araroa means “The Long Path” and so it is. I did a river crossing course in the Lake District before I left for New Zealand. Walking on sand, which gets into your shoes, with wet feet, because you can't escape the tide, is a recipe for blisters. For the most part, this isn't a walk in a park – though there are several tracks through parks and other paths that are of good quality. The Far North is a remote region with long, lonely stretches of sand, forests of dense bush, steep hills and fast-rising rivers. Not much river access. * Tourism booming, people visiting Te Araroa trail The mid section of Te Araroa, which covers the upper South and lower North islands, is becoming a … Throughout the course of the trail hikers can find themselves walking on golden sand, through knee-high mud, on fluid scree, wading up rivers, boulder-hopping, scrambling on all fours over rocks, pavement pounding, and treading on seemingly non-existent paths, as well as kayaking, canoeing and cycling. New Zealanders have coined the word tramping, which I like to define as extreme hiking. He'd already walked the 4,000 km Pacific Crest Trail along the Sierra Nevada Range in America. Hiking Trails. Geoff Chapple's Churchill Fellowship report, The last New Zealand long walker we know of is George Spearing. The trio started out in February 1995 and reached Bluff in May 1995, just after the first snows of the winter. Technically, high in the mountains, the water "could" be safe to drink but you can't guarantee clean water and there are some sections with no adequate water sources. The North Island route is just over 1,600 km long, and the South Island just under 1,400 km. The trail is best tackled north to south, beginning from the top of the North Island at Cape Reinga in late spring. Of course, as one NOBO walker I met said, hard is relative – some people will find the trail and the terrain harder than others. The vast majority of these walkers were surprised by the Te Araroa, especially the North Island section. These are updated annually in early September to take into account any track changes or closures. During 1931 and 1932 James walked 2500km from Spirits Bay to Bluff through New Zealand towns and communities. Geoff Chapple - one of our great Kiwis - picked up the concept that had previously floated around without any real traction. If you were to walk all of it, it would take five months! It's the one word most commonly used in conversations. It is a ‘first draft’ written a few months after the trip in 1983/84. In the end I soaked my feet in Epsom salts for several days, popped my blisters with a sterilised needle, used an iodine solution and taped my feet. The 85-year-old's journey entered New Zealand's heart. For me, the trail was both physically and mentally demanding. India is a stunningly diverse country for walking, and every Himalayan state and trekking route has its own special character. The Te Araroa is a 3,000km trail stretching from Cape Reinga in the North of New Zealand to Bluff, in the very south, through beaches, volcanoes, forests, mountains and cities. In 1983/84, Rex Hendry walked from the top to bottom of New Zealand, through the bush – a little under 3000kms in 168 days. You wouldn’t be walking the TA without all this, so give something back for that privilege and to make it even better by donating to the Te Araroa Trust . Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. If you do not take the opportunity to DONATE TO THE TE ARAROA TRUST, and not just $20. Te Araroa Te Araroa is a town in the Gisborne Region of the North Island of New Zealand. Indulging in a decidedly un-Scottish form of walking, Ronald Turnbull spends a mollycoddled week in huts on Austria's spectacular Stubai Höhenweg. Originally planned as the Aotearoa Adventure Trail, the newly formed Te Araroa Trust asked the trio to join forces with them. It jumbles the bustling cities, sleepy beachside settlements, muddy forests and volcanic landscapes of the North Island with the remoteness, mountains and vast open spaces of the South Island. The general rule is that the first two weeks are the hardest – four to five days walking down a monotonous beach followed by a week of muddy forests. 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