Category Te Araroa

Day 70 and 71 (1,680 to 1,726 kms) The slack packing continues. The day started with a bus ride back to Porirua. Today was a longer day, with my objective to walk all the way back to Wellington. Wellington is…

Days 69 and 70 (1,634 to 1,680 kms) Need toy to catch the train back to Waikanae and where I finished last time. Over the next 4 days I will be slack packing. This means walking without a backpack, switching…

Day 68 (1,608 to 1,634 kms) Very relaxed day today. The first 16 kms were through the bush followed by a very quick 10 kms to the train station. This is the end of of this stretch for me. I…

Day 67 (1,590 to 1,608 kms) Today would be the only day with a little bit of bad weather. The forecast had low visibility, some moisture in the air but not rain, high winds and all clearing up by 11am.…

Day 66 (1,577 to 1,590 kms) Today would be a repeat of yesterday. Start the morning with a climb, follow the ridge line for a while, enjoy the native bush and slowly pull into the hut after a long day.…

Day 65 (1,557 to 1,577 kms) Today I really enter the Taurarua Ranges. Time for some up and down. It will be a short day in terms of kms, but a bit longer in terms of time. The first 5…

Day 64 (1,539 to 1,557 kms) Yesterday I wanted to push on, but there were no real good options for places to stay or ways to make the camping stops work. I felt like I made the right call to…

Day 63 (1,524 to 1,539 kms) Very nice day with a combination of forest and native bush. The trail notes said the 15 kms would take 6 to 7 hours, but since we have had recent dry weather the trail…

Day 62 (1,494 to 1,524 kms) Into the hills I go. The trail notes provide two suggestions for how approach the next 140 kms through the Tararua Ranges. There are no convenient shops along the way. First, walk for three…

Day 61 (1,470 to 1,494 kms) The Wanganui to Palmerston North stretch is coming to an end. Probably the most road walking in all of Te Araroa. The road is fast and I got to the holiday park Palmerston North…

Day 60 (1,449 to 1,470 kms) Last night I made plans to stay with the family of a sister of my cousins wife. Which turned out to be a very good idea. It also meant that today was a shorter…

Day 59 (1,416 to 1,1449 kms) The plan was to get away early, to catch the low tide and the fresh morning, which I did. I had the long lonely wind swept back sand beach all to myself for the…

Day 57 (1,377 to 1,384 kms) The weather of the next week is forecast to be great, so time to head back to Te Araroa. Hopefully the wether holds until after the Tararua’s. I had some unfinished business between where…

Day 56 (43 kms) Today would be our earliest start on the river, with plans for a 7:30am start. We still had time for breakfast and a coffee. The reason for the early start is the tide time. We have…

Day 55 (39 kms) Today was the shortest day on the river, with just under 40 kms of paddling and no sight-seeing along the way. We purchased a cooked breakfast from the cafe at the camping grounds, which is a…