Hiking adventures in New Zealand
Hiking adventures in New Zealand
I thru hiked the UK South West Coast Path during June and July 2018. As it turns out I timed my hike to coincide perfectly with the UK's hottest summer on record. The trail took 43 days in total, with a few short days and only 2 full rest days. In all this time I only had a couple of days of rain.
The South West Coast Path is obviously a completely different beast to New Zealand's Te Araroa trail. It is roughly 1000Kms - a third of the distance of Te Araroa trail but with half of the...
Mine was a gloriously leisurely thru hike :-) and below is my Te Araroa Trail itinerary. My full Te Araroa Trail experience on and off trail totalled 146 amazing days. I started the trail on 14th October 2017 and finished on 02nd March 2018. Finally, I came back to hike the Richmond Ranges in December 2018.
There were plenty of rest days - 29 to be exact, with 12 on the North island and 17 on the South island. I took rest days for rest, injury, fun,...
Where will I be staying en route?
I'll be camping a fair bit, both in official campsites & freedom camping, and where the trail hits urban areas, it'll be backpackers hostels.
Then there's NZ's network of DOC (Dept of Conservation) backcountry huts – essentially bunk rooms varying from tiny/old/basic/mice infested to larger/slightly more flash.
Then there are the "trail angels" – those wonderful Kiwi locals along the route who offer...