The Te Araroa Trail
The Trail
The Te Araroa Trail is New Zealand’s premier thru hiking trail. It runs the full length of New Zealand’s two islands, starting in Cape Reinga, the northern most point of the country, and ending in Bluff, the southern most point. The trail is just over 3,000 kilometers in length and takes most hikers between 4-6 months to complete. The trail was officially opened in 2011, so it is very new and growing quickly in popularity.
WHEN TO HIKE
New Zealand’s warmest months are December, January and February. So the best time to attempt a southbound thru hike is to start around October, allowing for a February-March finish.
GETTING TO THE START
We will be arriving in Auckland, the countries largest city, on October 8th. We plan to stay in Auckland for two days to buy the gear we couldn’t buy in advance and let our bodies adjust to the time difference. On the 10th we will board a early morning bus that will drop us off in Kaitaia. From Kaitaia we plan to hitch hike the last 130 km north to Cape Reinga. Once, we reach Cape Reinga we will have 12 kilometers to our first campsite. It will be a very long first day.
RESUPPLY
In the North Island we will be able to resupply food and gas for our stove very frequently. This should allow us to hike quick with light packs. The South Island has more extreme wilderness sections than the North and has some tracks that call for up to ten days between resupply.
BOUNCE BOX
We will be using a bounce box on this hike. We will send this box a few hundred kilometers ahead of us and hike the trail to it, and repeat. The box will contain extra trail runners, clothes, cosmetics and other gear we will need to replace over the course of the trip. This box also allows us to drop gear throughout the months we are hiking. Most hikers begin with too much gear and quickly look to shed every possible gram. I am sure there will be items that seem essential at the beginning that will be dropped from the pack the first time we get to the bounce box.
Where We WILL STAY
A large majority of nights we will be sleeping in the tents we will carry with us. This could be back country camping, camping at an established campsite/holiday park or pitching our tents in someone’s front yard. New Zealand also has a very extensive back country hut system, especially on the South Island. For about $65 USD we are purchasing hut passes that are good for the duration of our trip. These huts range from primitive two bunk huts to 20+ person huts with amenities such as cooking areas, toilets, wood stoves and more.