Te Araroa Pt. 1

Intro

I walked the northern section of the [Te Araroa trail] (https://www.teararoa.org.nz/) on my own last year. The total length of the trail is about 3000km, and and good estimate for what I covered is 1000km. There's no easy way to measure the distances -- much of it is determined by circumstance as trails close or I get lost. I couldn't use the distances they provided either: the distances reported by my GPS, the trail notes, and the road signs were mostly different. Besides, I sort of cheated a little sometimes, hehe.

Also, I only finished the northern section. The trail is supposed to lead from the northern tip of New Zealand down to the southern tip. The whole nation being made primarily of two huge islands, there is a gap between the southern tip of the north island and the northern tip of the south island. No, you don't swim across the ocean, and no, that is not why I stopped there. Let us just summarize and say that I slightly underestimated the trail and got myself injured. I thought the halfway point would be a nice natural boundary and I would rather live to fight another day than to break my knees over another 1000km.

Many people told me it was a suicide mission; I had no experience with such long distances and heavy loads, the furthest I went before was 16km. Well everyone has to start somewhere, and if you do 16km for 100 days that's 1600km which doesn't sound that hard. In the end I ended with a max of 45km a day and upgraded my pack from 75L to 100L, so it really is just how hard you push, you don't get "experience" by continually doing less than your maximum. Although this lack of experience might have cost me the entire trip it certainly did not reduce the adventure any bit. In fact it probably enhanced the novelty and wonder.

Tracking

I had a beacon on me sending pings. During one section it stopped functioning very well, it was mostly active. Sometimes I also forgot to turn it on. You can view the interactive map here. Pretty satisfying map to me because of how much I have to zoom out to look at the whole trail.

This series

I took quite a lot of pictures and recordings while I was there. I ended with 100GB of images and audio. Of course, I'm going to post only curated content. Also the really quality shots from my DSLR will appear in my photo gallery (these are mostly lousy phone shots). I also had a journal where I would document my experiences and thoughts. So this will be my posting of all these documents and a way to re-live the adventure.

I would just like to add that it's been quite long since I did it and this is not a live blog. Some details I provide might be wrong or outdated.

Day 1

Day 1, 18 Nov 17.

I have finally begun the trail. The wind was insane. I am so affected by the cold that I am having difficulties writing now.

The walk was really painful. My pack is too heavy, but I'm not sure what it is that is weighing me down. I guess bringing a camera was too much. All the notes and maps weigh quite a lot as well. My back aches quite a bit now. I'm not sure if I can heal by tomorrow.

In the Meditations there was a line that goes something like "The healthy eye ought to see all that it has to see, and the healthy stomach ought to digest all that it has to digest, and the healthy mind ought to be prepared for everything which happens.". Well I believe I have failed in that regard; I did not bring enough food, and did not test my gear beforehand. This resulted in me getting shocked quite a few times today. This is something I will have to improve on.

But enough of that. Outside the sea crashes and raindrops tap. As described in War and Peace, only the poor get joy from warmth because they have been cold before. To the rich this becomes a given buried under the mountains of luxuries. And so today I am thankful for having shelter above my head.

Nature is cold and indifferent. It is a clockwork that keeps ticking and stops for nothing. Today I experienced a small taste of that indifference. But little birds flutter around undisturbed -- and why should I be affected any more than them? Everything has a part to play in this universe. Why do humans have a tendency to lament our destinies?

Thoughts

Well I was pretty depressed and moody I must say. The first step is tough, especially when you are as unprepared and inexperienced as I was. The situation did not help either: it was gloomy and overcast, and I was all alone in a desolate and empty beach.

This was just a brief intro and a little starter, I'm not going to have 1 day on each post because that will take up too much space. Next time I'll post the entire 90 mile beach experience.