Strategy

Getting Around

I’m planning to use the Inter City bus to get from Auckland to Kaitaia, from there I might hitch (which is common in NZ) or maybe I’ll take the more expensive tour bus to get to Cape Reinga where the hike begins (or ends if you are going NOBO). At the end I’ll probably take the bus from Invercargill to Christchurch where I’ll catch a flight to Australia. I might also use the bus to skip a section of the north island from somewhere like Whangarei to maybe as far south as Whanganui National Park (listed on the bus map just as “national park”), which is a huge section of the north island, but I’ll make up for that later!

What to Hike

The Te Araroa is a newer trail, just created in 2011, as a result some parts of the trail are less flushed out than the AT or PCT. There are some sections that are long road walks, some that go through or along farmland and even some spots where the trail ends at a river or lake and you just have to figure out how to get to the other side. Because of this people have very different approaches to how they hike it. Some people hike just the south island, others skip sections or hitch the road walks, some people take alternate routes and side trips, and others hike the whole thing from beginning to end as much as possible. I’m not a purist, I’m in it for the adventure and I want to hike as much of New Zealand as I can, so I’m probably going to skip some sections of the north island and in exchange I’m going to add on some serious detours in the south island, some bypassing sections of the trail to take a longer and more scenic way, and some out and back hikes. I’ll figure out which ones I’ll do as I go but some of my ideas are coming from other hiker’s blogs like this, and this as well as trying to hike as many of the great walks as I can, many of which aren’t very close to the TA.

Bounce Boxes

Bounce boxes are packages that you ship to yourself and are held at post offices in towns along the trail using the New Zealand Post’s Post Restante system, this allows hikers to send medication, contacts and gear that might be hard to get in towns near the trail so they don’t have to carry as much. The main reason I’m going to use a bounce box is because I have wide feet and the Altra Lone Peak trail runners that I like to hike in aren’t available in New Zealand, and I don’t want to take my chances with a new pair of trail runners, so I’m taking three pair, two of which I’ll put in a bounce box. Also my shelter is a hammock, and I’ve been reading that hammocking is difficult on the TA, and sounds almost useless on the south island, so I’m thinking of swapping out my hammock for a tent for the south island. I’m thinking I’ll send my first package to Wellington at the southern end of the north island, then from there I’ll try to figure out which of the south island towns makes the most sense to ship to (Picton, Greymouth Christchurch, Dunedin, Wanaka, Queenstown and Invercargrill are the cities which are close to the trail).

Food Packages

There are only two places on the south island, St Arnaud and Arthur Pass, where the resupply is too limited or expensive or just not available where you have to send a food resupply package. Other than those I should be able to pick up food in towns along the way.