1000 km

It’s a little surreal to have already hiked a third, 1000 km, of the hike. We have mastered 90 Mile Beach with its seemingly endless miles of monotony. We waited knee-deep through mud to get over mountains and to other shores. We often had the water up to our knees, hips and even up to our necks, which came not only from above but also quite often from below. Looking back, we walked endless miles along roads and dirt tracks to get to the next breathtaking section. We’ve crossed towns and bumped our humps on too much food we’ve taken with us. We’ve encountered fantastic people every day who weren’t above offering to help us, even without asking. We cursed and cried, only to look back later with relief and pride at what we had achieved.

Completely out

Somehow I couldn’t keep my eyes open that one afternoon. Previously I had been struggling with myself to keep walking, when moments later I found myself in a trance-like state, having just eaten, with a book in my hand, I find my eyes falling shut.

I’m not usually plagued by fatigue on the trail during the day, not like I am at home, where I usually lie down for a bit each day to rest, probably more out of boredom than actual fatigue. Boredom for me means a repetitive daily routine, the lack of new impulses, monotony at work, as well as in leisure time, during which I do not front myself enough and thus succumb to the dullness of my existence.

On the trail we sleep at night, usually between eight and ten hours. With the setting of the sun until it rises again in the early morning and wakes me up with its rays. I hardly have the energy left in the evening to read anything or just enough to reflect and write down what I have experienced during the day. During the day I have a varied program. There is always something new to discover and new, as yet unknown goals to reach. No day is like the other, even if the daily program is always the same in theory.

On the day in question I was finished in time with what I had undertaken, I had exhausted myself to climb to the top of the mountain in record time, with my backpack, which had never been so heavy before. I have way too much food with me, or training weight as I like to call it, thick backpack makes thick legs.

Going further would have meant braving the potentially heavier descent. Staying meant having the afternoon at my leisure, sleep and rest, and then being able to strain myself again the next few days. On the day there was only the hut, the people stranded with me, my book and my bed, in addition to a lot of weight reduction in the form of dishes prepared by myself from my stash.

The first DOC hut on this trip

On my last trip to New Zealand, Logan and I often slept in DOC huts. There are many more available on the South Island than here in the North. After the steep climb up Pahautea, it didn’t look like it was going to stop raining soon.

The cabins usually have everything you need for a dry night’s sleep. This one in particular had beds for 20 people and once again tent sites for as many. There was a large recreation room with a kitchen where you can prepare the food and gas, meals you bring yourself. Rainwater is available through kitchen taps. Some drink it that way, others boil it or filter it. I belong to the former. I only filter water from rivers, as you can never be quite sure how clean it is, no matter how clear it looks, especially with livestock being kept all around it. The excrement does find its way into the rivers somehow. Each hut also has an outhouse with a wind-powered vent. In some huts there are even toilets with a view over the mountains.

Accommodation is paid for via a hut pass, which can be obtained online. However, these are not checked, because there is no one there to control it. There are daily tickets or monthly, half-yearly or annual tickets.

Pete – Savior in the rain

I was warned about the weather and to my chagrin the weather forecast was right for a change. Down the mountain into the lunch break the weather was kind to me, but then it started pouring down and barely allowed me to take a break for more than 30 minutes. All my equipment was tested for water resistance that day. It did not pass the test. I got soaked down to my underpants, my backpack gave way to the masses of water and even the drybags partially gave up their service. You had exactly one job, Drybags! My cell phone, otherwise waterproof, reported to me that it deactivates the USB port until dry again. Bad news when the battery asks for new juice.

The great savior of the day is Pete, who gave me shelter in this weather, did my laundry, and let me hang it all out to dry in front of his fireplace. Pete is a man with a mission. He is responsible for saving the young, newly planted trees in his neighborhood from premature death. Trees that are meant to counteract climate change.

No two mountains are alike; they differ in profile, in width, in their excesses. What the mountains we climb seem to have in common is the haze that envelops them, the clouds that blur any view into the distance. What remains is the here, the ascent and the descent, full of concentration, on what is in the closest neighborhood, the roots that I stumble upon, the tropical fern that tickles the skin when you brush past it. You focus on the mud, in which you sometimes get stuck and sometimes slip, only to catch yourself right back with your hiking poles, further on the search for the next step.

Every now and then, the sun peeks out at me through the palm-like branches and illuminates the scenery around me for a few moments, a ray of hope for an end to the hopefully no longer eternal horror that stretches up to the sky. When the sky doesn’t wash over me with wetness for a change, I’m anxious to remove the protective layer of rain to allow my skin to dry. Through the protective layer, the water accumulates from the inside as well as from the outside.

During breaks, I use every ray I can grab to dry not only myself and my clothes, but also the tent, which has been damp overnight from condensation and rain. Thus, I often double the number of times I unpack and pack it.

As wonderful the environment, around me, may be, as strong the will must remain, in order not to break under the adversities of the elements. Looking for a shelter in the otherwise deserted terrain, a canopy, a stable, something that is not the open sky, I suddenly come across an orange glowing contour on the horizon, a person of whom I think he is a farmer who would deny me to spend the night in the stable of his cows. Thoughts that spring from a strained head. The closer I get to the figure, the clearer it becomes to me that he is a hunter. I saluted him. He lowered his rifle and returned my salute. Asking for refuge, he grants me entry into his temporary home, washes my clothes with his, lets me dry my clothes in front of the fireplace, and offers me a hot shower. He is happy to have company, spending most of his days alone. We both contributed something to the evening meal, he the meat he killed himself, I, the vegetables and lentils I’ve been carrying around for days. I cook and he does the dishes afterwards. I help him connect his telescope to the cell phone, he lets me choose one of the night chambers. The trail takes care of us. Sometimes it’s an angel like Pete, other times you just find a tent when your own is found broken.

Pete explains everything to me about his job. The company he works for buys farm land and plants trees on it. Trees that contribute to CO2 offsetting. Trees that receive money from the government to maintain, and asks for it back when they are cut down. Trees that need to be protected from being gnawed by invasive wildlife until they grow out of the way of predators. Pete takes care of the animals that don’t belong in this country anyway, involuntary immigrants, unerringly, with a steady hand.

The path provides us with everything we need

Finding shelter is one of our daily tasks. Each time anew, we have to ask ourselves whether to pitch our tent or to seek permission to stay behind a closed door, whether to pay for it or not. Sometimes you find without really looking for it. All we really wanted was a canopy to give us some peace from the rain for lunch. We found a vacant house. Originally we wanted to stay only for lunch, but we quickly overcame our initial paranoia. We decided, little by little, to take over the whole house, in which we finally held out the rain the whole night. We make ourselves comfortable in the hammock and spend the day, which is only half used up, taking a bath, preparing and eating food, doing some creative work and in the end also sleeping. Josie prepares a coffee and I play some music, about which we talk at length, concerts we have been to and the fun we had there. We talk about people and religions, about what we often seem to have lost interpersonally, in this modern world of constant “connection”.

Bicycle

Even though we are on a hike, it doesn’t mean that you have to strictly stick to your feet. We’ve kayaked before and will do it again in a while. This time we rode a section, the Timber Trail, on borrowed mountain bikes. For two days and over 80 km we went up and down hills, through puddles and jumped over small ramps. Everything was organized for us, our backpacks driven to the end of the day section. The ride was a welcome change with a high fun factor.

Thanks Giving in Taumarunui

The next two sections are not passable at the moment due to the weather. On the 42 Traversal there is a river crossing that is currently not passable due to too much rain. Unless you have a great desire to be washed down a raging torrent.

Then comes the crossing of Mount Dom, from Lord of the Rings. For this there is just also a warning, because it is too cold there in 1800 m and you can’t see anything. And since that is not enough, after that comes a four-day kayak tour, which at the moment also can not take place because of too heavy rain.

Despite all the bad news, it doesn’t stop anyone here from having a good time, making alternative plans or just resting a bit. My big toe has had an ingrown nail for the past two weeks, and with the constant stress and wet feet, it’s not healing well. A two day break will do it good.

Other hikers skip the upcoming passages and come back later when the weather is better. Still others try walking the upcoming passages in reverse, as there is a good chance the weather will be better when they arrive at the difficult passages.

With the group I was stranded with here, we rented an Airbnb and just had a Thanks Giving feast. We cooked together and then shared what we were thankful for over dinner. We all survived the first 1000 km of the trail healthy, we all made many interesting acquaintances, new friendships were formed. In general, we are all very grateful for the fact that we were able to make such a trip, which will be remembered for all our lives forever.

Planned

For me it is still an unusual feeling to have no end of my journey in sight for a long time. Since I also have nothing firmly planned, this opens also completely different scales, in which one can think here. On the hike you have a lot of time to think about things and also to make new plans. Since I needed a plane ticket from New Zealand anyway, that I was granted entry, they probably wanted to make sure that I also disappear again in any case, I had already procured in advance a plane ticket to Sydney. If I am already there, I can also visit newly won friends and explore the country a little. I’m sure I won’t get there again so soon.

I notice now after about 40 days already how much fitter I am, in contrast to the start of my trip. One idea that came to my mind is that I should be fit enough at the end to run a marathon without any further training. Talking to others, we then spun out the idea of just running the last 42 km of the trail. Let’s see how I feel when I get closer to that point. Do you guys think this is realistic?

Another thing that sounds exciting would be not to cross to South America by plane, but to hire on a boat and sail the Pacific Ocean, may it be on a sailboat or any freighter.

I guess some more research is needed on that! 🙂

Tag	Ziel	km	h	gkm
1	Cape Reinga – Twilight Camp	12	3	12
2	The Bluff	27	7	39
3	Hukatera Lodge	29	8	68
4	Ahipara	34	8	102
5	Broadwood	32	8	134
6	Apple Tree Campground	34	8	168
7	Puketi Campsite	27	7	195
8	Kerikeri	30	8	225
9	Paihia	24	6	249
10	The Farm	25	5	274
11	Makeshift campground Helena Bay	25	7	299
12	Sandy Bay Whananaki	18	4	317
13	Pataua Treasure island	27	6	344
14	Whangarei heads	34	11	378
15	Ruakaka River Camp Site	20	5	398
16	Mangawhai	42	10	440
17	Pakiri	27	8	467
18	Dome Walkway	27	10	494
19	Puhoi	30	7	524
20	Silverdale	25	8	549
21	Lake Pupuke	32	10	581
22	Auckland	15	4	596
23	Auckland Airport	30	9	626
24	Mt. Williams	38	10	664
25	Hampton Downs Bush	36	10	700
26	Huntly	34	7	734
27	Hamilton	30	8	764
28	Kapamahunga Range	34	9	798
29	Pahautea Hut	18	6	816
30	Pete’s Haus	33	10	849
31	Waitomo	21	4	870
32	Te Kuiti	20	5	890
33	Mangaokewa	24	6	914
34	leeres Haus	26	5	940
35	Timber trail (40 km Rad)	48	6	988
36	Taumarunui (45 km Rad)	70	9	1058
37	Ohango	26	5	1084
38	Tongariro Crossing	22	5	1106
39	Fisher Trail	23	6,5	1129
40	Kerry Hills	29	8	1158
41	The Bridge to nowhere (55 km Kanu)	63	–	1221
42	Ranana (Kanu)	40	–	1261
43	Marae (Kanu)	45	–	1306
44	Whanganui (Kanu)	27	–	1333
45	Whangaehu River	38	9	1371
46	Bulls	39	8	1410
47	Feilding	20	4	1430
48	Palmerston North	20	5	1450
49	Arapuke Forest	26	5	1476
50	Damm	27	8	1503
51	Levin	27	7	1530
52	Paekākāriki	22	6	1552
53	Porirua	28	8	1580
54	Wellington	33	9	1613
55	Bay Island	13	3	1626
56	Waiopehu Hut	12	4	1638
57	Dracophyllum Hut	18	8	1656
58	Waitewaewae Hut	20	9	1676
59	Otaki Forks	15	4	1691
60	Waikanae	28	8	1717
61	Black Rock camp	47	10	1764
62	Linkwater	37	10	1801
63	Pelorus Bridge	32	10	1833
64	Middy Creek Hut	30	8	1863
65	Hacket Hut	21	9	1884
66	Slaty Hut	13	4,5	1897
67	Tarn Hut	26	8,5	1923
68	Hunters Hut	29	10	1952
69	St Arnaud	31	9	1983
70	Angelus Lake	21	8	2004
71	John Tate Hut	19	5,5	2023
72	Blue Lake	26	8	2049
73	Waiau River	24	8	2073
74	Boyle River	34	10	2107
75	Boyle Village	20	4,5	2127
76	Hope Halfway Hut	20	4,5	2147
77	Hurunui Hut	26	7	2173
78	Locke Stream Hut	25	6	2198
79	Goat Pass	26	8	2224
80	Hamilton Hut	18		2242
81	Lake Coleridge	23		2265
82	Methven	30		2295
83	Comyns Hut	17		2312
84	Manuka Hut	22		2334
85	Lake Clearwater	26		2360
86	Crooked Spur Hut	25		2385
87	Royal Hut	17		2402
88	Lake Tekapo Makeshift Camp	23		2425
89	Tekapo	23		2448
90	Twizel (bike)	55		2503
91	Ohau	32		2535
92	Ahiriri	26		2561
93	Top Timaru Hut	28		2589
94	Pakituhi	26		2615
95	Wanaka	38		2653
96	Highland Creek Hut	34		2687
97	Roses Hut	14		2701
98	Arrowtown	30		2731
99	Queenstown	34		2765
100	Route Burn	12		2777
101	Mid Caples Hut	30		2807
102	Taipo Hut	28		2835
103	Mararoa River	38		2873
104	Te Anau	15		2888
105	Lower Wairaki Hut	39		2927
106	Birchwood	38		2965
107	Marrivale Hut	23		2988
108	Colac Bay	41		3029
109	Invercargill	40		3069
110	Bluff	42		3111