Main page of the Through-Hike with overview of the hike

As luck would have it, I had a 7 hour layover at the beautiful LA airport. Since my concentration was not at its best, I used the time to compile my expenses from Te Araroa.

Already on the trail, I meticulously documented my expenses in an app. I exported the generated data as CSV and processed it in Google Sheets.

I have to admit that I didn’t really pay attention to the money since I didn’t have a strict budget. Certainly you can make the TA much cheaper than I did by eating less in restaurants, sleeping less in beds, and hanging out less in cafes. In general, New Zealand is very expensive. I was surprised at how quickly I ran up high costs.

For me, it was important to eat well while hiking. I always had plenty of fresh vegetables with me and liked to treat myself where others ate more spartanly, with little more than wraps with cheese, sausage and peanut butter.

Costs not listed

I purposely left out some costs as they can’t be attributed to the TA per se.

My new glasses, as I lost my old ones in the Whanganui River. A Kindle as my e-reader broke on the second day, skydiving, canyoning, etc.

Not included are the cost of airfare to New Zealand, visa, and my basic equipment that has accumulated over the years.

Where can you save?

Again, it’s like everything, everyone walks their own trail. If you want to save money, you can certainly do that in many places. It depends on how much “comfort” one wants to do without. If you like to have a warm meal prepared for you after a strenuous leg, or if you don’t want to sleep in a tent for a change, you’ll have to pay for it. A few tips on how to get by more cheaply, I give in each category.

Categories

I have divided the costs into the following categories, as they made sense to me. Each category shows the amount of money spent during the four and a half months and the share of the total expenses.

Food	2,419.00 €	28.25%
Shopping	2,089.00 €	24.39%
General	2,060.00 €	24.05%
Accommodation	1,028.00 €	12.00%
Transportation	538.00 €	6.28%
Coffee	430.00 €	5.02%
Total cost	8,564.00 €
Monthly cost	1,903.11 €

Transportation

This category includes the canoe and kayak trips, the mountain bikes, the ferry to the South Island, and the bus or train rides within and between towns or to Cape Reinga, the trailhead.

I think if you walk every meter and otherwise stick your thumb out on the side of the road when you want to skip a section, you can do without transportation altogether, except for the crossing of the Cook Straight over to the South Island.

Shopping

Here are mainly food items that I bought in supermarkets. Among other things, this category also includes small items such as notebooks, pens, sunscreen, etc., which I did not document separately.

The cheapest place to shop groceries is Pak,n,Save. However, they are only available in larger cities and often rather outside. Otherwise, you always go well with New World, Countdown or in case of doubt with Foursquare. Four Square is the only more expensive option, especially in smaller towns. I will cover what to eat on the trail in a separate article.

Food

Meals that I ate in a restaurant or café. This includes the occasional coffee or piece of cake. There I was not quite clean with the separation with the category coffee.

You can save money by not eating out, but you probably can not transfer the costs that I spent here for food to the category shopping, but at least 50% can be assumed, because the supermarkets were also quite expensive. You can only really save money if you limit the type of food you buy.

Accommodation

Cabins, hotels, campsites, you have to pay for especially in towns. The advantage here is that you usually have the possibility to do laundry and charge your electrical appliances. Often there is also a kitchen, which is available for free use.

The cabins in the mountains and the campsites, which are provided by the DOC, Department of Conservation, are either charged with one-way tickets per night or with a pass, with which you can use them unlimited for a certain period of time. I had a six-month pass, which more than paid for itself, especially on the South Island. Electricity and hot water are usually not available here.

If you want to camp for free, you can camp wild outside the villages. To what extent this is allowed, I could not really find out. At many picnic areas there are signs that explicitly prohibit camping overnight. Otherwise, you should be careful not to camp on private property or ask the owner if it is okay to pitch your tent for a night. I have stayed like this several times in friendly people’s backyards.

An exception, but not only for those who are really short on money are the so-called Trail Angels. These are people who usually provide a place to sleep for a donation, an expense allowance or free of charge. Sometimes they also cook for the guests. On Facebook you can find corresponding Te Araroa groups that put you in contact with the Trail Angels. This is also a good way to meet locals.

Coffee

Since I indulged in my addiction every chance I got, I felt it was important to document this issue extra to keep track of how much of an addict I am. Occationally, I might have indulged in a piece of cake at times. In the food category, as already mentioned above, a coffee may have slipped in.

General

All costs that cannot be assigned to any of the other categories. This includes clothing, spare parts, equipment such as a new tent, sleeping bag, etc. donations to the TA and DOC funds. This money is used for trail maintenance. Both are notoriously underfunded.

Equipment is basically readily available in the larger towns, but like everything else in New Zealand, more expensive than in the States or Europe. You just pay the island toll. Therefore, good planning from home helps. What you can’t get locally, you can order online and have it sent to a trail angel or camping site for a later pick up.

Official website of Te Araroa