It took me 59 days to walk the South Island of New Zealand - leaving Bluff at the very bottom and reaching Ship Cove at the top.
These were not consecutive days - they were broken up by zero days ( days when I did no tramping - resupplying with food in towns, resting, bad weather and side trips off the main trail) In the 6 Te Araroa posts I'll talk about my time on the track but there will also be links to my side trips
Before I started at Bluff I did a 9 day Northland Tramp as preparation - read about it here...
Tramping Day 1 November 15th 2017 Bluff to Invercargill 34km
I flew down to Invercargill on the 14th and was lucky enough to have a couchsurfing host there for a couple of days. I had done all my food shopping in Whangarei so there was no need to do a supply shop in Invercargill so I can't comment about the supermarkets there - but there's Pak'n'Save, New World and Countdown...
I tramped with just stuff for the day as I left the other 15kg back in my room at my couchsurfing host John's. But you could do the same with a backpackers - leave most of your stuff there - hitch or get the bus down to Bluff - then walk back to Invercargill and stay the night at said backpackers..
John worked as a milk tanker driver and very handily he worked quite close to Bluff so he dropped me off. As you can see it was pretty quiet at the signpost - well it was 6am and as I was to find out us NOBO's (Northbounders for those not down with TA lingo) were a rare breed.
Talking of lingo I'll use Kiwi terminology during the blog - so it's not hiking (or trekking or walking for that matter) but "tramping" and you tramp on tracks (not trails or paths or treks) Although confusingly the most famous tracks eg Milford, Abel Tasman are called the Great Walks...mind you one of them (Whanganui) is a canoe trip... :-)
Classic pictures at the Bluff signpost and it was off on Te Araroa - an easy start heading round Bluff Hill
However after a few km I hit a detour - farmland closed due to grazing bulls - not a great start to be taken off a nice walk just as soon as you got on it!
Talking of not a great walk you soon reach State Highway 1 - 16km of it - they reckon one day you won't have to do this (they plan to extend the Invercargill Estuary Walkway all the way to Bluff) but for now you have to. You can divert onto the beach for a few km at the beginning but it's rocky and meanders in and out so not great tramping.
I'd probably just stick to the highway. Hitching would obviously be an option but I really wanted to avoid it if possible and would have felt a bit odd doing it 2 hours from the start but it was a fairly unpleasant 3 hours..
The last 10km is along the Invercargill Estuary Walkway - not mind blowingly scenic but carless!! Well that was it - first day on Te Araroa completed. If you need camping gas and even if you don't pop into E. Hayes & Son hardware store - great collection of motor bikes including many of Burt (World's Fastest Indian) Munro's
John kindly took me that evening to meet his father - a Scotsman who moved over to New Zealand in the 60's. It was a pleasure to hear him reminiscing about New Zealand in those days - very much a pioneer and number 8 wire (Google it!) type of guy. On Te Araroa I was to find that Kiwi spirit and attitude was very much alive...
Tramping Day 2 November 16th 2017 Invercargill to Riverton 34km
Up bright and early as it was another big day - out of Invercargill was mostly road walking Then you hit the coast and it's Oreti Beach all 22 km of it - as you can see it was a beautiful day and not much of a headwind but by the time I got to Riverton I was one tired tramper. It was my first full day with a full pack - no way of weighing it but with 9 days food it must have been up near the 20kg mark! What does that feel like? - well imagine giving a 4 year old a 34km piggyback!
Riverton was quiet and sleepy by the time I got there - there was a fish and chip shop open and I was seriously tempted but I had brought food with me - if I didn't eat it I would have to carry it!!
I stayed at Monkey's Backpackers - a rambling old place and very quiet so had the dorm room to myself!
Tramping Day 3 November 17th 2017 Riverton to Long Hilly Track 18km
I headed past the wooden jetties, out of town and into Mores Reserve - take the track to the coast - lots of gorse to battle through here - reminded me of home! (Scotland) Eventually you'll reach the shoreline - but it's soft sand and you keep having to go on and off the beach and over the rocks! Slow going - 6km in 3 hours!
Once you get near Colac Bay there's a small road to walk along which makes going a bit easier. You can stay at the Tavern Campground but I chose to tramp on a bit further to Mahuru Cottage (021 033 8883) which is opposite the Long Hilly Track. Scott and Hannah are great hosts - you can camp or they have a cabin as well. They live on what Kiwis call a "Lifestyle Block" - a small farm aimed at self sufficiency which was interesting to look round.
The other bonus is that it takes 5km off the next days tramp to Martin's Hut - you'll be glad of that believe me!
Got a bit of a late start after looking round Scott and
Hannah's lifestyle unit – the first couple of km was easy and well formed as it's part of a day walking circuit but
then the real TA began – a very dense forest with lots of streams, ditches and fallen trees to clamber over.
Tramping Day 7 Nov 21st 2017 Camp just before Mt Linton Station to Telford Camp 32 km
Aparima Hut
The descent down to Princhester hut is difficult too – very narrow in places
with a steep drop off. After getting to Princhester there was still a 6km
tramp up the road to the highway where my friend Des was meeting me – After a
couple of km I saw a car coming towards me – a man leaned out the window –
asked me if I was Iain and handed me a cold beer!! What a legend!
These were not consecutive days - they were broken up by zero days ( days when I did no tramping - resupplying with food in towns, resting, bad weather and side trips off the main trail) In the 6 Te Araroa posts I'll talk about my time on the track but there will also be links to my side trips
Before I started at Bluff I did a 9 day Northland Tramp as preparation - read about it here...
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| South Island Te Araroa Route |
Tramping Day 1 November 15th 2017 Bluff to Invercargill 34km
I tramped with just stuff for the day as I left the other 15kg back in my room at my couchsurfing host John's. But you could do the same with a backpackers - leave most of your stuff there - hitch or get the bus down to Bluff - then walk back to Invercargill and stay the night at said backpackers..
John worked as a milk tanker driver and very handily he worked quite close to Bluff so he dropped me off. As you can see it was pretty quiet at the signpost - well it was 6am and as I was to find out us NOBO's (Northbounders for those not down with TA lingo) were a rare breed.
Talking of lingo I'll use Kiwi terminology during the blog - so it's not hiking (or trekking or walking for that matter) but "tramping" and you tramp on tracks (not trails or paths or treks) Although confusingly the most famous tracks eg Milford, Abel Tasman are called the Great Walks...mind you one of them (Whanganui) is a canoe trip... :-)
Classic pictures at the Bluff signpost and it was off on Te Araroa - an easy start heading round Bluff Hill
However after a few km I hit a detour - farmland closed due to grazing bulls - not a great start to be taken off a nice walk just as soon as you got on it!
Talking of not a great walk you soon reach State Highway 1 - 16km of it - they reckon one day you won't have to do this (they plan to extend the Invercargill Estuary Walkway all the way to Bluff) but for now you have to. You can divert onto the beach for a few km at the beginning but it's rocky and meanders in and out so not great tramping.
I'd probably just stick to the highway. Hitching would obviously be an option but I really wanted to avoid it if possible and would have felt a bit odd doing it 2 hours from the start but it was a fairly unpleasant 3 hours..
The last 10km is along the Invercargill Estuary Walkway - not mind blowingly scenic but carless!! Well that was it - first day on Te Araroa completed. If you need camping gas and even if you don't pop into E. Hayes & Son hardware store - great collection of motor bikes including many of Burt (World's Fastest Indian) Munro's
Tramping Day 2 November 16th 2017 Invercargill to Riverton 34km
Up bright and early as it was another big day - out of Invercargill was mostly road walking Then you hit the coast and it's Oreti Beach all 22 km of it - as you can see it was a beautiful day and not much of a headwind but by the time I got to Riverton I was one tired tramper. It was my first full day with a full pack - no way of weighing it but with 9 days food it must have been up near the 20kg mark! What does that feel like? - well imagine giving a 4 year old a 34km piggyback!
Riverton was quiet and sleepy by the time I got there - there was a fish and chip shop open and I was seriously tempted but I had brought food with me - if I didn't eat it I would have to carry it!!
I stayed at Monkey's Backpackers - a rambling old place and very quiet so had the dorm room to myself!
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| Oreti Beach |
Tramping Day 3 November 17th 2017 Riverton to Long Hilly Track 18km
I started the day with a visit to Te Hikoi - an excellent little museum which tells how the Maori settled this area of Southland and the impact when the colonials arrived in the mid 19th century. Well worth an hour of your time...
I headed past the wooden jetties, out of town and into Mores Reserve - take the track to the coast - lots of gorse to battle through here - reminded me of home! (Scotland) Eventually you'll reach the shoreline - but it's soft sand and you keep having to go on and off the beach and over the rocks! Slow going - 6km in 3 hours!
Once you get near Colac Bay there's a small road to walk along which makes going a bit easier. You can stay at the Tavern Campground but I chose to tramp on a bit further to Mahuru Cottage (021 033 8883) which is opposite the Long Hilly Track. Scott and Hannah are great hosts - you can camp or they have a cabin as well. They live on what Kiwis call a "Lifestyle Block" - a small farm aimed at self sufficiency which was interesting to look round.
The other bonus is that it takes 5km off the next days tramp to Martin's Hut - you'll be glad of that believe me!
Tramping Day 4 Nov 18th 2017 Long Hilly Track to Martin's Hut 24km
The path – when it was visible (it's pretty well
way marked with orange triangles) was littered with debris so you had to
continually look at your feet – it was
slow progress – only averaged about 2km/hr for most of the day and the
last bit up to Martin's Hut was a real steep slog.
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Dense forest with remains of old bridges used by the miners |
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| There's a big gate to go through at one point - locked shut - squeeze your pack and body through the openings! |
Martins Hut –113 years old (the hut - not me!) – a real historic
relic
Tramping Day 5 Nov 19th 2017 Martin's Hut to Longwood Forest Camp 24 km
Slept like a log so off to bit of a late start – didn't
start tramping til 10. A steep climb
just after breakfast and lots of muddy forest tracks to negotiate.
Once you
reach the telecommunications tower on Bald Hill the going gets easier and there
is a lovely descent through some mossy sunlit forest which was great.
I was running a bit slow so I camped at about km 132 – just an open
area on the right at the start of Merrivale Road as you exit the forest.
Tramping Day 6 Nov 20th 2017 Longwood Forest Camp to Camp just before Mt
Linton Station 26 km
Early start down to Merrivale Road - met an instant road block as some big trees were being felled but managed to squeeze round!
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| No cellphone reception around here and the public telephones are not in great shape either!! |
Again mostly tough going in the forest today – tried to get as far as Struan Flat Rd but was pretty tired
after 26km so camped just after some cellphone towers (just before you enter a big cow field at Mt Linton Station) No sandflies around which was a big plus!
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| Camping spot for the night |
Tramping Day 7 Nov 21st 2017 Camp just before Mt Linton Station to Telford Camp 32 km
Massive day today – up at 5.15am – always seems to take a while to get going in the morning. Usually about an hour and half between rising and leaving camp – I did get faster as the tramp progressed but not much!
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| DOC sign - only 19km to Telford? - wrong it's 26km DOC!! |
The
countryside was much more open and picturesque today but it ended up being a 14
hour day (with breaks – probably 11 hours of tramping!)
Telford camp is not really a camp – it's not even flat and
when I camped there there were a huge number of rock hard cow pats!! There is a
long drop however!
Tramping Day 8 Nov 22nd 2017 Telford
Camp to Aparima Hut 21 km
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| The 600m climb from Telford - rough ground made it pretty hard - tough first thing in the morning! |
Another 5am start -
the first section to Wairaki hut was very tough – it took me 6 hours to
do 7.5km!! The first 3 km from Telford camp was non stop uphill from 400m to
1000m – great view at the top but it was well earned. It was then into the forest again – the
usual mud, logs, streams to negotiate – 2km an hour stuff!
As I got near Wairaki hut I got divebombed by a NZ falcon which was guarding it's nest –
thank God for my poles which I used to protect my head! Wairaki hut was a
lovely spot for lunch (would have loved it to have been my place to sleep) but
there was another 14km to cover before Aparima hut. The times on the DOC signs
vary immensely – I took about 8½ hours to compete Telford - Aparima when the sign said it should be 6! Take those DOC estimates with a
pinch of salt! It's also important to note that these are tramping times and don't
include any stops – I probably stopped for about 10 minutes once every couple
of hours plus ½hr at lunch. Also important
to think about your level of fitness – add about 10% to the times if
you're not fit and maybe a couple of percent for every decade over 30!!
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| Lovely view at the top but back into the forest - one of the many obstacles!! |
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it was dark by the time I went over the swingbridge to Aparima Hut... |
Tramping Day 9 Nov 23rd 2017 Aparima Hut
to Princhester Hut 18 km
Another long day – about 10 hours to Princhester hut (signboard said 6!) Mix of forest (usual tree trunks and streams to negotiate) and tussock grass. Following the waymarkers was tough as the tussocks were huge. It adds to the time as you can't walk in a straight line on those fields!
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| This way!! |
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| I didn't find the bones of any TA trampers just cattle! The dreaded tussock in the background! |
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| The tussock - beautiful to look at but hard tramping! |
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| Des |
So my first TA section was over - 9 days and 210km later – I
was totally exhausted but proud that I had completed it.
In retrospect I would have probably done it a bit
differently. That first 9 day section is a very tough start to NOBO TA. It would have been better to break days
4-9 into 7 days instead of 6. It was 144
km and was tough going a lot of the way. As I was going NOBO it came early in my tramp when I wasn't
tramping fit.
This is what I would advise – do Bluff – Invercargill,
Invercargill – Riverton then Riverton
- Marahua Cottage on consecutive days
then have a day off. Then tackle to 144km section from Colac Bay Camp/Marahua cottage
to Princhester over 7 days...
Nov 24-28 I spent in
Te Anau resting and doing the Kepler Track – a nice side trip off the TA – see
my blog about it here
