🥾 Having recently completed the Te Araroa Trail, (3,028 km (1,893 miles)) from Cape Reinga to Bluff, I'm thrilled to share the stats from the journey.
I hope you find it of interest and it helps you with your planning and preparation.
There are separate blog posts for each island with more info as well. Enjoy! 🌿
🗓️Total Days Away: 132 - 4 months 9 days.
27th October 2023 to the 6th March 2024: Auckland, New Zealand 🇳🇿 - Melboune, Australia 🇦🇺 - UK 🇬🇧
Total Days on Trail: 114
🗓️Start date: 1st November 2023 from Cape Reinga - Day 1
🗓️End date: 3rd March 2024 at Bluff - Day 114
Active Trail Days: 100 (NI 47 + SI 53)
🥾Walking Days: 92
🦶Total Steps: 2,616,979
🛶Canoe Days: 5
💧Capsized the canoe and in the water: 4
🚴♀️Bike Days: 3
💤Rest Days: 20
💤Biggest rest: 10 days - 🎄🎅🏼Christmas with family in Melbourne, Australia 🇦🇺
Travel days: 11
🚗Hitches: 35
⛴️Boat rides: 4
🥾Walked*: 2,104 km / 1,311 miles
🛶Canoed: 168km / 105 miles
🚴♀️Cycled: 144km / 90 miles
🚗Hitched**: 472 km / 294 miles
TOTAL: 2888 km / 1805 miles
⌚️*my Garmin watch wasn’t super accurate during this trip. e.g. when I’m in the woods or deep valleys it doesn’t measure my distance correctly.
e.g. I’ve got 3 instances where my watch says one thing, but I know I walked more:
📌Day 53 - watch says 7.3km - I walked from Top Timaru Hut 2,556km, to Stodys Hut 2,569km - which via the app is 13k (so watch is 5.7km out)
📌Day 56 - watch says 21.3km - I walked from - Greenstone Car Park 2,711km to Boundary Hut 2,745km - which via the app is 34k (so watch is 12.7km out)
📌Day 61 - watch says 26.1km - I walked from Longwood Forest Track 2,912km to Colac Bay Holiday Park 2,949km - which via the app is 37k (so watch is 10.9km out)
Those 3 errors account for an additional 29.3km / 18 miles walked.
Distance of the trail: 3,028 km / 1,893 miles
MY TOTAL: 2888 km / 1805 miles
Difference: 140km / 88
Minus the '3 errors' = 111km / 70 miles ‘missing’ either walked or hitched!
**again I tried to be accurate with how much I hitched. It was hard to get the exact distances - so this is just rough. I wanted to ensure I was transparent with how much I hitched on the roads and which bits I hitched. I think this is really important to show - as I did not walk every step on this ‘thru-hike’. I will discuss this more in the podcast solo episode.
💷💵Total Costs
(Including Travel to NZ, getting to the start, Christmas break etc):
Total: $14,800 / £7,003
On Trail North Island: $3,184 / £1,560
On Trail South Island: $4,757/ £2,236
Flights & Insurance: $4,558 / £2,196
Getting to the start from Auckland including delay: $692 / £332
Christmas Trip to Australia: $1022 / £492
Before the start of the South Island: $389 / £187
After the finish: $198 / £96
💷💵Other Travel Costs BREAKDOWN:
Flights & Insurance
New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority fee: $23 / £12
International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy: $35 / £18
Travel Insurance: with the Post Office (Covered Korea, New Zealand & Australia) £185 / $384
International Flights (UK ✈️ Korea ✈️Auckland. Invercargill ✈️ Auckland ✈️ UK): £1,981 / $4,115
💲Total costs 🟰$4,558 / £2,196
Getting to the start:💲Travel & Costs from Auckland Airport to Cape Reinga.
Friday 27th October - Wednesday 1st November
🚎Shuttle Bus from Airport to Hostel $33
🛌Accommodation Auckland $96 (Attic Hostel)
🛒Food resupply $114
🚌Intercity Bus Auckland to KeriKeri $53.50
🚌Intercity Bus KeriKeri to Awanui $32.50
🛌Accommodation KeriKeri $130
New Zealand SIM card $11
Delayed at Keri Keri due to a cyclone 🌀
🚌change bus booking $5.50
🛌Accommodation (2 nights) $50
🛒Food resupply $157 (so expensive 🤑)
☕️Hot chocolate with Chloe $9
💲Total costs 🟰$691.50/£332
🎄🎅🏼Christmas Trip to Australia:
🚎Transport from CBD to Wellington airport $10 / £5
✈️Flight to Melbourne: £487 / $1012
💲Total costs 🟰$1022 / £492
Before the start of the South Island
🚎bus from Wellington airport to city $10 / £5
🛌accommodation Wellington $73 / £35
🛒food resupply $222 / £107
☀️sunscreen $13 / £6
US$44 -eSIM = $71 / £34
💲Total costs 🟰$389 / £187
After the finish
Cupping: $29 / £14
🛍️New shoes, underwear, top & pink jumper for the plane $63 / £30
🍫Food for the plane $18 / £9
🍳Breakfast $31 / £15
🥗Raw food salad & juice $24 / £12
🚎Transport to Auckland Airport $18 / £9
🥂Glass of fizz at airport £7 / $15
💲Total costs 🟰$198 / £96
💷💵Average costs per day:
132 days away
$14,800 / £7,003
$112 / £53
💷💵Cost from the HIKE - 114 days Total costs: $7,941 / £3,796
(Accommodation, Food, Misc *not including travel to and from start & finish)
North Island: $3,184 / £1,560
South Island: $4,757/ £2,236
💷💵Total costs: $7,941 / £3,796
💷💵Daily costs: $69 / £33
💷💵Total Accommodation Costs: £1,174 / $2,448
Accommodation: 114 nights on trail.
🏕️Camped: 49 nights 43%
🛌Roof over my head: 65 nights 57%
North Island £485 / $990
South Island £629 / $1,338
+ Hut Pass £60 / $120
Total £1,174 / $2,448
💷💵Works out daily to : £10 / $21
💷💵Total Food Costs: £1,730 / $3,617
North Island: £736 / $1,503
South Island: £994 / $2,114
Total: £1,730 / $3,617
💷💵Average Food Costs Per day: £15 / $32
🛒Most expensive Food Shop: NI $392 / £196 Canoe trip. SI $230 / £115 St. Arnault
FYI - I’m wheat free - so eat gluten free food. This does make the food shop more expensive.
🍫Favourite Food - Whittaker’s Creamy Caramel Chocolate - I would pack out 3/4 bars at a time. I wish I had counted how many I bought over the trip.
🍫Most expensive chocolate bar - I paid $10 for Whittaker’s Chocolate at Boyle Educational Centre - I bought 3!
🍽️Food I can’t eat for a while: Tuna (even the smell makes me feel ill), peanuts, gummy snakes, chicken from a can, goats cheese (the smell reminds me of goats poo, which you could smell distinctly when walking in the wildness).
🥚Best food to eat on trail: boiled eggs (I would pack out 6 and they would last for the first 3 days), crisps (I would take 3 bags, open the bags, fold over and 3 packs fit nicely in the top of my pack with my waterproofs)
Emergency Food: Apricots - as I won’t eat them unless I’m super hungry
🥣Main breakfast on trail: Oats - cold - made with water. I also added pumpkin seeds, chia seeds, coconut, walnuts, peanut butter, Nutella, raisins.
Random cravings: Baked beans with cheese on top.
🍕Best Pizza: St. Arnaud Alpine Lodge
🍔Best Burger: Fergburger, Queenstown.
Fav. Food resupply shop: New World
🍾Fav. NZ wine - Oyster Bay - Sauvignon Blanc.
💷💵Misc costs: £364 / $730
(eSims, sunscreen, bug spray, supplements, chap stick, pain killers, anti-septic cream)
North Island: £83 / $169
South Island: £76 / $151
+ Bungy jump: £205 / $410
Total £364 / $730
Subjective feeling out of 10 on - by themselves the data is not super useful but good to compare to other walks I've done.
😀Total Enjoyment: 69%
😫Total Fatigue average: 46%
⛰️Total Ease of terrain: 57%
To compare this info to other trails I’ve done.
😀Enjoyment…..
Camino Finisterre 93%
Camino Primitivo 83%
Offa’s Dyke 78%
South Island, NZ 72%
Coast 2 Coast 72%
Te Ararora Trail 69%
Camino Frances 69%
North Island, NZ 65%
😫Total Fatigue Average - the lower the % the less tired I was.
Offa’s Dyke 53%
North Island, NZ 50% - maybe I went into this trail more tired than I thought I was - I had done a big year of hiking. Plus the final month before the start was very stressful trying to get everything done before I went away. I was probably more stressed than I though I was.
Te Ararora Trail 46%
Camino Finisterre 40%
South Island, NZ 42% - more rest days, which helped. I had 64 days compared to the 50 I had on the North Island
Camino Frances 34%
Coast 2 Coast 33% - I’d just come off the Offa’s Dyke and was super fit.
Camino Primitivo 28% - I felt super good on this camino and was doing big days, and early finishes and lots of rest.
⛰️Total Ease of terrain: the lower the % the easier I found the terrain
Offa’s Dyke 60% - Elevation gain and loss 9,085 metres (29,806 ft) done over 8 days. It was a tough hike.
North Island, NZ 59% - road walking was what made it hard going
Te Ararora Trail 57%
South Island, NZ 55% - easier than the North Island!
Coast 2 Coast 41%
Camino Frances 35% - challenges on the Caminos for me are; lack of sleep, finding accommodation & too many people
Camino Primitivo 34%
Camino Finisterre 33%
Random Stats…..
🎥Go pro clips filmed: 5,950
📸Photos taken: 3,073
Gear items destroyed/broken: 19
📡📲Communication Device: ZOLEO 532 Location Share+ updates. The ZOLEO spring promotion will be happening soon so keep your eyes open!
Best bit of gear: my new @macpac bag liner - which also doubles as a survival bag.
👟Trainers: 2 pairs @inov_8
You can get a 15% discount by following this link - https://www.inov-8.com/ambassador/running/tough-girl-podcast
🏃♀️Fastest Women: Brooke Thomas
(57 days and 10 hours) in 2021
🏔️Highest Point - Stag Saddle (South Island)
- 1,925m / 6,315ft - reached - day 39.
✨Highlights: Favourite Sections: Timber Trail, Tongariro, Queen Charlotte Track, Pelorus River Track, Richmond Rangers, Waiau Pass.
Least enjoyable sections: the roads (State Highways, gravel, concrete footpaths, cycle paths), the swampy/muddy forests, canoeing got a bit hard going towards the end, plus I don’t like being cold and wet. It was nice for a while but not my thing.
*for some conversations from NZD I used 0.47 the exchange rate and sometime I just halved it to make it easier
** I’ve tried to be as accurate as possible, if you do spot any glaring errors please do let me know.
🎤 Listen to the Tough Girl Podcast solo episode where I share in more detail my experience from the hike. This will be live 14th March 2024. 🎧