🥾 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. 🎧
Check out my Planning and Preparation episode now!
Click HERE if you can't see the link below
Check out my Reflections and Learnings from the Te Araroa Trail episode now!
Click HERE if you can't see the link below
#toughgirl #toughgirlchallenges #toughgirlpodcast #lovetowalk #hikingadventures #Zoleo #adventurewithzoleo #newzealand #teararoatrail #southisland #zoleolife #exploreoitdoors #getactive #stayconnected #stats
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