Reaching Wellington: The End of the North Island Te Araroa Adventure! | Vlog 22/22

[@toughgirlchallenges]

Total Stats for the North Island Total Days: 50 Days on Trail : 47 Rest Days: 1 Travel days: 2 (Day 1 & Day 50) 🗓Start date: 1st November 2023 from Cape Reinga/ Te Rerenga Wairua 🗓End date: 19th December 2023 at Wellington. North Island: 1,700km / 1,056 miles Methods of travel: Walk, Bike, Canoe, Car, Boat, Cable Car 🥾Walked: 40 days / 1,068km / 664 miles Average daily km: 26.7 km / 16.7 miles ⏰Earliest start time: 6am (Day 22) ⏰Latest start time: 11.20am - waiting for water taxi - day 14 ⏰Earliest end time: 12.40pm - the last day of the canoe - day 38 ⏰Latest end time: 8.40pm (Day 20) - I was wild camping, so needed to wait until it was dark to set up my tent. 🦶Longest time on feet: 12hrs 30 mins - day 27 / 21.4km / Pirongia to Waitomo - very badly overgrown, slow going. Shortest day: day 44 - hitch to Levin - then a short walk to the accommodation. 5.9km / 2hr 10 mins - also stopped to do a food shop 🛶Canoe: Whanganui River - 5 days / 168km / 105 miles / $300 🚴‍♀Bike: Timber Trail - 2 days / 90km / 56 miles / $135 🚗Hitching: 374km / 232 miles / no of hitches 32 Most hitches in a day: 3 (day 1 and day 31) Longest Hitch: Levin - Waikanae (74km / 46 miles) (Missed the Tararua Ranges - due to bad weather) Other transportation: 🚎Buses: 3 (travel to the start & travel from the finish) $45 ⛴Boat rides: Ferry 2 / water taxi 1 $36 🚠Cable Car: 1 Wellington $6.50 💵Total Transport Costs: $522 / £256 Accommodation: ⛺Night in my tent: 34 / 68% 🛏Nights with a roof over my head: 16 / 34% Breakdown: 🏕Free Camping: 18 ⛺Paid Camping: 16 🏚Cabin/hut: 4 🛌Hostel: 3 ⛪Mattress floor of church: 2 💨Air mattress: 2 🛏Bedroom in house: 2 🛏Bed in a garage: 2 🛏Eco Lodge: 1 💵Most expensive accommodation: Eco Lodge $222 (did include pizza on arrival, dinner, breakfast & lunch) 😇Most expensive trail angel $50 (included being picked up, dropped off, shower & dinner) 💰🏕Most expensive camping $40 💰⛺Cheapest camping $8 Best value for money: Trail Angel 😇- Jo’s Funny Farm. Day 25 $30 (the price included an amazing dinner & breakfast, bed in a garage & hot shower). 💷💵Total Accommodation Costs: £485 / $990 💷💵Average Accommodation Costs: £9.70 / $19.80 Random… 🍾Bottles of wine drank: 4 (most expensive $44) Gear destroyed/broken: 2 pairs inov8 socks, 1 water bladder, 1x inov8 trainers, 1x pink hat, sunglasses. No of items lost: 0 Gifted gear: 🎒Osprey backpack EJA 48L, all Inov8 gear: 2x socks, shoes, black short shorts, pink hoody, pink waterproof jacket, gloves. 👟Trainers: Inov8 RocFly G350 - Cushioned hiking shoes. Designed for thru-hiking & multiple long days on the trail £150. World’s first hiking shoe with Graphene foam. The highly-breathable, quick-drying knitted upper delivers excellent comfort, protection and long-lasting durability as the big miles stack up. They were new for the start of this walk. 📡📲Communication Device: ZOLEO - connects with your phone to provide seamless global messaging that follows you in and out of mobile network coverage Apps used on the trail: Te Ararora App, Te Ararora Notes & maps App, Google Maps, Booking.com, Airalo (e-sim card), Zoleo App Other Costs: 💰Total Food Resupply: £736 / $1503 Average daily food cost £15 / $30 Most expensive Food Shop: £192 / $392 - this was for 5 days hiking & 5 day canoe trip, plus 2 extra days worth of food in case of bad weather. (12 days worth) No of no spend days: 14 💰Miscellaneous Costs: e-sim cards & data top up, new water bladder, painkillers, suncream, anti-septic cream. Total: $169 / £83 Total Costs*: £1,560 / $3,184 💷 Average costs per day: £31 / $64 *This doesn’t include my international flight costs, travel insurance, and travel/accommodation before & after finishing the North Island - I’ll include these costs in my total stats post as it’s too hard to separate it out for each island. Subjective feeling out of 10 on: 😀Total Enjoyment: 312/480 = 65% Enjoyment - seems about right! Maybe a little high!! 😫Total Fatigue average: 238/480 = 50% - tired - which did surprise me a little. Maybe I was more tired going into this trail than I thought I was. ⛰Total Ease of terrain: 281/480 = 59% of the trail was hard/challenging. This will be the roads, concrete paths, gravel paths, cycle ways. Plus many parts of the trail were overgrown and in a bad state, coupled with lack of signage Challenges: The TA Website says it is- is a continuous 3,000 km walking track from Cape Reinga to Bluff. This is not correct. IT IS NOT a continuous walking track!!! There are breaks, road detours, bike tours, canoe tours, ferry links, water taxi links, roads links, State Highway links. 📌This is not your typical wilderness thru hike. 🛣The biggest challenge for me was the roads, they were just brutal on your feet and your soul. Least enjoyable days: (below 5 out of 10 on my enjoyment rating system) Day 6 - The Northland Forest - first serious exposure to the mud and lack of signage. Day 7 - road walking, plus my left ankle is causing me pain Day 12 - Road walking & waiting to cross the estuary, left ankle still causing me pain Day 22 - fell in a swamp, fields of cows, being wet, thighs rubbing together Day 36 - cold and wet - canoeing, fell in the water 3x Day 46 - horrendous weather - rained all day - cold and wet I don’t mind challenging walking, but when 80% of your day is miserable, it’s just not fun anymore. I don’t want to spend the majority of my time, on dangerous roads, with cars and lorries going past at ridiculous speeds. Logistics were also more challenging than I expected. In terms of planning estuary/river crossings. Finding places to stay and getting around the detours. ✨Highlights: Timber Trail, Tongariro Alpine Crossing, Colonial Knob Walkway (before Wellington). *I will be doing a separate post with the stats from the South Island, and I will also be doing a post with the TOTAL stats from both islands 🎤I will also be recording a Tough Girl Podcast solo episode where I will share in more detail my experience from the hike. Plus I will be answering questions from my community the Tough Girl Tribe and people who followed along with the journey on Instagram. This will be live 12th March 2024. 💬Any thoughts or comments about the stats? Anything you’d like me to consider keeping track of for future hikes?

[@julzi42]

Ahh the Colonial Knob steps!! Never ending but a great track. Loving the Vlog 😊

[@toughgirlchallenges]

Thank you so much!! A really great track - enjoyed it a lot!!

[@ChrismTwo]

Happy Christmas 🎄 etc Loved your summary here So many facts and figures I'm sure you'll enjoy the SI section more Looking forward to following your journey on the Mainland!!!

[@toughgirlchallenges]

Thank you so much for watching and following along! The South Island Vlogs start again on the 3rd January - have a lovely Christmas!

[@nathanhedges3491]

Congratulations on finishing the north island. enjoyed your time off trail and be great to see your south island journey

[@toughgirlchallenges]

THANK YOU for watching the north island vlogs - the roads, the mud and the roads again - the South Island vlogs will start on January 3rd!

[@boostedshuttle2231]

Congratulations, great effit all around. Hope you come back for the south island, it's fully worth it..... views that will neva leave you.

[@toughgirlchallenges]

@@boostedshuttle2231 thank you so much for watching the North Island Vlogs. Pleased you stuck around. It was a lot of roads and mud and to be honest not what I expected. The Vlogs will be continuing for the South Island starting again on the 2nd of January.

[@boostedshuttle2231]

@toughgirlchallenges can wait to see you down hear, you will not be disappointed in the people and the views. Merry Xmas

[@toughgirlchallenges]

@@boostedshuttle2231 Thank you so much and Merry Xmas to you!!!

[@hrd9686]

What are you doing with the Tararuas?

[@toughgirlchallenges]

@@hrd9686 I shared in the last video that the weather was too bad up there. So I missed that section as I didn’t want to be end up stuck in the mountains and miss my flight to Melbourne for Christmas.

[@hrd9686]

​@@toughgirlchallenges I highly recommend to do the Tararuas! They are much better & beautiful (i.e. Goblin Forest) and challenging than other parts! Maybe when you're coming back if you have a weather window or after finishing the TA in Bluff.

[@Expatkiwipeter]

You said 1715 km done but - you haven't? Aside from the hundreds of kilometres you've hitchhiked, what about the Tararuas? I appreciate the weather was bad, but aren't you going to go back and walk it?

[@robtwizelcleary8344]

Jeez give it a rest with the Tararuas, you know why not. HYOH rules apply to everyone 🙂

[@toughgirlchallenges]

Thanks for engaging with my vlog! I appreciate your thoughts and totally get where you're coming from. The decision not to walk the Tararuas was one I didn’t take lightly. The weather conditions were hazardous, and with a flight to catch for Christmas, I had to make the call to prioritize safety and logistics. As I’ve mentioned on my website and in my podcast episode, I’ve been transparent about hitchhiking and the reasons behind it. Walking 1715 km includes both the kilometres hiked and the overall journey (which included mountain biking & canoeing), which was shaped by the circumstances I faced. I am sharing my journey on the TA. I expected it to be a thru-hike similar to the Appalachian Trail. I wasn't expecting the state highways and dangerous road walking. So hitching was a part of my story, and I’ve documented it openly to share a complete picture of my journey. I hope this adds some clarity, and I’m happy to discuss further if you’d like! 😊