Arrival

Roxane and began our trip in Auckland, transit point for many a New Zealand tourist.  We stayed at a lovely Victorian-hobbit hybrid house named The Verandahs.  Victorian because of the high ceilings, hobbit because of the doorknob square in the center of each door.

The first night I was beastly to Roxane, forcing her to stay up to the ungodly hour of ten in the evening so that we could adjust more quickly to the local time zone.  I soon regretted this, as the next day I was struck by a cold, or allergies, or something that made me sneeze incessantly all day.  Now Rox was the one making me stay awake while my eyelids drooped.

On Saturday I took the ferry to Devonport, Auckla

Left to Right: Sheridan, Geoff, Kim, and I

nd’s Sausalito.  There I met up with Geoff Chapple, hatcher of the Te Araroa Trail, Kim Ollivier the TAT map guru, and Sheridan Robinson, a Brit who through-hiked the trail last year.  We powwowed over tea and my large overview map.  They gave me wonderful up-to-date advice on the current status of the trail, which is still only partially complete.  There are large sections where the only alternatives are to ring up a landowner and ask permission to cross their land, or do a long road walk.

I’ve decided that I’m going to walk the trail from South to North, that is, begin at Bluff and end at Cape Reinga.  There are two reasons.  The first is that I evidently like to do things backwards.  When my father and I hiked the Appalachian Trail we did it Southbound.  We had a small contingent of co-hikers, but the large majority of through-hikers on the AT start at Springer Mountain in Georgia and head North as the seasons move into summer.  When I rode from Boston to San Francisco on my bicycle, I did it against both the prevailing winds and the prevailing current of bicyclists making the trans-America trip.  On the Te Araroa Trail evidently most through-trampers start at Cape Reinga, so in keeping with tradition I will go the other way.  Geoff tells me there have been a few folks to hike it my way, so I’m not breaking any new ground, but that’s fine by me.

Of course the other reason I chose to go North is that I am starting in the middle of summer and would like to do the southern latitudes first while they’re still warm.

In any case, Roxane and I have our flights this afternoon to Invercargill, where we’ll stay a few days and do some final prep.  I can hardly wait!