Day 2. Twilight Camp to forest camp just past The Bluff.

Today 28km. Total 40km. 10 hours (0820-1820)

I had an okay sleep with the normal first night in a sleeping bag always being restless.   I did get a visitor in the night though.  I could hear footsteps around me and thought an animal was trying to get in.  It sounded big and I thought it may have been a goat but I saw in the gap under my door it was a possum.  I made some noise and it left.  If it came back again it was quiet as it did not wake me and my stuff was in one piece in the morning.  It was surprisingly cold during the night and I had to fully zip up my sleeping bag.

I woke as the sun hit my tent at 0730 and at a leisurely morning pack up I was on my way at 0830.  The first part was through scrub following a Ridge.

Looking back at the Ridge line the track followed

There we a few boggy bits

There were heaps of Paradise Ducks all trying their best to lead me away from their nests.  I counted 6 pairs.  There were a few steep hills in the track which have me a good reminder of my lack of fitness but the view from the top was worth it.  The first view of 90 Mile Beach.

Looking over the start of 90 Mile Beach

Looking back at all the stairs on the descent to the beach

 I know I will be sick of the sight of this beach shortly but it was great to see it for the first time.  I took a few photos with my homemade camera attachment on my trekking pole before going down lots of steps to get down to the beach.

The wind on the beach was cold so i had to put my jacket on.  Once on the beach I tried to get into a rhythm but found it hard to keep my pace easy and my steps short to try and prevent sore shins as I often get.  I also tried a new technique of loosening to my shoe laces. This seemed to work as I only got occasional twinges which disappeared after stretching.  I did a lot of stretching.  Anytime one part of my leg would stay hurting I would stretch and it would get better.  At Te Paki steam I took off my shoes as I wanted to keep my feet dry.  A tour bus drove up to the steam and entered it just as I was crossing and I got a few waves.  It was then more beach walking with the excitement being the streams.  As I approach each steam I am trying to work out if it is crossable without having to take my shoes off. Even when it is obvious it is to deep I still dither trying to find a way.

At one point there was a big expanse to cross.  As at was high tide I had to take my shoes of and walk quite a way.  At the far end was a River and I could see the waves were starting to go upstream a little but were still at the River mouth so it was only shin deep.  Just as I reached the far side a massive wave came surging up the river so I scrambled up the bank.  When I turned around the whole area I had crossed was now under water.

The bay I had to cross

A bird desperately trying to lead me away from its nest but it didn't matter which way I went it didn't seem happy

Bare feet crossing

The Bay just moments after I make it up the bank

 I then sat down on the bank and started the ritual of carefully drying my feet which involved removing all the sand from my feet,  socks and shoes before applying some anti chafe cream, then putting on my Gaiters,  socks and shoes.  I was just up to the removing sand part when I looked up and saw a wall of water busting over the river bank and coming straight for me.  In a flurry I grabbed every thing and climbed as high up the nearby cliff as I could.  When the waste receded I decided to stay in bare feet until I could find a safer place much higher up to put my shoes back on.

As the tide was so high I found myself scrambling frequently up the cliff to avoid incoming waves for the next few hundred meters until the beach widened more.  Even then I was nearly caught several times as there would be a random wave that would come so much further in than the rest.  The closest time was when I was taking photos and looked up to see the wave coming rapidly.  It was then a mad sprint (really a brisk shuffle with a pack on and tired legs) to get clear.

Not much beach left at high tide

One of the main reasons I didn't want to get caught was the waves had a horrible Green foam in them.  The must be an algae bloom that has been pushed in with the strong winds though the waves further out we're clean.  This left big lines of geen slime and foam all along the beach.

The Green slime

Compete with bubbles

Matapia Island was visible from the start of the beach but it was like an optical illusion and never got closerand never got bigger.  I found the beach distorted things and things further away seemed bigger in the distance than they were.  Several times I was sure I could see a couple of people ahead only for them to be birds when I got closer.  The Island has a hole through it which you couldn't see as you came along beside it.

Once I was opposite the Island I had lunch.  It was tortilla with cheese,  Salami and Sundried Tomatoes. I am guessing from the reaction of the seagulls they have either visited populated areas or get lots of tourists as the was one in sight when I sat down for lunch and 20 by the time I finished. It was now warning up and I was able to take my jacket off.

Nice spot for lunch looking at Matapia Island

Because the tide was high I am sure I walked a lot further than the TA map says I did as I had to go in and out of every little bay as I had to hug the cost to get away from the waves.  I laughed when I saw a car coming towards me trying to stay on the narrow bit of beach left.  I hoped they were locals who knew what they were doing as the bit they were about to drive on was very narrow.  As they did not stop to talk I couldn't check on this.

There was not much of interest blown up on the beach but I did find a float that I amused myself with by creating goalposts with my walking poles to kick through.

A little impromptu soccer with a float

Apart from that there was beach, more beach, and even more beach.  I was very glad to see The Bluff as I was really looking forward to stopping.  In the bus on the way North I had seen a camp on the south side of the Bluff but when I looked at it it didn't appeal so I walked up the beach a bit more to a stream which I walked up 50 metres to the forest where I set up camp.

Looking up the river to my campsite in the trees on the right

Night 2

Much quicker tonight.  Dinner was potato flakes with surprise peas,  parsley,  garlic powder,  onion flakes and bacon bits.  Very nice and filling. Still no blisters or injuries and the old body seems to be forgiving me for this punishment I am putting it through. I went to sleep with the soothing sound of the waves crashing onto the beach.

Hints of the day-
1. The track continues through Twilight Camp heading away from the sea following the orange market posts. It quickly swings to the right and you are on your way.
2. Don't underestimate the waves.  They will randomly come faster than normal and huge than normal.

Day 1. Cape Reinga to Twilight Camp

Today 12 km. Total 12 km. 4 hours (1220-1620).
I was picked up at 0850 by a very friendly lady with Sand Safaris. As she had a pickup at the Waipapakauri holiday park she offered to take me there to show me how to get to it when I came back down the beach.  She then dropped us off at the bus.  I was allowed to sit in the front seat so had fantastic views of the beach.  We drove up the beach to Te Paki Steam in just 1 hour and then drove up the steam to the dunes where people Sand boarded down.  As I did not want sand everywhere before starting,  and did not want an injury, I stayed in the truck.

The bus that drove me up 90 Mile Beach

People Sandboarding at Te Paki

 We then drove up Te Paki steam until coming out onto the road and then it was another 15 minutes to Cape Reinga.
Unfortunately the weather was crap with high winds, poor visibility and sporadic rain. On the way down to the lighthouse I saw two guys walking back up with huge packs and wondered if they were also doing TA. At the lighthouse I asked some people to take photos and attracted a bit of interest when they found out what I was doing. Just as I was about to leave the mist lifted and the sun almost came out so I took some more photos.

The Start - only 3000km to go!

As I was looking at the sign pointing to Bluff I had several competing emotions. I was excited to be starting,  I felt trepidation at the huge task ahead and how my body would cope,  I was satisfied that I had made it to this point and I was proud of having the courage to try such a big task.  Excitement won as I walked back up to the turnoff and saw my first TA sign.

The first Te Araroa sign

 From the turnoff the track dropped down to the beach via a beautiful trail complete with steps. I wonder how many people think that is what the whole trail will be like.

Heading down to the first beach

Looking over the Tasman Sea

The first beach

As I reached the beach I saw the two hikers with big packs from the lighthouse sitting off to the side of the track.  I could see the tide was too high to walk around the rocks so planned to walk the first bit then head up into the Hill.  As I was about to start the two guys waved me over so I headed over to them and they told me the tide was too high to get around.  I explained to them that I was going to go above the rocks and carried on.  It was good they called me over as there was a track marked with blue tape that went over the hill above the rocks so I didn't have to bush bash

The high tide trail

Not well travelled

The Blue tape showing the trail

Once on the beach it was a long slog. While it was raining the good thing was the wind was coming from North West so it was mainly behind me. At the end of this beach was a river which I had to cross.  Unfortunately with the tide so far in the crossing was too deep for me so I had to head upstream to a crossing point.  Where I crossed was nearly hip deep in parts but very slow flowing.  I then the walked back up the steam to get to the exit point.

Now the track headed up a small grassy bit before heading into the dunes.  I was very relieved to be  the beach as my left knee had started to twinge. The markers were set very far apart so I made sure I had a good sighting of the next marker before leaving the marker I was beside.

Can you spot the marker?

It is in the centre of the phot

It was neat to be in the sand dunes and the views were fantastic. While I knew there were sand dunes in the north I didn't realise how extensive they are.

Eventually I make my way out of the dunes and walked along the top of a Ridge on a grassy 4wd track until hitting the last beach of the day.

Grassy track after sand dunes

Looking over the next beach. Twilight Camp is at the end

I was starting to feel a tight hamstring so stopped to stretch several times and decided to walk backwards a few times just to use some different muscles. I wondered what the two guys would make of my tracks but when I asked them later they hadn't noticed.  The hardest thing about walking along the beach was forcing myself to walk at an easy pace and not rush. I am sure this is going to be a constant struggle as my body remembers the pace I used to Tramp at but is forgetting my lack of fitness.

As I was walking along the beach I could see two man made objects in the distance where the camp was meant to be. They looked like cars but I was sure there was no road there.  As I got closer the mystery was solved.  They were the campsite toilets.

The sun came out for the last hour as I was walking down this beach and the memories of constant rain faded away as I dried out completely.

The stairs leading up to Twilight Camp

My tent- night 1

I reached the campsite at 1620 which made it an even 4 hour walk for 12 km. Not bad considering the amount of time I was stuffing around taking photos. The campsite is great.  It is right above the beach and has an open sided shelter for cooking,  a tap and two lovely toilets,  complete with toilet paper- luxury.

I took my shoes off to try and dry them and was pleasantly surprised at the good state my feet were in.  No blisters yet.  I set my tent up and needed a little stuffing around to get it up but that is to be expected for only the third time putting it up.  I then fluffed around drying things and getting ready for dinner.

Just after 6 the two guys arrived.  They looked a little tired.  Rob came over to talk and a little later Joss introduced himself.  It turns out that Rob and I had read each others blog.  I was amazed at the size of their packs and the huge weight they were carrying.  No wonder Joss was a little tired.  It didn't help that they had difficulties in the sand dunes where the markers are so far apart and walked a little further than intended. They are both from the UK though Rob has been living in NZ for 10 months. They were great company for dinner.  I laughed when they said they choose 29 Oct as start date thinking no one else would as I did the same thing wanting the start of the walk to myself.

Rob and Joss at Twilight Camp

Eating dinner -night 1

Rob came to the rescue twice for me. When I connected my gas cylinder the gas started coming out which it is not meant to do.  As this was the first time I had used the cylinder,  and it was brought from The Warehouse,  I thought something was wrong.  Rob instantly offered me his spare cylinder which was very generous as I did not fancy cold meals for the next 4 days (I have a reserve of 2 meals with meths). When I put his cylinder on it did the same thing so I now thought the stove had gotten damaged on the way to the start.  Then Rob suggested I check it was turned off and that solved the problem.  With my old stove the is no way you can accidentally turn it on but I now know my new one can and I will now check this before using in future.  What could have been a major inconvenience was easily solved by some logic from Rob.

My dinner was a success.  Boil water. Pour into plastic bag with noodles,  surprise peas, coconut powder and curry paste.  Put plastic bag inside metal foil bag to keep warm and leave for 15 minutes.  Open bag and eat. Tasted good and used very little gas.

Dinner - Thai Red Curry Noodles

Just as we decided to go to bed it started raining.

Hints of the day
1. From Cape Reinga once you get down the hill to the beach check if the rocks are passable.  If the tide is high you will need to take the track above them.  Walk along the beach 30 meters. There is a gully to your left.  At the southern edge of the gully head up about 10 meters and you should see the start of the track on your right.  Look for the Blue tape tied to branches and follow until the markers run out.  Then follow the tracks until you come down onto a beach past the rocky part.  There were Blue ribbons for the last 50 meters of the track.
2. In the dunes do not leave the marker post until you can see the next one.  Look in all directions not just where you think the track should go.
3. Entrance to Twilight is easy to see.  You will see the tops of the toilets 30 minutes before reaching the camp.  When you get below the toilets look for the wooden stairs and go up them to get to the camp.

Disclaimer - Please excuse the multiple spelling mistakes. This blog is typed on a small phone every night after long days tramping and this is not condusive to accurate spelling or grammer.

D-1, Now in Kaitaia

It has been a fun week sorting out the last of my preparations. I have taken my time when completing my tasks to try and make the time go quicker. This has allowed me to do more preparation than I may have done otherwise. I have also enjoyed being spoiled my my wonderful and patient parents who took my challenge to gain 2 kg in a week seriously, and forgave my singular focus.

Food was the biggest task to get done. I have repackaged nearly everything into Zip Lock Plastic Bags to sort into complete meals and reduce weight. For example Dehydrated meals packaging was 12 g difference between the maufacturer packaging and plastic bag. However I have kept one package to use to heat the food up and I will just reuse this.

I have taken menu ideas from other peoples blogs and personal experience. For dinners I have settled on 3 meal types + Backcountry Cuisine Dehydrated Meals. The base meals are; Pasta, Couscous and Potatoe flakes. To these I have added flavouring like onion flakes, garlic powder, surprise peas, bacon bits, curry paste. For the dehydrated meals I am starting with single serve meals for the first 2 weeks, then 1 1/2 meals and then 2 person meals. For breakfast I don't like solid meals so I will be having Complan and MilkPowder with hot water. I have used this for most of my tramping and know this will give me enough energy until lunch. Lunch will be tortilla with either peanut butter or cheese, Sundried Tomatoes and Salami. Closer to towns I will add hummus to this. For snacks I have OSM, Muslea Bars, Beef Jerkey and Scroggin of my own mix which includes; almonds, peanuts, cashew nuts, macadamia nuts, dried cranberries, dried apricot (NZ type not turkish), dried apple and dried berry mix.

I have prepared enough breakfasts and dinners for the North Island. I have enough lunch and snacks for the first 8 days and then I will start buying as I go. These have been packaged up in bundles based on where I expect to mail resupply packages to myself. Also in these resupply packages are my maps.

Four days of food

The same food packaged ready to go

I went for a 3 hour trial walk wearing the clothes I will be taking and with everything in my pack less food. This was a lovely walk around a couple of big hills with stunning views in every direction.

The view looking North at start of trial Tramp

More stunning views

I was pleasantly surprised by how comfortable my pack was (ZPacks Arc Blast 60 l). The weight was sitting nicely on my hips and nothing on my shoulders. I experimented with my water bottles and have them sitting on my shoulder straps in a way that I can just lower my head to drink from them. They are Platypus Flexible Bottles so I just squeeze them to get water up to my mouth. My feet felt good in my new Innov8 Rocklite 295 shoes. Though I discovered there is a gap between the shoe and the shoe tongue which is letting in dirt so that will be sewed up.

Looking South East. 2 hours into the Tramp and feeling good.

I have been experimenting with a gas cylinder to try and figure out exactly how many meals I will get out of each one. Using My Titanium 900ml Pot, with 600ml water and no lid it is taking an average of 6.5g of gas and 3 min 28 seconds per boil. I managed to get 28 boils out of the cylinder so with 2 boils a day each cylinder will last me 14 days.

This morning I started my journey North. My first package was posted to Ahipara on the way to the airport. The flight from Dunedin to Auckland to Kaitaia went well.

Weather looks great from the air

Unfortunately weather not so good in Kaitia on landing. Forecast tomorrow is for rain and gale force winds - crap!

 In Kaitaia I asked someone about getting into town and was offered a ride. My good samaritan even let me drop of my kit at the motel before dropping me of at The Warehouse to buy a gas cylinder. (Trail Angel #1). Then it was a nutritious dinner of KFC before a final repacking of my pack. Tomorrow pickup is at 0900 by Sandrunner Tours who have given me a good discount for only going one way of the tour to Cape Reinga.

It will be good, and also scary, to drive up 90 mile beach in a couple of hours knowing that will take me 4 days to walk back down.

It still hasn't really sunk in that tomorrow I will finally be starting this journey which had been 11 months in the planning. I am nervous about how my body will hold up but looking forward to starting.

Back Home and Gear Sorted

After more than 48 hours I made it home to New Zealand. I left DR Congo mid afternoon on Friday and arrived into Christchurch, NZ just after midnight on Sunday night (technically Monday morning).

The first part of the journey was crossing the border from DR Congo into Rwanda and then a 4 hour drive to Kigali Airport. While I have been in Africa for a while and am used to the amount of people I was amazed at the number of people on the roads. During daylight there was a maximum of 5 seconds without seeing someone walking on the road. There was a continuous stream of all ages walking, pushing carts, cycling with massive loads or just standing on the road. Interestingly my driver would not slow down for any of the people but the minute he saw a goat immediately he slowed down and gave them room. I am assuming there must be a bigger payout for a damaged goat than for a person. He also slowed down for the numerous Police checkpoints and we were only stopped twice. I was pleaseantly surprised that both times there was just a warning and no bribe needed to clear the checkpoint. When it got dark 2 hours after we started I was expecting the number of people to reduce and they did marginally. It was now a maximum of 15 seconds of empty road before seeing someone.

Tea Plantation in Rwanda

People Everywhere, Rwanda

Once at the airport I was refused entry into the terminal building for check in. They would only open the building when a flight was 3 hours from takeoff. Unfortunately due to the DR Congo Border closing at 5pm I had to cross early meaning I had 3 hours to fill. Luckily there was a cafe within walking distance and I had a fantastic coffee, something I had been desperately missing in Goma.

From there the journey to Johannesburg, via Burundi for 30 minutes and Nairobi for 2 hours was fine. Unfortunately my bag did not appear in Johannesburg but before I had time to panic the Kenya Airlines staff approached me and told me my bag was on the next plane arriving in 2 1/2 hours. As my flight wasn't for another 6 hours there was plenty of time.  My bag arrived on time and I still had to wait an hour before I was able to check in. The rest of the journey, via Sydney, was smooth and I touched down in Christchurch just after midnight on Sunday. I had made the decision to spend the day shopping there as I knew where all the outdoor shops are. Monday was a good day drooling over gear in the Outdoor Shops. Somehow I managed to maintain my discipline and only buy the gear on my list, though I was severely tempted by some new technology. As I achived my aims early I switched my flight for an earlier one and got into Dunedin at 5pm. From there my Parents drove me home and I was reunited with my gear which they had been storing for me.

My packages waiting to be played with

It was great to finally see all of the gear I had ordered but never got to play with. I didn't last long catching up with my parents before cracking and playing with the gear.

The next day I headed into Dunedin for final shopping and an appointment with a Podiatristto get new Orthotics. He proceded to tell me all about my many biomechanical issues which did not inspire confidence at the start of a 3000km walk. Luckily I am well practiced at ignoring things I don't like to hear so I disregarded all the potential issues and left happy with my new orthotics and some exercises to do to try and fix some of my issues.

The next few days were spend sorting out my gear and weighing everything. Unfortunately to my horror the first time I put my pack on my back with about 10kg in it the strap broke. I was in shock thinking in 5 days I was starting my walk and now I would have to find a new pack. On closer examination I saw the strap had not been fully folded under before being sewn so only had one thin layer of stitching. The other strap seemed fine. After firing an email to ZPacks explaining the issue I started the repair. Luckily my mum has waterproof cord which was ideal for the repair so for the next 20 minutes I sewed the strap back on and thankfully it looks pretty solid. A 1 hour full dress rehearsal walk gave confidence that the repair would hold. ZPacks appologised and gave $25 towards sewing costs and said they would replace the straps at the end of my walk when I had time to send the pack to them (at their cost).

The fantastic view from my room - no people!

I got my maps printed onto waterproof, tearproof paper and was really happy with the speed they were done, the quality and the price. I think having the trail notes and resupply notes on the maps themselves will make navigation much easier. If anyone wants copies of this format I have downloaded them onto the Facebook Te Araroa 2014-15 Files page and also on www.tawiki/wiki/navigation.

I used some precision digital scales to weigh all of my kit and it was exciting seeing my estimated weights being slashed. I did some slashing of my own to reduce weights such as reducing the size of my sleeping bag liner and cutting off the handle of my toothbrush. I also modified some fluffy slippers (by removing all of the fluffy parts) and adding a velcro strap to make some fantastic and super light camp shoes.

And the final result of the weigh in ..... (drumroll) ....... 6955g (15.33 lb). Fantastic I managed to get under the 7kg mark. While this is not Ultralight it is still much lighter than I imagined when I started planning. I have put my final gear list on the Gear Page.

All of the gear in my pack

My gear packed into drybags

And packing completed

This is what I will be wearing

And this is my clothing layering system

The next couple of days will involve a test Tramp with full weight, setting the tent up in the paddock, sorting food and finalising resupply packages.

On 28th I fly up to Kaitaia where I stay the night before taking the Sandrunner Bus up 90 mile beach to Cape Reinga and the start of the adventure.

Less than a month to go

Wow there is now less than a month to go and more importantly only 13 days until I start my journey back to New Zealand. I am really looking forward to being able to do some hands on preparation for my tramp.

I have managed to fill in my time by working on combining the maps, trail notes and resupply notes into one document. I figure it will make navigation much easier not having to switch between the map and the trail notes, some of which do not match exactly on first reading which could lead to confusion when I am exhaused and not thinking straight at the end of a long day. This has been a fun way to really get to know the trail and help with some of the logistical preparation. More importantly it has given me something to help ease the fustration of having to wait to get started. I have posted all of these on http://tawiki.org/wiki/navigation.

This fustration is even more apparent now we have people on the trail. Every morning I eagerly check facebook to see what the TA Trampers have been up to. Unfortunately not many people walking now are doing a blog so there is not a lot of information but that is starting to change and some of the more active people on social media will be starting soon. Of the tramers out there I particulary like the blog from Glen and Sherren glenandsherren.blogspot.co.nz which is a good mix of information about the trail and how they are finding their experience.

There has also been some excellent work to help with compressed trail notes, reformated maps and GPS files. Check out facebook Te Araroa and Tearoa 2014-15 groups which have some great information. A special thanks to Judith Hubert who is doing some great work getting information out to this years trampers, Ken and Rob from the Te Araroa Trust for the great Maps and Trail Notes and Jorg Flugge and Joe Delphine for compressing these trail notes.

As for my physical training that is a short paragraph as there has been none for a variety of legitimate reasons as well as a bit of laziness. I just do not feel like doing the same 2km circuit over and over again which is all I am allowed to walk/run in Kinshasa for security reasons. I am going to have to take it really slowly for the first couple of weeks to compensate for the lack of training. One area of physical preparation I am doing well in is creating a weight buffer.It is well known that weight loss is an issue on long distance tramping so I have used this as an explanation for why I have gained weight recently and most people seem to be buying it!

On another front I have been really surprised by the number of people reading this blog. It is now over the 1000 mark so thank you all for your interest. I think this is a great indication of the number of people getting interested in the Te Araroa Trail which is great. I hope more people take the oppourtunity to challenge themselves and see some of this amazing country.

My next post will be from Dunedin, New Zealand around 22 October. It will be nice to be home, and especially nice to be out of a country where there is an Ebola outbreak, though thankfully contained a lot better than in West Africa. Tramping 3,000km freaks me out a lot less than the though of getting a disease with a 50% surival rate. I am definately counting the days until I fly home.

2 Months and Counting

Less than 2 months to go and I have done as much as I can from Congo.  Most of my international orders have arrived in New Zealand and my parents are looking after them for me. I am just waiting on the last of the ZPacks orders which should arrive any day now.  It is a little frustrating knowing I have lots of new equipment to play with but I have to wait until October when I go back to New Zealand.

When the new track notes are released on 8 September I will work on compressing them and paste onto the maps ready for printing.

Ideally I should now be focusing on trying to get fit but unfortunately that is going to be difficult given restrictions where I live. Due to security restrictions in Kinshasa there is only one 2km loop that I can walk on which is really boring. On 1 Oct I move to a new city called Goma on the other side of DR Congo which has even stricter restrictions and I will not be able to walk at all. There is the possibility to cross the boarder into Rwanda and walk there but that will take a lot of organising.

My flights are booked to leave DR Congo the night of 17 October. I have to cross the border into Rwanda and drive for 3 hours to the airport to fly out at 1 in the morning. I change planes in Nairobi, Johannesburg and Sydney to land in Christchurch at 11.50pm on 19 October. I will go shopping for the last of my outdoor supplies in Christchurch on 20 October and fly that evening to Dunedin where my preparations can begin.

First thing is seeing a Podiatrist to get some new Orthotics to make sure my leg alignment is sorted for the walk. I have fallen arches so this will be important to prevent injuries.

I plan to do some experiments with gas and alcohol to work out which one I will take. I will do precise weights of all my equipment and make some decisions on what to take, or not. These decisions will be tested on an overnight tramp. I will then spend a couple of days fixing anything that went wrong, preparing my resupply and bounce box and printing my maps. I will then go for another test tramp for final confirmation of what I will be taking. A couple of days after that on 28 October (subject to change if needed) I fly to Kaitaia and start walking on 29 October. So exciting thinking about it now.

57 days, 19 hours and 4 minutes until starting!