The Belgian Travellers

    Tuesday 16th january 2018 We spend a first day in Picton. The morning is dedicated to gathering information about the trail we'll start day after tomorrow. The trailhead can be reached only by boat so we need to book a water taxi. Whem it's done, we join Ines, another French girl with who we started hiking the first days of our trail and that we met again for Christmas, and her friend for a drink on a terrace.  17 days of food The afternoon is dedicated to a large resupply. On the Southern Island, the places for resupply are scarce and we need to prepare 2 boxes of food that we'll send to ourselves in remote places. Heather drives us to Blenheim where there is a large and cheap supermarket and we buy everything we need for 17 days. On the way, we stop at a strawberry farm, where we can pick our own strawberries. This will be tonight's dessert. Yummy ! Our day ends with a friendly evening barbecue on the terrace with the whole family and the young i...

Of the Northern Island ! Friday 12th January 2018 Today is gonna be a cool day : good weather, easy walk and only 21 kilometers to hike before reaching Paekakariki ! Even the start of the trail in the city of Waikanae is lovely, along the river, on a small path bordered by flowers. If you know me, I probably already told you that I'm not a big fan of the seaside and that I prefer by far the mountains ? Well, I must admit that I kind of changed my mind about it. More and more, we appreciate hiking near the sea on flat lands, especially when our backpack is a little bit heavy. On our way, we meet our first NOBO (northbound) TA (Te Araroa) hiker. We exchange information about the trail with her and she gives us the phone number of her brother, that lives near the trail on the Southern Island. At Raumati South beach, we take the time have a drink on a terrace above the beach. Emma, the young american girl with who we've already spent a few nights in the Tararua Ran...

Sunday 7th January 2018 Today will be steep : 1200 meters to climb. Our backpacks are heavy with 6 days of food. That's the time we might need to cross the Tararua Range. The weather forecast for today and tomorrow are fine. But after, rain is forecast. After a short roadwalk, we start climbing in a thick forest with many trees fallen on the path. There are supplejacks and roots everywhere... but we're kind of use to that now. When trees fall on the path... hikers sweat ! We reach a beautiful hut around 5 PM, where Emma stays, as well as Jason, a French guy that hikes so fast. We also expect the 2 French hikers that we met on our way up to reach the hut soon. But they don't. They'll eventually reach the hut... at midnight. I wake up first because I hear some noise outside. But that's the possums that organized a party in the shelter next to the hut. Then we see lights, that's the French couple. Poor them... They are not Te Araroa hikers and where ...

After a Christmas with our hiking friends near Wellington and our trip on the Southern Island with Marie-Laure's father, we could feel that we were kind of heavier than before our break. Too much good food couldn't have any other effect... But it was such a nice time with friend and family, even if we were missing our other parents, our brothers, sister-in-laws and all the friends back home. Christmas at Kelvin's place Thursday 4th January 2018 We go with Kelvin, his wife Magnolia and their son to Palmerston North, where we'll hit the path again. Those that follow our adventures with particular attention might have noticed that it's not where we stopped before Christmas. Well, the reason is that between Whanganui and Palmerston North, Te Araroa follows the road during roughly 100 kilometres, except for a few of them on the beach. As you know, we're not particularly keen on walking on the road... So here we are, leaving Palmerston North centre at 2:30...