A Simple Life on the South Island of NZ

A few weeks ago, I told Parker, I felt our time on the South Island was going by too fast. But we've been walking for two and a half months, how much slower can we go?

Long distance hiking is a simple life with a simple purpose. For us, it is absolute freedom. A long hike on the south island was the perfect beginning to our long journey around the world.

We learned to live out of our packs again and with each other. Imagine yourself with your Beloved for 24/7, for months. We've been through this before and we still had to work our way through the first couple of weeks. Other than that, our only concerns were water, food, shelter and enjoying NZ. We both had tough moments and bad days as you would in any long hike. But you keep going and you remind yourself why you are out there. We are living our dream.

We have fallen in love with this island. You see it in pictures and you dream about it. But when you are in it, it completely takes your breath away. The South Island is so vast and dramatic. We have walked on beaches, farm land, high country tussuck, valleys, rainforrest, fiordland and mountain ranges. We have crossed a bazillion creeks, rivers and waterfalls. We have been blistered by the sun, seen spectacular sunrises and sunsets and have been pelted with hail. We tasted wine by the region, a great reward after weeks in the bush. Parker naturally picked up fly fishing and got to fish the whole island. Best of all, we have met some very amazing people. We met the Kiwi trampers, hunter and fishermen who love the bush as much as we do. We also met the hardworking Kiwi farmers who were all very kind to us. And of course we met travelers from all over the world as we made our way north. With a lot of planning and over 100 maps, Parker got us through the South Island.

The Te Araroa(The Long Pathway) is a long way from being complete. This year there were 10 of us making our way through New Zealand. Most hikers go southbound and since we were going north and we met 7 of the 8 hikers. Toek (Holland), Yeti (Israel), Corrine (Kiwi), Johno (Kiwi), Jullian (Germany), Pete (Cali.) and Jonathan and Dolly are the honeymooners from OZ. We kept in touch with everyone and we gave each other tips on routes, resupply, campsites, etc. One day the trail will be marked every inch of the way. There will be book guides and you won't need maps. Soon the landowner issues will be negotiated and you won't have the fear of possibly being on someone's land without permission. Eventually more trails will be created and there will be less road walking. But for now, we are all excited to be one of the first to experience the Te Araroa. We are one of ten, instead one of one hundred or even one of a thousand. No one hiked the same exact route, we all made our own path. We got on the trail to look for adventure and we all got our fair share.