Day 8. Puketi Recreation Area – Waitangi Forest. 33km. Total 231km. I wake up at 6.30am and start cooking my porridge and tea while still sitting in my sleeping bag in my tent. I love being cozy like this for breakfast! At 7.30am I am the first to start the trail and I enjoy being…
Te Araroa 2. Mud battle in the Northland forests.
Day 4. Oct 17. Ahipara – km 128. 27km. Total 128km. Mud Party in the Herekino forest. I didn’t sleep much in the dormitory and get up at 6.30am. Around 7.20am I leave the nice Ahipara holiday park. It’s 8km on the road till the start of the Herekino forest track. Easy, not many cars….
Te Araroa. 1. Cape Reinga – Ahipara. Sand and ocean.
Auckland – heading north. October 13. Thursday morning, my bus leaves at 7.45 am from the close-by bus station. The chatty driver talks for ages about where we will stop and who will get off or in etc, repeating it at every stop. I talk to a German guy who is joining for 2 days…
Auckland
Arriving in Auckland is wonderful, the Kiwis are superfriendly at the airport as I have to go through several stations, first get my visa checked, then pick up my bag (already there no waiting, so efficient!), then go declare what goods I have with me. Haribo passes without problems but all hiking gear has to…
3 Nights in Bangkok
My first time in Bangkok happens just because I consider 11 hours of flight tolerable, but not 24h. So in between Germany and New Zealand, I discover Thailand or well, just Bangkok as I assume the rest of the country to be pretty different. Even though I am lucky enough to have a seat with…
The trail is the destination.
…even though the correct English version of “Der Weg ist das Ziel” seems to be “The journey is the reward”. The Te Araroa is 3,000km from Cape Reinga to Bluff, yet the next months will not be all about reaching my destination Bluff by foot but rather about the trail itself. When talking about my…
Final preparations for the Te Araroa
Maybe you will never be entirely ready for such a big hike. There is always more you could do. But 2 days before my departure I finally managed to go at least through most of my to do list (a big Excel file started at least half a year ago) and if not in my…
Some DIY for the Te Araroa
I am usually buying my gear as I am never satisfied with what I am able to produce with my own hands! However, there are a few items that are non existant on the market or too difficult / expensive to organize. So over the last few days I have worked out a few items…
Gear for my 3,000km trail
What do you (I!) need for a 3,000km hike? That question was in my mind for at least a couple of months. Ultralight was the initial goal, but other consideration came into play. After searching on too many websites, blogs, forums for THE best tent, sleeping bag, pad, rain jacket,… I came to the conclusion…
A week of via ferrata in the Brenta Dolomites – Part 2
Day four starts with clear blue sky and and a beautiful sunrise, but there is a hefty wind out there. We head uphill, it’s an impressive surrounding with all the Dolomite towers but the trail is very stony and exhausting plus some climbing. Plus the wind which is strong and cold. Then finally the actual…
Via Ferrata week in the Brenta Dolomites – Part 1
Last Friday it was finally time to meet my friend Peggy in Trento for our week of ferrata in the Brenta. This mountain group is one of the most famous for the impressive via ferrate. After picking up Peggy we drove to Madonna di Campiglio, talking and talking about everything that happened in Berlin since…
Lago di Sorapis – the hidden gem
After yesterday’s very long hiking day I was looking for something nice but shorter to end my stay in the Drei Zinnen area. My hotel owners have a special recommendation, the lake Lago di Sorapis. It’s supposed to have a unique colour and setting. Although it’s again a 45km drive, I am setting out for…
Hello Mountains 