I spent quite a bit of time planning what equipment would be best for the Te Araroa. Knowing that it was going to get a lot of use, I invested in some new gear and some I just made do with what I had.
We met some Ultra Light Weight hikers and it is impressive to see how light their packs were and we were a bit envious but I was happy with my gear choice. Philippa
| Item |
Brand / specification |
Weight |
Comments |
|
| Camping
stuff |
|
|||
| Backpack |
Golite
Woman's Pinnicle |
875 |
Comfortable
and lasted the trip |
|
| Waterproof
pack liner |
Sea
to Summit ultra-sil 70 litre |
98 |
Brilliant
bit of kit |
|
| Tent |
Terra
Nova Laser Competition |
940 |
Not
free standing but it did the job very well. |
|
| Sleeping
bag |
Rab
Neutrino 400 Woman's |
890 |
A
bit too warm for most of the trail but I needed the extra warmth when we were
in snow and frost on the SI. |
|
| Sleeping
mat |
Thermarest
Womens ProLite Plus |
680 |
Comfortable
but heavy. |
|
| Cooker
|
Caldera
Cone stove with caddy |
130 |
Loved
it! |
|
| Fuel
container |
Coke
bottle |
Used
the same one the whole way |
||
| Cooking
pot |
MSR
Titanium Titan Kettle |
130 |
Cooked,
drank, ate and washed in it. |
|
| Walking
poles |
Liki Makalu Shiva Corklite Antishock |
458
|
Never used poles before but I am a convert.
|
|
Pen knife
|
Victorinox Waiter
|
50
|
Did the job – could have shared one with
Madeleine
|
|
Torch
|
83
|
Did the job
|
||
Spoon
|
Road kill
|
Found it on the road on NI and used it the rest of the way |
||
Compass
|
Silva
|
Did the job – shared with Madeleine
|
||
Water bottle bags
|
Source 2 litre water bag
|
34
|
Great light and foldable
|
|
Water treatment
|
Aquamira Chlorine Dioxide Water Treatment Drops |
Did the job. Half the price, compared to NZ if
brought in the UK. Pleased I didn't buy a water filter. Much of the water
along the trail is safe to drink untreated.
|
||
Clothes
|
||||
Shirt
|
?
|
It was light, long sleeved for the sun and quick
drying. Wore it every day.
|
||
Shorts
|
No Brand. Light & quick drying
|
We agreed that shortest and quickest drying
shorts are best. They get wet a lot and the quicker they dry less chance of
getting sore.
|
||
Base layer long sleeve
|
Icebreaker Oasis Crewe
|
Loved it.
|
||
Leggings
|
Old pair I use for running & hiking
|
Did the job.
|
||
Boots
|
Meindl Borneo Lady Pro MFS
|
Good boots. Totally trashed two pairs.
|
||
Waterproof Jacket
|
Rab Women's Latok Alpine
|
470
|
Useless – just got use to being wet
|
|
Waterproof Trousers
|
North Face HyVent DT
|
210
|
See above
|
|
Down Jacket
|
North Face
|
600
|
Horrible jacket, just one I had. Didn’t carry it
most of the way posted it forward and only used in latter stages of SI.
|
|
Liner socks x 2
|
Icebreaker
|
We discovered that you don’t need many pairs of
socks and the thin ones seemed to be most comfortable.
|
||
Socks x 1
|
Icebreaker
|
|||
Hat for sun
|
Outdoor Research Helios Sun Hat |
Brilliant. Looked stupid but stayed on and kept
the killer sun at bay
|
||
Hat for Cold
|
Extremities
|
Only used last half of the SI.
|
||
Gloves for cold
|
Cheap fleece
|
Only used last half of the SI.
|
||
Towel
|
MSR pack towel
|
It
was tiny and did a great job.
|
||
Electronics
|
||||
Phone
|
Cheap Nokia
|
NZ$ 50 brought in NZ on 2 Degrees pay as you go.
Heard Telecom had better coverage?
|
||
Camera
|
Cannon IXUS
|
Did the job
|
||
Universal charger
|
Inov8
|
Really good recharged batteries for GPS, camera,
head torch & phone.
|
||
GPS
|
Garmin Etrex 20
|
Invaluable
|
||
Batteries
|
Spare set of rechargeable AA for GPS and AAA for
head torch
|
Did the job.
|
||
Medical / Personal
|
||||
Blister packs
|
We tried all brands and Compeed is the baby!
|
|||
Antihistamine
|
||||
Ibuprofen
|
||||
Low adherent dressing
|
||||
Adhesive Tape
|
||||
Insect Repellent
|
||||
Toothpaste & brush
|
||||
Shower gel
|
33ml
|
Set off with these but we abandoned
all such luxury items!! Unnecessarily weight.
|
||
Shampoo & conditioner
|
33ml
|
|||
Sun block
|
32ml SPF 30
|
|||
Lip salve
|
Nivea SPF 25
|
|||
Sun glasses
|
Lost and not replaced
|
|||
Comb
|
||||
Lighter & matches
|
||||
Watch
|
Cheap Casio
|
|||
Gaffer tape
|
Wound onto walking poles and was used for
emergency repair to tent pole and burn in sleeping bag
|
|||
String
|
||||
Wire
|
||||
Needle and cotton
|
||||
Zip lock bags
|
Used for maps & trip notes and all sorts of
stuff. Can be acquired from supermarkets in NZ.
|
|||
Documents
|
||||
Passport
|
||||
Credit cards
|
||||
Travel Insurance details
|
||||
TA maps
|
Depending on how tricky a section looked, we
printed the maps in colour A3 (to scale) or A4. Carrying the maps from one
town to the next where we could print more.
|
|||
Trip notes
|
Printed as small as we could and carried a section at a time. |
|||
Budget
I spent £4,000 in almost 6 months in New Zealand, five months and a week of which were on the trail. I didn’t allocate myself a budget as such; Madeleine and I lived fairly frugally but I didn’t watch every penny. In trail towns we stayed mostly in hostels but we tended to eat out as we wanted a bit of variety in our diet and we didn’t have all the basic ingredients such as cooking oil and spices to make nice meals.
My expenditure included the purchase of an SD card with New Zealand topo maps for the GPS, a few small pieces of camping equipment, a couple of items of clothing and return flights to Stewart Island for a ‘walking’ holiday after completing the trail.
The exchange rate wasn’t great, less than NZ$2 to the GB£1 and I did find New Zealand more expensive than I had expected it to be.
In addition to the £4,000 I brought my return flight from the UK, travel insurance and quite a bit of camping gear.
Madeleine’s funds were entirely separate to mine.