Roaming Tinkerbell

Pelorus River Track from Captain Creek Hut to Browning HutHiking time: 08:30a.m.-07:00p.m.Daily/Total distance: 21km/152.5km (46 hitched)Steps: 36046Weather: sunny I got up at 7am today and started packing everything up except the tent. There is still quite an accumulation of sandflies below my tent fly. The fly is also wet from condensation. I went outside to eat my breakfast. As the sandflies were already out and about again and I couldn’t be bothered otherwise I ate my porridge cold soaked. Wasn’t…

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Pelorus River Track from Pelorus Bridge to Captain Creek HutHiking time: 09:30a.m.-03:40p.m.Daily/Total distance: 22.5km/131.5km (8/46 hitched)Steps: 25438Weather: sunny I got up this morning just before 8am. Everyone except the Dutch family and the German couple had already left. The couple were staying an additional night. The family was just leaving as I got up. I had breakfast, packed my bag including my massive 20L food bag and set off towards the cafe. Here I filled up my water bottle with…

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From Havelock to Pelorus BridgeHiking time: noneDaily/Total distance: 20km hitched/109km (38km hitched)Steps: none hikingWeather: cloudless and sunny Upon waking up this morning I immediately decided not to hike today. The tow feels better but I want to be on the safe side concerning this before I go into the backcountry. So I will either hitch to Pelorus Bridge or stay am additional night here. Hitching to Pelorus has the upside of my food package being there. Otherwise I will have…

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From Davies Bay Campsite to HavelockHiking time: 08:30a.m.-09:30a.m.Daily/Total distance: 21km/89km (18 hitched)Steps: 10193Weather: overcast I started out the morning waking to throbbing pain in my left pinky toe. Well, that sill probably be my blister. I also heard a bit of drizzle on my tent at 7am and was really annoyed about not having avoided this by getting up earlier and having everything packed. But as soon as it had started it was already gone. Looking outside I found the…

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Queen Charlotte Track from Clashed Bay to Davies Bay Campsite Hiking time: 09:40a.m.-03:40p.m.Daily/Total distance: 17km/68kmSteps: 28647Weather: rain I’m the morning, drizzle afterwards and sun and wind in the afternoon During the last night I woke up repeatedly during the night due to rain. It had started around midnight and the wind kept blowing more and more rain onto the tent. It hadn’t stopped at 7:30am. The wind continued to blow every now and then and blew more and more rain…

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Queen Charlotte Track from Camp Bay to Clashed Bay CampsiteHiking time: 08:30a.m.-05:30p.m.Daily/Total distance: 24km/51kmSteps: 34016Weather: cloudy with drizzling rain setting in the afternoon The night wasn’t going too well for me. I kept waking up pretty much every 30 min. I finally got up at 7:40am. At that point I found 5 big mosquitoes in my tent. I killed them all and found some of my blood in them. This could explain the bad night-.- I was slow in getting…

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Queen Charlotte Track from Ship Cove to Camp Bay Campsite Hiking time: 09:30a.m.-05:30p.m. (including brakes)Daily/Total distance: 27km/27kmSteps: 38984Weather: sunny with few clouds at the start Well, even though I went to bed quite early last night, there where some inconsiderate other guests arriving after 12am, who turned on the light and packed their things rather loudly for an hour. So much for getting a good night’s sleep. I got up at 7am, taking all of my things out of the…

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I picked up my free rental car and got a nice small SUV. Brand new with only 2031 km on the clock. I therefore opted to pay a bit extra to have reduced excess to pay in case of damages. Having packed everything ready to go I went from Christchurch of to Hanmer Springs to enjoy a nice night at the hot springs. One last soak before hitting the bush. The road was pretty empty towards Hanmer and it was…

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There went a lot of organisation into this hike. I’ve had spreadsheets for years including possible gear, my planned route as well as any other details to organise. As the money and time only covers one Island I decided to hike the South Island as I prefer to wilder parts over the more densely populated areas. The gear list was mostly taken over from previous hikes I had done with some adjustments being done. My main organisational challenge was to…

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Te Araroa (The Long Pathway) is a long-distance trail along the length of New Zealand. It starts in Cape Reinga, the trails northern terminus, and finishes off in Bluff, the trails southern terminus. The length is about 3000km. Roughly 1700 on the north (the numbers in the figure are not completely accurate) and 1300 on the south island. The official opening of the trail was in 2011. Over the 3000km, the trail offers a variety of different geographical landscapes, from…

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