Tramping

Kiwis refer to hiking as “tramping” and I thought it was just another word for the same thing but something is dawning on me about a week into Te Araroa. Tramping and hiking share a lot in common for sure but the former is turning out to be much more of adventure – and I’m loving it. In my first week on the TA, I’ve hiked beaches, riverbeds, groomed trails, muddy slopes, bushwhacks up mountainsides, sheep and cattle fields, forest service roads and busy connector roads. I’ve slept in dunes, behind a dairy store, perched next to a radio tower, in nice hostels (and not so nice hostels) and in open fields. Te Araroa puts all of these different things together. It’s a bunch of mini adventures inside one great big one.

I honestly don’t know what the day is going to bring when I wake up. That’s not my comfort zone. I’m a planner. My bread and butter has been charting a path, hitting the milestones and getting to the finish. It’s taken some time to adjust to this. I read the trail guide at night and plan my day but it’s impossible to know how hard or easy the day is going to be. Yesterday, the trail started off with a pretty technical slide down from the campsite in ankle deep mud until we got to the river. Then, the trail WAS the river for about three miles and it was a blast. We waded through the water and up over the rocks. I missed a turn off, ended up swimming across the deepest part with my pack over my head while holding my breath and kicking across. It felt amazing. The water was so cold and refreshing and washed the mud out of everything.

After the river scramble, the “trail” took us along a muddy embankment that was more climbing than hiking. We were fully re-mudded until we climbed up a 100+ step staircase into a beautiful series of farm walks past curious cattle. We camped at a Department of Conservation hut that was closed but a friendly Kauri tree scientist that happened to be there let us in for the night. We chatted about Seattle and it turns out that he is working with local tribes in my home county to make Native American canoes for export back to the U.S. – small world.

Today’s hike was postcard perfect. It was all on beautifully groomed trails through farms and past waterfalls. The lower parts of the trail are filled with giant palms and exotic birds reminding us that we are hiking through a rain forest. Spring is underway and the flowers are starting to bloom. The bird sounds are all exotic to me. The Appalachian Trail was in my blood and it felt at home. I’m truly in a foreign place that is surprising me every day.

After our great hike today, we popped out at a fancy Thai restaurant near the town of Kerikeri and treated ourselves to a big lunch and about a gallon of water. The town was a short hike away and then to an amazing hostel that has reserved the whole place for TA trampers for the month of October. They gave me an ice block (a popsicle) upon arrival and a tour of the facility. It is a thru hikers fantasy. Towels, hot showers and a washing machine. I got everything cleaned and re-charged and mailed a few more things home that I wasn’t using, headed over to the grocery store and then dinner. I met a new group of hikers that started with Thomas and Thorsten and they have put together an alternate route for the next few days and invited me along.

They’ve hired a private ferry boat to go to a really beautiful part of the peninsula off of the TA and then hike in a really remote area to a lighthouse hut. Now this sounds like true tramping and I couldn’t turn it down. It feels weird to leave the fixed trail route but I think this is what this experience is really about. Putting it together and seeing what the day brings. Another mini adventure as a tramper – not a hiker.