Te Araroa is a walking path that will provide access to Aotearoa’s history and natural heritage from the top of the North to the bottom of the South Island.

The ambition to establish, by 2010, a hiking trail from the northern to the southern tip of New Zealand moved a step closer recently with the opening of two tracks: the 29 kilometre Motatapu track across Otago high country, and the Long Hilly Track, rich with Chinese New Zealand culture, which accesses a section of Te Araroa in Southland.
Long Pathway Idea is Born

The idea of connecting existing trails and walkways and forging new ones to form a cross-country route is credited to the Federated Mountain Clubs, today a national association that promotes safe use of the back country, environmental preservation and protecting rights of access.

Writer Geoff Chapple gave the idea fresh life beginning in the late 1990s, planning and completing a trial walk from Cape Reinga to Bluff, a distance of about 2600 kilometres. His account of the journey, Te Araroa: The New Zealand Trail (Auckland: Random House 2002) is a frank description of the difficulties he faced getting the project underway, as well as a vivid account of the people and places he encountered.

Chapple established the Te Araroa Trust, which for many years has been grappling with issues of route design and access. The Trust has worked with Maori and local and regional authorities, and has a Memorandum of Agreement with the New Zealand Department of Conservation. In some cases the Trust has employed work gangs to build trails if there was no local organisation with the capability to do so.

Although much of the Te Araroa route is along existing tracks, access has been a big issue. The significance of balancing private property rights and access issues was highlighted by the Report of the Walking Access Consultation Panel to the New Zealand Minister for Rural Affairs, published March 2007.

In terms of the issue of access within Maori tribal boundaries, Chapple’s hope was that walkers would be welcomed as manuhiri or visitors. Tai Tokerau and Tainui are two Maori iwi or tribal groups that have lent their support to the Te Araroa project.
Links with New Zealand Culture

The long-term effort to establish Te Araroa illustrates two aspects of New Zealand character: a love of (and determination to protect access to) the wild outdoors, and a fascination with feats of endurance.

In his modern history Paradise Reforged (Auckland, Penguin Press, 2001) Jamie Belich describes a “modern populist engagement with the New Zealand landscape”, with “the boat, the bach [or cottage], the beach and the barbecue” aspects of European New Zealand folk culture. He also details the rise of “rational recreation”, including tramping (hiking) and mountain sport especially since the 1920s, and the environmentalist movement.

The notion of very long walking also fits with New Zealanders’ fascination with feats of endurance. Sir Edmund Hillary, who with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay was the first to climb Mount Everest in 1953, was a patron of the Te Araroa Trust until his death in January 2008. Author, publisher and recreational mountain climber A.H. Reed walked the length of New Zealand early in the 1960s when he was in his 80s. New Zealand ultra-marathoners have done well in international forums, and gruelling multi-sport events (such as the Speight’s Coast to Coast event which crosses the South Island from Kumara Beach on the Tasman Sea to Sumner Beach on the Pacific Ocean) continue to attract large numbers of competitors.

Supporters of Te Araroa (The Long Pathway) are still working through planning and access issues, but the hope is that the route would one day be accessible to everyday hikers. The recent track openings in the South Island are another step in the right direction.

Read more at Suite101: New Zealand’s Long Pathway: Dream of Country-Length Hiking Trail Moves Closer to Reality http://backpacking-trips.suite101.com/article.cfm/new_zealands_long_pathway#ixzz0icBtETwi

Read more at Suite101: New Zealand’s Long Pathway: Dream of Country-Length Hiking Trail Moves Closer to Reality http://backpacking-trips.suite101.com/article.cfm/new_zealands_long_pathway#ixzz0icBNebE3

The Motatapu event had previously “just” involved running/walking or mountain biking along the valley floor, but this year an additional event was included: running/walking the mountain trail that was established as the link between the Wanaka and Queenstown areas on Te Araroa, our national trail.

This “new event” consists of a trail described as “3-4 days”, and featuring 3 new huts – all established when Shonia Twain purchased the surrounding land a few years ago.  The deal whereby this trail was established, deemed to be open “24×365″ and with three new huts was in fact initially suggested by Te Araroa Trust – so all credit to them, as they say.  Given that fact, it is a shame that the Motatapu event organisers did not include “Te Araroa” in the title of this new event.  But I digress!

So, mountain runners can cover a “3-4 day trail” in less than the amount of time most of us consider to be one working day, and this trail has almost 3000m of vertical climbing!  Needless to say, they didn’t need to use the huts – unless nature called, in which case they did have other options!

All-in-all, a great event in a great part of the country – even if the competitors didn’t have time to fully appreciate the splendour of the area!  That, of course, is why the rest of us take our time!

City Walker