Logistics planning for section hiking the TaT

As you can imagine a considerable amount of information gathering and collation is required before an outdoor trip can commence. Even when section hiking, organising the logistics including transport, finances, supplies and equipment for a journey of this sort is staggering. I am currently working "behind the scenes" to organise this information and putting  it into a format that is easy for me to use.

I will discuss some of the aspects of my planning below.

The 'ten year" plan?

How long is a piece of string? It is a good question in the context of planning a section hike of a long distance trail.
My overall plan is to hike: 

• 1-4 trail sections per year over the next 2-4 years. I have calculated it will take me approximately 4 years at this rate to complete the South Island. 
• I am then planning to take time off in 2018 to walk from Cape Reinga to Hamilton as one longer 20-40 day through hike. 
• It would then take 1-2 more years to complete the rest of the North Island. 

That is 6-7 years!

I'm working on a spread sheet which lays this out, because without some serious prior planning including dates, section details, accommodation, transport etc. I will get totally confused. Eventually this will be online, at the moment it consists of a 3 meter long roll of paper with all of the details written on it. 

Transport Issues

There are a lot of transport questions to be answered when walking this trail. Public transport is your main means to get to and from distant trail heads. Because I am only walking shorter sections of the track it sometimes deposits me at some out of the way spots. An example is the section between St Arnaud and the Boyle River. To get to St Arnaud entails;

•  a bus from Christchurch to Blenheim, 
• another to St Arnaud, 
• then a third from the Boyle to Christchurch. 

Also problematic are the trail heads on the Rakaia, Rangitata and Ahuriri rivers, there is no public transport to any of these.

As for the North Island, I am looking at  2-3 longer trips: one from Cape Reinga to Hamilton, one from Hamilton to National Park & one from Whanganui to Wellington. 

Bugger all of nothing, Mesopotamia Station, from Kiwiscout walks Te Araroa

I am drawing up an transport plan which has all options for public transport to trail heads, connections and possible car relocation services to get around this. Once complete i will place it online for others to use.

Maps and Trail information

Where am I?

This area is the least problematic as there are numerous sources of information about the trail. Personally I will be using the maps and track notes provided on the Te Araroa website, in conjunction with information from some Mapping Program I have access to at work.

Generally I am a map and compass man but will be investing in a GPS unit or GPS phone app as a back-up. Why? Mostly it is for the less than optimal conditions walking over the Richmond & Tararua Ranges. Also some of the tussock tracks in the South Island are a bit "rustic" and not marked all that well.

Consumables

Always time for a brew...

Basically I am talking about food, drinks and the cooking fuel I will need when tramping the trail. I suppose this also covers replacement equipment as well.  Because I am not through hiking I can be more casual about the provision of these necessities. The longest I will be continuously walking in the South Island will be about 7 days: I can carry seven days worth of fuel and food with me. When I start the longer sections in the North Island I will need to think about bounce boxes, premailed food supplies etc. but there is plenty of time for that later.

Finances

I have seen a variety of costings for walking the Te Araroa Trail, most of them detailing a through hike. The figures range from $4000-$12000 and cover transport, accommodation, food and replacement equipment. I don't need to find $8000 dollars before starting this venture but eventually everything must be paid for.

I am keeping a financial journal of my expenditure, really as a personal
 project to see just how much it costs to section hike the trail. It will be interesting to analyse the breakdown of costs at the end to see what I spent my cash on.

My total so far is: $257.00