Lukas & Kim

New Zealand - Epilogue After finishing our Te Araroa hike/tramp on the 23 April 2025, we made our way back to Auckland. Hitching our way down, which actually went way smoother than we had anticipated. The same day as we reached Cape Reinga, we managed to hitchhike to Awanui, then Kaitaia. The day after we got a hitch just out of town, and then to Whangarei, and then Auckland. We stayed in Auckland for a couple of days, trying to regain some energy. Both of us were exhausted, even if we now weren’t hiking anymore. On the 28 April we took an Intercity bus to Tauranga. We stayed there for four nights, and tried to do some things while we were there, but the weather wasn’t exactly great. Rainy. We went for some walks and runs, found geocaches but mostly spent our time indoors binge-watching TV-series which wasn’t so bad either! 2 May we took another bus to Rotorua. We went here mainly for a big geocaching-event. A 25 Year Anniversary Block Party Event. Quite a big thing, especially within the New Zealand geocaching community. It was great fun, and we got to meet a lot of other geocachers and went for long walks around Rotorua. On 5 May we went back to Auckland again together with another geocacher. 6 May was our last full day in Auckland and guess what we spent the time doing, except for packing of course? Well, you guessed it right. We went geocaching 😉 7 May we flew out from Auckland, spent about 10 hours on the flight to Singapore which were exhausting. Only to eat and change flights and then jump on the last flight to Copenhagen. Now about 12 hours flight. From here we visited some friends and family along the way home. There will be some stops in Malmö, Alvesta, Linköping and Stockholm, before finally arriving back home again ❤️ A long journey has finally come to its end and now its time to slowly ease into “normal life” again. Work. Save money. Plan for the next thing. Whenever and whatever that may be 😊 ✨www.lukasandkim.com/blog/new-zealand-epilogue/

WE DID IT! 🥳 We finished our thruhike of New Zealand! 🌟 126 days 🌟 🌟 2906 km 🌟 *** Ahipara - Cape Reinga 106 km 21 Apr - 23 April (3 days) 90 Mile Beach! We were finally here, and it was a bit hard to believe. A place we'd thought about some now and then throughout the entire hike. And now we were here. We started the beach walk, excited to finally be here, but soon started feeling a bit tired. The views, the sounds... Nothing really changing. This beach was also not just long, the surface was really hard, much harder than the other beaches we'd walked on. So after walking barefoot for 20 km that day, we realised we'd have to wear shoes the rest of the way. We arrived at the first campsite in Hukatere in the twilight. There we met several nice people that we chatted with. Not much happened the day after. Everything was the same, same, same. To Bluff Campsite we arrived before dark. And now we had to make an important decision. The original plan had been to stay one more night before going to Cape Reinga, so we could arrive early. But now we changed our plan because of the weather, and decided to go all the way already tomorrow. Since it was a 12+ hour day, it meant we would have to go up in the middle of the night. So at 3 am, the alarm went off, and we got going. Today the views were actually a bit different, and the landscape was actually changing around us. We also walked on some trails today and walked up stairs, which was very needed for our stiff bodies. Walking up the final hill felt strange. But we were so ready for it all to be over. Just before 5:45 pm we reached the signpost and lighthouse. Just before the sunset that was hidden behind clouds. It was hard to take in. We had made it! We had finished our thruhike and Te Araroa.

Pataua South - Ahipara 265 km 11 Apr - 20 Apr (10 days) There was a lot that wasn't great this section. Our moods had been going up and down, and we had been arguing before, but now it really wasn't great. And neither was the trail. Due to whatever reasons, we had to road walk around certain sections, that apparently was supposed to be pretty nice, and these road bypasses were incredibly long and boring. Going more sideways than forward, so in a way everything felt really slow and tough, especially mentally. The rain kept coming and going and one day we just sat down to have a look at the forecast. It didn't look good. A storm, or according to some, a cyclone, was coming with 17 m/s winds and over 100 mm rain in 2 days. We decided to hunker down in Kerikeri and wait it out. It felt weird to stay in bed almost the entire day, but it was nice too. Lukas did laundry and we went to the cinema and resupplied. Then we decided to keep going. Ahead of us we had Puketi, Omahuta and Raetea Forest as we would traverse the country. Raetea is a famous mud forest that we'd heard about since we started our hike, and in Omahuta you walk several km in a river. None of this is reasonable to walk after so much heavy rain and wind, so what were we supposed to do? Well. More road walking. The tricky part though, was where to camp and where to get water. But soon we had a plan and set off. It rained on and off for the next 2 days as well. Sometimes it was just pouring down, especially just before we reached the campsites. It wasn't pleasant, but we pushed through. The third day since we left Kerikeri, we reached Kaitaia, the last town before Cape Reinga. We enjoyed some food and milkshakes, until we suddenly realised that no proper grocery stores were open because it was Easter! Luckily we found a dairy that was open, but we couldn't buy any of the things we had planned to buy, and were a bit sad about this. But we tried to do the best of the situation. Then we were off to Ahipara, on our very last road walk. Total days: 123 Total distance: 2800 km

South of Mangawhai - Pataua South 124 km 7 Apr - 10 Apr (4 days) This section started with 15 kms on a road. Normally you'd walk up over a hill through bush, but we were the opposite of excited to slide around in mud and arrive to our planned place to sleep several hours after dark, so we road walked. We stopped at a holiday park where we bought some snacks and rested to gain some energy before THE BEACH WALK! We were so happy to be on the beach with good weather. We walked barefoot in the sand and soaked it all in, but it was quickly over. After Mangawhai we didn't have so good weather, so we again decided to road walk instead of following the Te Araroa trail. It's not nice to hike in the rain on the road, but doing so through wet bush is always a lot worse. This evening we had an amazing AirBnB booked, a cute cabin, far away from any city, with rolling green hills around. Just what we needed. The next day we had a few km of road walk ahead of us before joining another beach. This time we followed the beach almost the entire day. But unfortunately, at the end of the beach, we needed to take a boat across the Whangarei Harbour. The regular boat operator wasn't available this day, nor the day after, so our only solution was to try to hitchhike around. We hitched to Whangarei, and then got picked up by some nearby trail angels, who had walked the trail earlier this year, and driven back to the trail. We were so thankful! That evening we had the most beautiful pink sunset with Beam Head in the background, and that's where we went the next day. It was an easy, yet tough walk up the 1203 steps to the top of Mt Lion. Later we enjoyed our very last beach walk on the West Coast, and our last beach walk on this hike before 90 Mile Beach. Now both of us had also beaten our previous records of longest hike (amount of days). So in a way, everything from now on was new. Total days: 113 Total distance: 2536 km

Te Kowhai - South of Mangawhai 236 km 29 Mar - 6 Apr (9 days) The last two days with Kim's parents we spent the mornings and evenings together, and used the days for making progress on the trail. From here and all the way to Auckland the trail wasn't particularly interesting. Mostly road/city walking. Walking in the Auckland area was exhausting with constant car noise, city sounds, people and traffic everywhere. We were also very stressed because of a doctor's appointment that Kim needed to figure out. After Auckland, it could've been nicer, but the weather wasn't on our side. We were excited for beach walking, but the first times the trail went along the beach, it was too wet and windy to walk there, so we needed to road walk instead. One day we had to time a river crossing, and while waiting for the tide we went to the cinema. A nice change and good way to also avoid some rain. In Stillwater we had a half day inside to wait out some winds and rain, but we were at a nice AirBnB so we didn't mind. Finally the weather started turning around, and we passed Puhoi. We had a long pleasant stop at the pub there, ate delicious food, listened to live music and bought our flight tickets home. Last time we were here was about 5,5 months ago when we'd met up with Peter (@mywalkabout.se) here, when he had just started his Te Araroa hike, going SOBO. We continued our hike north, and walked up on a hill with views over Puhoi Pub. The next few days we walked up and down hills, sometimes on roads, but mostly farm tracks and trails. We tried to keep the mood up but the trails in the bush weren't all too motivating. Total days: 109 Total distance: 2411 km

Taumarunui - Te Kowhai 263 km 21 Mar - 28 Mar (8 days) We continued hiking from Taumarunui where we left the trail a few days ago. The next day we started Timber Trail, that follows what ca 100 years ago was a tramway for the logging industry. Along the way there was plenty of signs about it which was very interesting. The trail is mainly built for cyclists, although it is perfectly fine to walk as well. Most Te Araroa trampers bike the trail from north to south. But we're walking the whole country, so we walked it. Two days later we finished, and two familiar faces showed up. It was Rose and Caleb! We hiked with them for some weeks and hadn't seen them since Methven. So nice! We realised that in between the last time we'd met, we'd walked more than 1000 km, and had a whole different pair of shoes in between our meetings! And now we'd passed 2000 km too! They were here to start Timber Trail on bikes, and we realised we were going opposite directions but would soon meet again. We continued to Te Kuiti on a road and then through a trail that was partly overgrown with bush and gorse. Kim also got stung by wasps twice! In Te Kuiti we met Caleb and Rose again, and spent a bit of time together there, and started the section to Waitomo together. We decided to walk all the way to Waitomo that evening. The last bit was tough and we were exhausted and covered in cuts when we arrived after walking through bush in the dark. Luckily the upcoming two days were better with mostly gravel roads and farm tracks. We stayed at a nice trail angel and then reached Pirongia - "the mud hill". Lots of people had written about knee deep mud here, but for us it wasn't particularly muddy at all. At the top we saw Caleb and Rose again. But what we didn't know was that we wouldn't see them again after this. We walked in the dark, still not used to the sun setting so early, and stayed at a campsite with a beautiful morning sunrise. The day after we made our way all the way to Te Kowhai, a bit off the TA trail that continues to Hamilton. Here, on day 100, we met up with Kim's parents again, that were back from the South Island! Total days: 100 Total distance: 2050 km

Whakapapa Village - Taumarunui 131 km 10 Mar - 21 Mar (7 days) After some "vacation days" it was time to head back to the trail again. We did one short day on our own, and then the next day we did Tongariro Crossing together with Kim's parents. We were really lucky with the weather, and the crossing was nice, it was just a bit odd for us to share the trail with such a huge amount of people. Sometimes it felt a bit suffocating, which took away from the experience, but we tried our best to enjoy it for what it was. The day after it was just us on the trail. Our parents were dropping us off and picking us up but the rest of the hike it was just us. It was a relief after the day before, but what was less nice was the rain and mud. The day after was not much different, except that we didn't have to fight in the mud in the forest, but was walking on a road the whole day. We came back to the accommodation and spent another evening together with Kim's parents, eating nice food and playing cards. Then we had a few days off again, driving to Taranaki - a mighty volcano close to the ocean, along the Forgotten Highway, visiting the Reuplic of Whangamomona and getting a passport stamp. We had two nights in the Taranaki area before Kim's parents drove south, to the South Island, for a few days while we got dropped off in Whanganui and hitched back to the trail in Taumarunui from there, and started hiking again. Total days: 93 Total distance: 1939 km

Hobbiton, mud pools and Mauri culture 10 Mar - 14 Mar (5 days) After hitchhiking to Auckland it was time to take a few days off from hiking and be with Kim's parents. In Auckland we had a day on Rangitoto Island, an old vulcano in the ocean outside of Auckland. Then we stayed in Cambridge, visited Hobbiton and played mini golf. Next up was Rotorua with night kayaking and glow worm caves, Maori culture in Te Puia as well as geysers, mud pools and kiwis. Of course we also spent a lot of time geocaching, eating nice food and playing cards in the evenings.

Palmerston North - Whakapapa Village 258 km 1 Mar - 9 Mar (9 days) After reaching Palmerston North, we walked from town to town, and trail angel to trail angel. First to Feilding, where we stayed with probably the nicest people yet. We got invited for dinner and breakfast and got to sleep inside and had nice conversations, and they didn't want anything in return ❤️ The next place we walked to was a place in Bulls, where we stayed in a cute cabin with an outdoor shower and lots of cute farm animals. Here we felt like we could've stayed forever. So cozy. The next day started with a road walk, that turned into a windy beach walk. At the end of the day, at Koitiata Campground, we met Lulu and Jules again and the next day we walked together with them. This day was another windy and rainy beach walk. We reached Whanganui, and in the evening Jan came to visit us one last time before he would return home. He was not hiking now but we hiked together a bit over a month ago on the South Island. The next few days consisted of road walking up the Whanganui River to Pipiriki. Those who walk the different direction usually canoe down the river, and some that walk NOBO like us hitchhike to Pipiriki to canoe it. Others do like us, but from Pipiriki, most take a jet boat ride up the river before continuing north along a hiking trail and then road walk to National Park. We decided to continue road walking to Raetihi, then past Ohakune and up along the Round the Mountain Track to eventually join up with the Te Araroa trail again in Whakapapa Village. Walking the Round the Mountain Track was really cool because it was below volcanoes. The area around was completely different to anything else in New Zealand. The rocks, the streams, the vegetation... But some parts, especially the cold air and the lack of vegetation, reminded us of our barren mountain fjell at home. Once we reached Whakapapa Village, we hitchhiked to National Park to pick up a resupply box we'd left there with new shoes, and then we continued hitchhiking north to Auckland, to meet up with Kim's parents, who just got here all the way from Sweden. Total days: 81 Total distance: 1808 km

Waikanae - Palmerston North 143 km 23 Feb - 28 Feb (6 days) If the South Island has the Richmond Ranges, North Island has the Tararuas. The Tararua Range has a notorious reputation for severe mountain weather. Rainfall along the ranges varies from 5000-8000 mm per year, and snow can lie on the tops for 3-5 months of the year. It is also one of the windiest areas in New Zealand, and on top of that there are fewer than 80 clear days each year. But we were lucky the first two days. The first day the trail was nice and easy and we were happy to be back on a proper trail again. We also caught up to Lulu and Jules, that we walked with last time to Lake Tekapo, over a month ago! The second day was tougher. First we followed a nice old tramway track, but once we left it, it got much harder. We walked up a ridge that was over a 1000 m in elevation before reaching Mt Crawford. The sun was now starting to set, and we had the most amazing sunset from up there. Something we didn't realise until afterwards that it is probably very rare to have such a sunset from the Tararuas. The upcoming 2 days the weather was overcast, and likely more "normal Tararua weather". The first day was misty and windy and we followed the ridge the entire day. The next day was less windy, but rainy instead. Luckily we were slowly making our way out of the Tararuas and down to Levin, where a trail angel picked us up at the trail. We went to buy more food, did laundry, were invited over for dinner and could sleep inside. The next day we were driven back to the trail. Now we didn't walk high up on the ridges anymore, but rather followed the valleys at the edge of the Tararuas, past Burtton's Whare Site, along old reconstructed tracks and then towards Palmerston North. The weather was very good now, and we also met another NOBO! Someone we hadn't met before. At the end of this section we also passed the Halfway Sign! Total days: 72 Total distance: 1550 km