She’s Back!
DCA Junior CAD Technician, Toni Brown, is back from her epic mission traversing the Te Araroa trail, one of the worlds' most diverse long distance trails, spanning the length of Aotearoa New Zealand. Here she gives an insight on reaching the bottom of the South Island and achieving this lofty goal…
We woke to a sky littered with stars, so brightly shining I wanted to reach up and grab them, wonderfully, just the same as my first night on trail, I had come full circle. Packing down in a flurry of excitement, the end was so close, yet I wasn’t excited to be done or be at the end, more to have achieved this crazy adventure. The whole group were pumped to get going, we all had our own feelings, but the vibe was the same for everyone.
Hiking through darkness lit by our torches we made it to the bluff sign, setting it up like a stage we took our turns 'performing' our photo op in front of everyone. Accompanied by darkness we navigated through farmland to the coast of bluff, the waves now illuminated by the approaching dawn, crashed against the cliffs. It was magical, or at least it felt it, all the way through, the sunrise coffee on an outcrop, the misty foggy views over bluff from the look out, and the forest decent to the signpost. Ill never forget the feeling that came over us as Maria summed up the journey, different for all of us, but evoking the same feelings, the end was mere feet from us, until suddenly we were right there.
I know I have changed, came back as a different person to when I left - I’m 10kgs lighter with collar bones exposed, bruises on my hips and I cant sleep at night. It was part of the goal to grow and develop, but I’m not sure I can really identify all the ways its happened. I feel charged on life, happy with who I was and excited to keep being that person, but keen to BE more, DO more, and challenge myself more. Being around large groups of people is harder than it was, the noises overwhelm me, my patience is lower, but my resilience is higher. I’m excited to keep figuring out who I am now. I became one with the dirt, only washing my hair with shampoo a total of 4 times on trail, now I have the luxury of showering everyday again. My diet can go back to normal, or healthy, by ordinary output levels. I lived off a combination of peanut butter, wraps, noodles, pasta and tuna for months, 'soul' food, namely chocolate and biscuits where for enjoyment and happiness, the rest for energy, even when your over it, you eat it. I sleep in a bed every night now, in the same place, not constantly planning where 'home' will be the next night or having to pitch a tent first.
What moments will I remember, its already fading away from me, and I want to remember it all. Walking along foggy ridgelines, climbing to mountain tops so high we could see over mountains to other mountains – Aoraki/Mt Cook, which we would later walk past, walking through large open valleys with amazing views but so hot and totally exposed, swimming totally free in waterfalls and rivers, the people who I travelled with - haunting me with my miss-speak "but once we are up, we're up".
I’m not sure if the adventure was what I thought it would be, or how it was different from that. There were plenty of hard days - a non TA walker asked me one day towards the end when was the last time I had cried, it had been the day before, that really shocked me cause it had been a great day, but something had made me cry and honestly, those hard days were where I grew, learning something about myself, or pushed myself harder than before or had to deal with a situation. I met amazing people, saw spectacular views, tested myself, tried my hardest and enjoyed MOST of it.
144 days later:
3039km
10 Weeks of walking
270,256ft approx. of elevation gain
42kms on my Longest day
23kms average per day
16 Rest days
12 clothes washes
90 Nights approx. in a tent
4 hair washes
3 bottles of sunscreen
1 damaged tent
1 replaced sleeping mat
3 pairs of shoes
6 pairs of socks
at least 1 pie & ice cream in every town
Countless packets of pasta and noodles
A world full of new friends to visit
Challenge:
The days were hard, long, steep, hot, cold, intense and somehow I managed to get out of bed every day, sometimes excited and ready, but always ready to keep pushing.
Gratitude:
I will forever cherish the people who I met along the way. They picked me up on bad days, laughed with me on good ones and shared some pretty amazing moments.
Learning:
I’m tougher than I ever thought, and now I know I can keep going, even when its hard to keep pushing.
The end.
The end of an epic adventure, would I do it all again? Probably not.. did I enjoy every moment? No. I did have a heap of fun along the way though and enjoyed all the moments that I could.