?????'s about the Te Araroa in New Zealand

[CornerCreek27]

Hi All, Maybe some Kiwis or others who have hiked NZ can help me out,

I plan to hike the South Island chunk of the TA going Northbound, starting out of Invercargill in Mid-late November and getting to the top at Nelson sometime in January.

Firstly does this plan make sense timewise. I will be hiking AT style and don't want to have to worry about too much snow in the high passes etc.

Second: On the AT I used a snopeak gigapower stove which I still have and like a lot. In NZ is it possible to find the pressurized Iso-butane gas canasters in medium to large sized towns? Or do Kiwis use other means for cooking on their tramps.

More Generally any advice on food, sleeping or planning in general on the TA. I'm waiting for my copy of the trail book to come in and haven't been able to find a whole lot of good info on the internet.

Thanks for any info you got!
CatNap

[CyborgAT]

Contact Joe from Zpacks, he hiked the TA a couple years ago

[Firefighter503]

Gonna go ahead and tag this. There is a small chance I may decide to be hiking the TA around that same time period. Won't know for sure for a another month or so though.

Joe is on here. Maybe he has a journal/blog from when he did it that he'd like to share with us... off to Le Google.

[singing wind]

Definitely not recommended to start from Bluff during spring. Far early to get through the South Island, unless you want to be doing a lot of roadwalk detours. Are you the same person who recently posted a similar question on the TA Facebook page?

Here's a few resources:
The most active group by far is the Te Araroa Trust's Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/groups/26638669574/
Te Araroa Forums - http://teararoatrail.freeforums.org/index.php
Track Guides & Maps
Te Araroa Trust - main web site
http://www.teararoa.org.nz/

http://www.teararoa.org.nz/northisland/ - North Island track guides and maps
http://www.teararoa.org.nz/northisland/ - South Island track guides and maps
http://www.teararoa.org.nz/trailstatus/ - track closure notices

- keep an eye on this page as well as track closures or reroutes listed in the track notes that have to do (usually) with lambing season.

- Suggest waiting a bit before printing maps, just checked and it's still v32 - sometimes they have been updated to the next version in September or October.



New this year:

Te Araroa Wiki - set up by Joe Delfino and Ben Issler
http://teararoatrail.freeforums.org/index.php

- a general all-around resource

Thorsten Brocke's detailed notes (2013-14 thru-hiker)
http://teararoa.wolfeye.de/index.php?sel=70
- he compiled an ebook with all his blog entries and very detailed notes.


TA hiker's blogs and web sites
http://www.teararoa.org.nz/trailstories/


Weather:

Check metservice.com for local, mountain, & surf and beach weather.
Weather can be anything just about any time of year. It can snow on the South Island in the summer and has done so (the year Freebird thru-hiked TA, for instance).

The Mountain Safety Council, Federated Mountain Clubs and the New Zealand Alpine club are excellent as well.

[Grampsb]

Here's a good link to Buck30 who do the trail a couple of years ago.
http://postholer.com/journal/viewJou...&event_id=2149