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The Blissful Hiker learns that her subconscious needed this journey of thousands of steps on the Te Araroa as well as important lessons about taking measured leaps of faith and letting go of the need to control to allow the trail itself to provide.

In this episode: 

1. Blissful is awakened in Ruakaka by a bird with a microphone, then heads back on the beach. 
2. She meets interesting characters at Dragonspell who tell her how important it is to take the long walk, and that the trail will provide. 
3. The resident kiwi sings to her before a long day of road walking. 
4. Just when she loses hope, she's back at the beach and surfers convince her to camp in the dunes, permission given by the residents. 

MUSIC: Poema del Pastor Coya by Angel Lasala as played by Alison Young, flute and Vicki Seldon, piano
available on iTunes

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The Blissful Hiker walks the Taiharuru estuary with a Te Araroa veteran, then heads to the summit of Bream Head where meeting people at just the right moment open pathways she hadn't noticed.


In this episode: 

1. Ros grabs Olive Oyl and leads the way across the estuary barefoot. 
2. Blissful walks across Ocean Beach, then up Bream Head and meets people who show her the way to the view and isolated Peach Cove. 
3. She arrives at just the right moment to cross Whangarei Harbour, then walks to Ruakaka. 
4. She meet Betty in the store and shares a meal, a song and a spot to set up the alicoop. 

MUSIC: Pastoral Calchaqui by Hector Gallac as played by Alison Young, flute and Vicki Seldon, piano
available on iTunes

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The Blissful Hiker is tripped by a branch, rolling her ankle and falling down hard. But miraculously, she can still walk and is offered many chances to start over on this hike, move on and forgive.

In this episode:

1. The day starts crossing the longest footbridge in the Southern Hemisphere over the Whananaki Estuary. 
2. A local moves her along, as does a big black cow.
3. At Tane Moana, she sees a massive kauri and then wipes out and sprains her ankle. 
4. A trail angel named Cheryl gives her ice, arnica and an Ace bandage.
5. Estuaries, beaches and bush take her finally to Tidesong, where she sees the "kayak boys" and a second chance to forgive and let go.

MUSIC: Movin' On by Rhonda Larson as played by Alison Young. 

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People show up right when the Blissful Hiker needs them in Northland, New Zealand on the Te Araroa trail, making her believe trail angels do indeed exist.


In this episode:

1. The Blissful Hiker walks into the song-filled Russell Forest on the Papakauti Stream-as-trail.
2. She swims in a refreshing pool with a friend and feels baptized in its refreshing coolness.
3. She doesn't skip the road and ends up in splendid Helena Bay, where two local trail angels take her in.
4. The walk gets much harder on "advanced tramping track" through the Morepork and Onekainga tracks.
5. She camps with another fellow hiker next to the Whananaki estuary and falls asleep knowing she will never pass this way again, so best to stay alert, present and fully alive where she is. 

MUSIC: Introduccion y Allegro by Carlos Guastavino as played by Alison Young, flute and Vicki Seldon, piano
available on iTunes

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A risky kayak portion of the Te Araroa up the Waikare Inlet in the Bay of Islands leaves the Blissful Hiker wondering if, in the words of James Agee, kindness watches for her.


In this episode: 

1. The Blissful Hiker takes her first "zero" day – walking no miles – in Kaeo and tries green-lipped mussels and Whangaroa oysters for the first time. 
2. She gets care for her infected pink eye picked up on "Conjunctivitis Coast," the Ninety Mile Beach in straight line winds.
3. Nervous on her first day hiking alone, she immediately loses her trail notes.
4. In Pahia, she rents a kayak and paddles with four hikers who take off, leaving her behind and bereft. 
5. A night of star-filled wonder and new creatures humming and buzzing in the bush remind her she came here to challenge herself and that includes being vulnerable to fear and rejection.

Sure on this shining night
Of starmade shadows round,
Kindness must watch for me
This side the ground.
–James Agee

MUSIC: Suite by Ernst Krenek as played by Alison Young, flute and the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic and Charles Johnson
available on iTunes

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A selfie reveals a face battered by a week of long distance backpacking and the Blissful Hiker considers her mortality and how to keep her hike – and her life – from being a bore.

In this episode:

1. The Blissful Hiker considers her mortality after taking a selfie of her backpack-beaten face then seeing a row of wild boar carcasses.
2. She considers how carefully chosen gear protects her body, and how a change of attitude keeps a thru-hike – and life too – from becoming a bore. 
3. She starts to miss mud on an "easy tramping track" through sheep poo, and is warned to be careful what you wish for.
4. She helps rescue an orphaned duckling before the day ends with a swim under waterfalls chased by a cold beer.

If ever there was a metaphor to illustrate the importance of the journey over the destination, it is life itself. For everyone who departs from birth is destined for death, so the journey IS life. Savor it! – Michele Jennae 

MUSIC: Poema del Pastor Coya by Angel Lasala as played by Alison Young, flute and Vicki Seldon, piano
available on iTunes

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It's not until the end of the day when the Blissful Hiker enters a magical forest preserve of towering Cathedral-sized Kauri does she realize here is precisely where she needs to be in this moment.  

In this episode: 

1. The Blissful Hiker awakens to a cacophonous symphony of birdsong, puts on her muddy socks and shoes and walks right back into soul-sucking mud. 
2. A walk across a farm and road walk take her to a hamburger.
3. A rainy night at Apple Dam teaches her how to pack up a damp campsite.
4. Trail angels and curious sites keep her company on an easy walk. 
5. A sidetrip to see magnificent Kauri remind her that she is exactly where she needs to be – walking the Te Araroa. 

MUSIC: Poema del Pastor Coya by Angel Lasala as played by Alison Young, flute and Vicki Seldon, piano
available on iTunes

A symphony of birdsong awakens me in the Raetea Forest, a cushion of grass my mattress and just enough water left for breakfast. My shoes and socks are caked with the stuff and I’m putting off placing my feet in them for as long as possible. Out of the forest, through a farm, then onto road. This is one of the major complaints about the Te Araroa. 

It’s really not that bad as the road slowly climbs up, the Mangamuka Dairy right at the top of this hill. Apple Dam Camp is another wide grassy spot in the bush and it rained all night long. Waking up in rain is absolutely depleting. Ask any thru-hiker and they will likely tell you that it’s not the rain itself that’s the problem – it’s packing in rain. 

I pass pastel colored bee boxes in uneven stacks, buzzing workers swarming the white flowered manuka nearby. A slow moving vehicle crawls closer and two hunters lean out to ensure I take the right turn at the next fork. Even though it’s midday, I pose my standard question, “Do you have a beer you could sell me?” 

Only moments to the end, I break off from the rest and take a detour to Manginangina. This moment here, right now is magic, holy, like walking into a cathedral. Muir Woods of Australasia.

Aside from needing to find water and places to camp, the “getting there” aspect was pretty much absent. My walking became an act for its own sake. The continuous, rhythmic perambulation, and my own company and observations, brought me to the present moment of my feet very simply walking on this earth. 

And you know what? That’s precisely why I came here.

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Slogging through epic mud in the New Zealand bush, the Blissful Hiker learns about plunging straight through difficult passages, never making assumptions and always looking for the beauty around her. 

In this episode:

1. On only day 5, the Blissful Hiker cheats and allows her friend of a friend of a friend Peter to drive her past the road walk section. 
2. She enters real New Zealand bush, the Raetea Forest, which begins easily, but then plunges her straight into epic mud.
3. She hears the R2D2 squawk song of a Tui for the first time 
4. She gets lost for a moment, but soon finds a wide grassy part of the trail to set her tent.
5. She learns about plunging straight through difficult passages, never making assumptions and always looking for the beauty around her. 

MUSIC: Impresiones de la Puna by Alberto Ginastera as played by Alison Young, flute and Vicki Seldon, piano
available on iTunes

Does it count if cheating wasn’t my idea? Peter wonders if I’d “betray the mission” by having him drive me to the next town because the Te Araroa Trust had to divert the trail due to Kauri dieback. 

The Ninety Mile Beach felt deserted, remote and lonely, and it’s not an understatement to say I feel culture shock pulling into the massive parking lot of an equally massive box store called Pak’nSav to pick up a few items for the coming days. 

We bump and lurch up the Takahue Saddle Road to the Mangamuka Route. The air is cool and fresh, the smell so different now – sweetly pungent, earthy and moist. 

But then he points to my left, to a tiny opening in the thick foliage. That’s the way? In there? It’s a trail about a meter wide aggressively cutting up the mountain now; straight up. 
The mud is thick and sticky, wet and slippery. Roots crisscross the path and I learn quickly not to try and balance on them as a means to avoid the mud, because they’re worse than the mud, greasy and unstable. 

Irene and I are quiet in our thoughts and then she says, “A tui!” I hear a few bell-like sounds amidst clicks, cackles, creaks, groans and wheezes more like R2D2 than any bird I’d ever heard. I learn later tuis can sound like two birds because of their bifurcated sound-producing organ called a syrinx.  

The afternoon gives way and the light begins to change, warming to a deep orange the tall Rimu covered in Dr. Seussian epicytes and long, black tendrilly, supplejack. A wooden sign points to Makene Road one way and TA SOBO (or southbound) the other with the encouraging words, “Only 2,850 kilometers to go!”

What about this day, I think. What has it taught me? To just plow through the tough stuff and not care if you get dirty. To never assume and to look and listen for all the beauty around you, even if you’re tired and uncertain you’ll find a flat place to camp. 

That’s the wonder of hiking, that you really, truly have to let go – of expectations, of being hard on yourself, of having to do things in the right way because sometimes the day just gets away from you and you have to improvise. 

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The Te Araroa – or long pathway – dispenses with formalities, taking the Blissful Hiker onto an exposed start of drenching squalls, inconvenient tides and a never-ending roar of the waves.


In this episode:

1. The Blissful Hiker starts walking the Ninety Mile Beach, a long strip of sand that will take three days to complete, a baptism by fire for causing injury, boredom and many hikers to quit the Te Araroa. 
2. She learns that thru-hiking is a lesson in patience. 
3. Her tent, the alicoop, crashes down in the ferocious wind, but the TA goddess stops the rain, and she reorients it under a blanket of stars.
4. On the final day, the wind changes, coming directly in her face, but she rises to the challenge, met in Ahipara by a new friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend. 

MUSIC: Pastorale Calchaqui by Hector Gallac as played by Alison Young, flute and Vicki Seldon, piano
available on iTunes

The Te Araroa – or long pathway – dispenses with formalities, taking any hiker who dares onto an exposed start of drenching squalls, inconvenient tides and a never-ending roar of sound that begins as a curious lullaby, but in time, crescendos to a scream. 

Fortunately, I’ve been warned about the beach, mostly told not to underestimate how difficult it is even though a simple point A to point B, on flat ground. Even young and healthy hikers manage to injure themselves with painful tendonitis, shin splints or shred their tender city-feet in a mass of blisters. Total exposure to the elements of wind, rain, and sun, no water and loud monotony make this one of the most difficult starts of any thru-hike in the world. It’s a baptism by fire – or more accurately, water.

Beautiful, lovingly built stairs with rubber grips take us steeply down through the bush. Little did I know this would be one of only a handful of well-built and maintained portions of the 3,000 kilometer trail. 

It looks like it was my turn for my tent – the alicoop ­– to crash down on me. It’s no one’s fault, really, certainly not the gear, just that I set behind a wind screen that only protected me for the half of the night before the wind changed directions. 

To survive today’s, I make a plan to divide it into thirds. I’ll use each 10k section to consider some ‘deep thoughts.’

1. What causes a person to make the decision to walk for five months?

2. Why does said person need a plan to get through a particularly long, hard day?

3. What must it feel like to be free, like one of these wild horses?

In no time, the wind picks up to dry me off. But this time, it’s straight in my face. At Ahipara, Peter treats me like his own daughter, looking at me with concern when he remarks that I have sand on my cheeks and in the corners of my eyes. 

Joining me for a glass of wine he wonders if it would be considered cheating to skip the long, dangerous road walk to Kaitaia and allow him to drive me to the next section. 

I tell him not if I don’t tell anyone!

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The Blissful Hiker flies to New Zealand, drives to the Meeting Place of the Tasman Sea and Pacific Ocean at Cape Reinga and within 36 hours, she begins to walk the Te Araroa towards Bluff.


In this episode:

1. The Blissful Hiker has her first encounter with authentic Kiwi "trail angel" hospitality.
2. She's taken up the winding, roller-coaster roads of Northland to Cape Reinga.
3. She learns security is just an illusion and we have to take risks to truly live.  
4. She immediately begins hiking and just as immediately takes a wrong turn. 
5. Rain, hail, hot sun, tides and the constant sound of waves are her companions for the first 100 kilometers. 

MUSIC: The Horizon from Owhiro Bay by Gareth Farr (used by permission)
The Pee Rag by Stacia Bennett

The Show: 

I found out what a pee rag is right around the same time I met Irene on Facebook. She’s a Kiwi from Hamilton, planning to walk the TA in sections. She planned to start from Cape Reinga on October 29, my start date. 

I fly over puffy clouds above crystalline bays abutting sandy beaches fed by winding streams and estuaries. Hilly bright green pastures and dark bush see rain falling in the distance, and the ocean beyond that to infinity. If all goes as planned, to walk back to Auckland, will take me a month. 

 I’m out of my comfort zone, having reckoned with what really matters in my life and putting to the test risking security for something intangible. Helen Keller wrote “Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.” Security is an illusion. You have to risk a bit of adventure to really live.

This part of the country is called Northland or the far, far, north. The sky clears above a wide track through flax and yucca, azure waves in long rows crashing beneath us as we rise up on high cliffs. We spot our first trail sign, a plastic orange triangle nailed onto a wooden post. It leads us away from the beach up onto a sandy bluff dotted with bright yellow lupine. 

“I sure hope we’re not lost,” Irene says, just as I realize, we most surely are. 

Irene and I were never really lost, just misguided. 

Oyster Catchers peep at us as we pass, their eyes looking askance. Sponges, jellyfish and small piles of broken shells fan out at the water’s edge. It all seems a bit unreal, the route taking us under the curve of a rainbow towards another squall line and tonight’s destination.

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