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The Blissful Hiker times the tides to kayak down the Puhoi River, rock hop then cross an estuary before walking down the North Shore to Auckland. Her young friend, Lydie, teaches her about the infinity loop and the circle inside it that represents our grounded selves.


In this episode:

1. Blissful is invited to stay as long as she likes at the Puhoi Pub and Hotel, then joins her young European friends to paddle down the river toward the coast.
2. The ranger invites them to camp on his lawn in Wenderholm.
3. A rock hop and a long road walk takes Blissful to Stillwater where another lawn camp is offered. 
4. Another estuary with a deep river cross takes Blissful to the North Shore with on and off rain all the way to Devenport where the ferry shows up just as she walks down the pier. 

MUSIC: Suite Argentina: Malambo by Horacio Salgán as played by Alison Young, flute and Vicki Seldon, piano
available on iTunes

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The Blissful Hiker wakes up on Pakiri Beach and heads right back into muddy bush where she meets two young people, then two more, who give her some very good advice. 


In this episode: 

1. Blissful heads into the bush for a few days and is now an expert at slogging through epic mud.
2. She instructs two slower hikers to just walk through it, and is invited to go first. 
3. They camp together and offer Blissful a beer at the end of a hard day.
4. Breakfast is at the Dome Cafe where two more join in, also wise for their years, telling Blissful not to worry about anything and take each day as it comes. 
5. They all meet up again at the Puhoi Pub where Blissful gets a well-deserved room fro the night. 

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 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
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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
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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
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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
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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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