Should we be doing more for the Te Araroa Trail walkers?

You’ve probably seen them - a determined stride, various states of bedraggledness. If you get close enough, possibly a little hard on the nose. 

They are Te Araroa Trail walkers. 

I’m pleased you asked, grab a coffee and I’ll explain. 

The Te Araroa (the long pathway) trail is a 3000km on and off-road walking route from Cape Reinga to Bluff. Most walkers will take anywhere between three and six months to complete the journey. 

A national walkway was first mooted in the 1970s by the Federated Mountain Clubs of New Zealand, and then the newly-formed New Zealand Walkways Commission, but significant progress proved difficult until journalist Geoff Chapple arrived in the mid-1990s and created the Te Araroa Trust. 

Photo: Te Araroa Trail walkers walking from Riverton to Invercargill along Oreti Beach. Pic: Nathan Burdon

By 2006 the trail was being included in local government policies and it was officially opened by Governor General Sir Jerry Mateparae in 2011. 

The trail has approximately 300 sections, ranging from walks of one to two hours through to an approximately nine-day route in the South Island. 

Forty per cent of the trail crosses conservation land. 

Trust chief executive Mark Weatherall believes the number of people walking the full trail over the most recent summer would have exceeded 1000 for the first time. About two-thirds of them were overseas visitors. Many thousands more walk individual sections of the trail. 

Comparisons have been made with internationally-acclaimed United States walking routes, the Appalachian Trail (3527km) and the Pacific Crest Trail (4264km). 

The Te Araroa Trail is, simply, a stunning national asset, but one that many New Zealanders are unfamiliar with. 

You might have seen ‘TA’ walkers in Colac Bay or Riverton, trudging their way along Dunns Rd through Otatara, or celebrating the finish at Stirling Point. 

I was only vaguely aware of Te Araroa until last month, when members of our family completed the 1200km South Island stretch, walking from Blenheim to Bluff in about 65 days. 

The stories they told were amazing. Their achievement is a significant one; but I’d have to admit to some feelings of mild embarrassment about the final day route from Invercargill to Bluff. 

Most TA walkers travel north to south, and there’s been plenty written about the less-than-ideal final leg. 

Photo: Successfully finishing the Te Araroa Trail at Stirling Point. Pic: Nathan Burdon

Environment Southland’s Invercargill to Bluff off-road trail will eventually ensure a much safer and attractive route, but there are a number of agencies involved, and the challenges have been not-insignificant. 

There also appears to be some confusion amongst walkers about land access in the approach to Bluff and the most scenic way of getting to Stirling Point. 

Invercargill City Councillor Lloyd Esler used to travel down to Bluff and greet each finisher with a commemorative medal, but the increasing numbers have made that untenable. Sometimes he’d even give them a lift back to town, even though they were usually a little ‘whiffy’. Walkers can now purchase medals from a nearby café or the Bluff service centre. 

Once a year Esler pulls together a group to clear gorse and broom on the track from Colac Bay to Riverton and has walked most of the trail south of the historic Martin’s Hut in the Longwoods. 

Because walkers aren’t required to pay to use the trail, or even register, no one really knows how many actually make it to Bluff. Esler believes it would be anywhere between 500 and 1000 over the past summer. 

Esler would love to see the introduction of a passport or discount book for walkers and agrees about the challenges faced on the final day. The lack of parking space and other infrastructure at Stirling Point was also an issue he’d love to see addressed. 

Te Araroa Trust chair David McGregor estimates the record number of walkers over the past summer added more than $5million into the New Zealand economy, often in parts of the country which don’t benefit from major tourism initiatives. While they travel lightly, walkers report an average spend of between $7000 and $10,000 during their journey. 

Learning more about the Te Araroa experience has left me wondering whether there's an opportunity to celebrate our famed southern hospitality in the way we look after these intrepid walkers. 

Is there more we could be doing to ensure they go away talking about the end of their walk as a highlight of the journey, rather than an anticlimax?