My shoes are caked in mud, all my clothes smell far from ‘pleasant’, and I’ve got more sand fly bites than I can count on my feet. But the smile on my face is wide and my sense of adventure is soaring high! We just finished the first section of the Te Araroa trail- The Queen Charolette Track!
But before I get ahead of myself let’s pick up where we left off…
In the last post our ferry was just arriving on the South Island of New Zealand. When we set foot in Picton, we were greeted by our awesome friend – Hannah!
She is a kayak/ trekking guide and she set us up with some sea kayaks for the afternoon! We hoped straight into a paddling adventure. The sun was bright and we learned early on to apply lots of sunscreen. The UV in NZ is very high for a few reasons. One, their air is cleaner- less industrial pollution. Two, the ozone layer is thinner in the summer.
Life lesson- always use sunscreen. No. Matter. What.
Jeremy and I paddled to a small beach to enjoy our lunch of muesli and yogurt powder (it is actually our breakfast we have pretty much every day on trail). From there we paddled around a small island teaming with fascinating birds!
In the evening we celebrated Hannah’s 23rd birthday with a bbq on the beach. What birthday party would be perfect without fireworks on the dock?
23 January, 2026 (Day 1)
We took a water taxi all the way up to Ship Cove – with nothing but our backpacks (and our last proper coffee for a while). The first section of the TA is the Queen Charlotte Track. It’s known for being beautiful and a gentle way to adjust your body to New Zealand’s not so gentle trails.
When we got dropped off by the water taxi, there was a very sober feeling… we really have to walk the 75 km (45 miles) to the next town, using only what we brought! I hope we chose our gear well… the next few months will show if we did or not!
We began the hike with a very gentle walk to the first campsite and nestled our tent by the ocean. The first day was about arriving and being fully present with what lie ahead. We didn’t want to push ourselves too hard, but instead give our bodies time to adjust.
24 January, 2026 (Day 2)
We woke up with about 15 miles of walking ahead of us to the next site! We ended up walking with a girl from Sweden the whole day, and loved swapping stories of our cultures.
We arrived at our tent site at a reasonable time in the afternoon and enjoyed a swim in the ocean! This bay is also known for the sting rays and the next morning, we saw a bunch of them!
25 January, 2026 (Day 3)
Even on trail, we find the importance of Sabbath and rest. Today was our first Sabbath on trail. For Sabbath days, decided to do a shorter day of hiking and make sure to pack an extra “treat” meal for these days! We went up on the ridge line today with some stunning views!!! Today was our first time camping up on top of the mountain. We were blessed with a still night and beautiful sunrise as we sat above the cloud line.
26 January, 2026 (Day 4)
Today was our toughest day yet! With about 15 miles of trail, and 2360 ft of elevation gain. The good news? Our packs are pretty light by this point since we have eaten most of our food!
Even though it was tough, we can feel our bodies growing stronger!
We arrived at our favorite camp spot yet!
It’s a beautiful spot on grass by the bay and the sun is shinning!
We went for a swim as soon as we arrived! There was a stream as-well so we went to wash our clothes. I was enticed by a small waterfall to wash my hair but as a stood there I let out a loud scream!
AAHHHHHH!!!!!!!
There are eels!!!
Sure enough- I had forgotten. A lot of New Zealand’s fresh water streams and rivers have fresh water eels. They aren’t harmful unless they feel threatened than they might bite you, but it gave me quite a fright to see a large, snake like creature slither through the water only inches from my leg.
Jeremy and I had a good laugh over my slightly dramatic reaction 😂
We enjoyed the rest of the evening with rice noodles and tuna for dinner!
Somehow we lucked out and had the place almost entirely to ourselves!
It was an absolutely stunning view!
27 January, 2026 (Day 5)
We let ourselves sleep in and truly soak up the spot we are in! Today is an easy walk into Anakiwa and from there we will decide if we want to walk or hitchhike into Havelock. We opted for hitching and got picked up by this lovely family from Israel! After hearing we were doing this hike for our honeymoon, they offered us some of the banana bread they had on hand as a celebratory “wedding cake”. It was such a wonderful experience of meeting complete strangers that helped us along the journey and even gave us a little treat! After 4 days on ramen and dried food, banana bread never tasted so good!
We checked into a local hostel and got a room so we have space to make a game plan and resupply for the next section.
The next section… the dreaded Richmond Ranges. This is known to be the hardest part of the trail! It will realistically take us 9 days to complete, but we are packing food for 11 days incase we run into some bad weather!
The Richmond’s is a very weather dependent section, so we are hoping we caught the perfect window! The 10 day forecast looks perfect and so it’s time to tackle this mountain range!
28 January, 2026 (Day 6)
We are grabbing a last pie and coffee in town and then walking or hitching to Polaris Bridge… we will see you on the other side of the Richmond’s!
Comments
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So awesome! I LOVE reading this. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your experience. We’re praying for you!
Thanks Jess!!! Love to hear that you guys are following along and we definitely need prayer to make it up some of these mountains!!!