I’m going on a walk soon, it’s a long walk, actually, it’s a very long walk, about three thousand kilometres and is known as a thru hike and this will be my very first thru hike.

Te Araroa is considered by some as one of the toughest thru hikes in the world due to it’s varied terrain and the weather that you’re likely to encounter along the way. Added to that are several hundred river crossings, lots of mud, days between resupply points - the longest being eight or nine days, numerous mountain passes, sandflies, wasps, miles of road walking, poorly maintained tracks and, yes I could go on.

So why? Why would I leave a perfectly comfortable lifestyle to endure all of that? Why when there’s easier thru hikes in other countries? What has motivated me to seek out the unknown, when the known is available, to challenge myself in this way?