Award-winning journalist Naomi Arnold set off from Bluff in December 2023 to walk Te Araroa. Her new book, Northbound: Four seasons of solitude on Te Araroa, explores the intricacies of life on the Long Pathway.

Tell us about walking the TA through every season.

I never intended to go north and spend eight-and-a-half months on [the] trail. I had planned to go south for about four to six months, but I had freelance work on trail that took longer than expected and a month of illness and injury, plus more waiting for storms. And then I just refused to go home – I wanted to do the TA in one hit. It was my stubbornness. I have a very patient husband. I ended up finishing in spring, which was totally unplanned.

We hear how busy the walk can be, but your experience was quite different.

From mid-April to September, from the Richmond Ranges to Kaitāia, I saw just one other TA walker and he was only walking for three weeks. The busiest part would’ve been the Motatapu Track in February, with lots of southbound walkers coming through, but still I never missed out on a bed in a hut. I started the Tararua section on the first of June – it was absolutely gorgeous in winter. Perhaps people could adjust their walking season if they are seeking solitude?

What was tramping through winter like? 

Dark, crisp and cold, dodging occasional rain and storms. I was very lucky with the weather. The days were short, though, which meant the sun disappeared around 2 or 3pm and there were a lot of long, cold lonely nights in which I wrote Northbound on my iPad. Because I was alone I had to be cautious with weather, rivers and in more isolated areas. 

While you were away your husband, Doug, built you a walking track at home in Nelson. What’s it like?

It follows a river on a neighbour’s land between our properties. Doug worked on it all through winter with a headlamp, digging, chopping tree roots and benching the track. It was 1km, and now he has extended it through forestry and it’s 3km return. He felt it connected us – it was a way for him to cope with my absence. He called it Te Ara Iti (the Little Pathway). 

What was reintegration like?

It was weird. I couldn’t put makeup on; I felt like a clown. I couldn’t handle crowds, I felt like my senses were quite overwhelmed. 

There were positive changes, too, however. I dealt with a lot of hard stuff on the trail, personal stuff – nothing major, but difficult relationships and memories. There was a lot of crying alone and having to adapt to situations, suffer and just get on with it. It has changed me massively. I feel a lot more love for humanity now. I’m more understanding, compassionate and generally extremely joyful these days.

What advice would you give to someone who is thinking of doing the TA? 

Get your pack weight down as much as possible to help prevent injury. Practise blister prevention. Allow more time than you think so you can have extra days to rest, and get a prescription for Voltaren 75. That, plus Paracetamol, magnesium and a spiky physio ball were my nightly lifesavers.

Northbound is available on the Wilderness website. Subscribers receive a 10% discount.