A Dangerous Business

In a week’s time, I will board a plane destined for Auckland, leaving behind my friends and family who I won’t see again for 4.5 months. Granted I am flying with Jetstar so take that previous sentence with a pinch of salt. But, assuming all goes to plan, I only have 6 days until I begin my adventure on Te Araroa. Two years of researching, planning, and dithering over the smallest details on spreadsheets has all led up to this.

I sometimes think that I enjoy the planning stage more than actually going places when it comes to holidays and adventures like this. Two years ago, the thought of walking 3000 km through New Zealand was enthralling. I watched and red countless videos and blogs on the track, pouring over the images of windswept mountains, longing to be there myself. But as D-Day has drawn near… those feelings have given way to concern and nervousness, even losing sleep fretting over everything I needed to get done before I leave. I didn’t want to start my adventure with unfinished business in Australia.

Thankfully there’s an easy solution to that problem: imitate Santa by making a list (albeit one filled with tasks to complete, not one filled with the names of nice/naughty kids). Funnily enough, my reaction once I had written everything down was “that’s it?” The only major tasks I had to do was make and publish the videos of my trips to Carnarvon and Victoria (links to them are at the bottom of this post), research some new equipment, and sell my car. The equipment research was based primarily around my pack and looking for ways to reduce my base weight, motivated by the large amount of shoulder pain I experienced on both walks I did in September. I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what the root cause was, but I could tell that my pack wasn’t sitting right. The BlackWolf McKinley is also rather heavy at 2.02 kg, so finding a suitable lighter alternative would definitely help in the long run. At the same time, buying a new pack would mean that I would be committing the cardinal sin of going on a long distance hike with untested equipment.

With that said, the amount of discomfort my current pack was giving me couldn’t be ignored, so I went shopping, eventually landing on the Osprey Exos 58 (shout out to the staff at Paddy Pallin for all your help in finding an appropriate pack and fitting it correctly). It’s much lighter than my McKinley, coming in at 1.3 kg. The obvious difference is the 17 litre reduction in volume between it and the McKinley, potentially leading to some difficulties in fitting everything inside it. So far it’s – surprisingly – been fine, and I can really notice how much lighter it is, which will do wonders for my feet and body in the long term.

Beyond my preparations for Te Araroa, the last month has been pretty busy. A week after I returned from the GOW, I went on a weekend trip with my housemates to Stanthorpe, along with a stop in Toowoomba during their Carnival of Flowers.

Our main purpose for the trip was to visit some of the wineries in the Granite Belt region. I’m not a huge wine drinker but I still enjoyed the experience. On our final day, we spent the morning at Girraween National Park, climbing up to Castle Rock.

It was a pretty easy track up until the last couple hundred metres where the “track” is just some painted lines on some not very grippy granite. The boys and I took it easy and had a wonderful time. It’s a shame we couldn’t have explored more of the park, but with a 3+ hour drive ahead of us we didn’t want to get back too late. It’s a good thing we didn’t dawdle, because as soon as we arrived home, something didn’t feel right. Turns out I had food poisoning, as did everyone else. In between our bouts of throwing up, we came up with 3 theories for what caused it: some dodgy Maccas, an apple pie we ate on our way home, or a cheese platter from one of the wineries we visited. The latter option was the most likely, as the owner did mention that his wife was unwell at the time, so he may have unknowingly passed on a bug to us. Shame, because it was a pretty awesome platter.

Once my stomach started accepting food again, I began getting my affairs in order, ticking things off the list I had created. Now, with only 6 days to go, that list is close to being complete, which has done wonders in reducing the nervousness I was feeling a couple weeks ago when nothing had been done on it. This weekend, I will be saying goodbye to my housemates and moving back with my parents until I fly.

I still can’t believe that this is actually happening.