Te Araroa, The NZ Trail

Forest and Bird, Issue 307, 1 February 2003, Page 44

Te Araroa, The NZ Trail

by Geoff Chapple, 264pp limpbound, Random House New Zealand, Auckland 2002 RRP $34.95. Geoff Chapple’s account of the planned ‘long

way through New Zealand, from Cape Reinga to Bluff, is arguably one of the bestwritten books about our outdoors. For those who follow websites, a bit will be familiar, posted as progress reports as he looked for a way the national trail could follow. This practical purpose in no way

compromises his singing descriptions of land and weather, nor the revelations of his conversations enroute. Geoff Chapple captures the ‘aloneness’ of travelling our countryside, meeting the stoic people who live in isolated places, but reacting with grace and wit to the characters and trials he encounters. Gradually Te Araroa is taking shape, with local conservation and council people picking up his enthusiasm and building little links of a journey which in the event covered 2600 kilometres. Only 43 percent of the journey — 1107 kilometres — is on established trails of varying quality; a further 868 kilometres is on legal routes, while in the meantime the Te Araroa Trust has accepted back-country roads as links. Still, there is 10 percent left to negotiate, mostly in the South Island high country, and there is much to do gaining permission and funds to cover places in between. Geoff Chapple hopes to get the legal links in place by 2005. In the meantime his book is an inspiration, and an achievement in itself.