How Lorelai Gilmore Inspired A Te Araroa Thru Hike

How Did I Get Here…?

Oh dear.

There are only a few short weeks until I hit the trail: 8 at present, less if I decide I need to head out sooner. And, outside of amassing a lot of very expensive gear for an adventure I don’t even know if I will complete, any actual preparation for the trail has been lacking.

If you’re new here, here’s the thing: I’ve never done anything like this before! Unlike the majority of young people on my side of the globe, I never embarked on a post-university “OE” (Overseas Experience). I never travelled through fifteen or twenty different countries, immersing myself in the culture and history and learning more about myself in the process. 

Instead, I sat at home in a groggy mess, playing the host to numerous mental health parasites such as PTSD, anxiety and depression, allowing my worst fears to self-perpetuate. When I eventually pulled myself out of this cycle, I found that nearly 10 years of my life had passed by and I’d seen none of my dreams realised. 

This realisation kicked off another round of the mental health hostage crisis.

Somewhere amongst the goop that was my life at this point, I knew I had to change something. I’d developed some (very) unhealthy behaviours and dug myself so deep into a rut that I couldn’t see daylight anymore. The long and arduous process of mental health recovery was hard, but I focussed on taking little steps here and there.

And then, eventually, I decided I needed to do something. I yearned for something. Something completely life-changing. Something completely … else.

Following the ‘Something Else’

This version of the Something Else first raised its head about two years ago with a bi-annual round of Gilmore Girls. Actually, this was the fourth round of Gilmore Girls I’d binged on in the previous twelve month period: I go through cycles of hopelessly immersing myself in fictional worlds to take the heat off of my real life failures. Gilmore Girls re-runs are nothing to be sniffed at. With 153 40 minute(ish) episodes over seven seasons, they can take weeks to complete. Add to that the fact that all re-runs now include the 2016 Sherman-Palladino four-instalment “Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life” wrap-up, and you’ve got yourself a mission.

The “Summer” episode of the Year in the Life season has Lorelai embarking on a life discovery mission of her own as she decides to “do Wild“. That is to say, follow in Cheryl Strayed‘s footsteps and complete a section hike of the Pacific Crest Trail. 

I didn’t think much of it at the time. In fact, the total thought process probably went something like:

“Hey… Wild. That’s a book I’ve been meaning to read. I haven’t seen the movie either. I wonder if I’m a book or movie person. I’ll check to see if the library has the book tomorrow… I need a new book to read.”

So I read the book. And I watched the movie. And at some point I decided I wanted to do Wild as well. 

In my obsession, I came across Jessica “Dixie” Mills (Homemade Wanderlust). By the time I found her, she’d already hiked both the Appalachian Trail (AT) and Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) I followed along religiously with her video updates, and binged her entire PCT hike in a matter of weeks. It didn’t take long for me to get hooked.

At some point during this process I found myself wondering whether thru-hiking the PCT was feasible for me. Outside of my initial Wild phase, I never considered section hiking. I’ve always been an all-or-nothing kind of girl. I had some major barriers to consider. For one thing, I was terrified of flying. For another, I’d never done any kind of hiking (and certainly never a thru-hike) before. 

And so I decided to do it.

My lack of experience meant I’d need to train and prepare hard. So I looked around for longer trails in the Australasia region, expecting to find a suitable trail somewhere across the ditch.

To my jaw-dropping surprise, I not only found a long trail close to me, but I found out that it is located right here, in my own country: Te Araroa. 

I wouldn’t have to get on a plane. I wouldn’t have to organise visas. I wouldn’t even have to exchange money. I could (effectively) just start walking it. And so, my Te Araroa journey began.

Here’s Why You Can Do It Too

It didn’t take too long for the terror to set in. But not of the undertaking itself. Not of the thought of spending 4-5 months on my feet, hiking through rugged and harsh terrain, along beaches, through jungle, and over mountains. No, none of that. 

I was terrified of failing.

In my whole life, I’ve really only succeeded at my education. I graduated from high school top of my class and promptly went on to coast through university. I managed to attain a law degree, but not with the honours I was hoping for. And then I pulled a Masters degree out of the bag during a short stint studying in Australia. I practised law for about 4 years (first as a paralegal in Australia, then as a solicitor in my hometown) before I decided there must be more to life than taking on other people’s stress as well as your own. But personally, I had achieved nothing. 

I painted for a little while. When I tried to sell my work for pocket money I discovered no one else liked it, so I wound up either giving it away or selling it for pennies on the dollar. I became an amateur photographer, then realised I didn’t have enough interest to learn the ins and outs of post-processing. I baked cakes, initially as a fundraising activity and then for a little bit of extra cash. I got so stressed on one occasion that I nearly destroyed a cake with worrying about it. I moved away from that too. I’ve started websites, blogs, diaries … all to no avail. 

Te Araroa is the only thing (recently) to hold my interest for a substantial period of time. It holds that interest because I’ve decided it’s something I have to do. 

I’m not an outdoors-y person. In fact, I’m very much a creature of comfort (some might even call it lazy). Give me a horizontal surface, some cuddly blankets, a computer and a healthy supply of sugar, and I’ll happily stay in bed for days on end watching TV reruns or movies. Add into that a good dose of anxiety and depression, and you have a recipe for lifelong agoraphobia. This has always been a real and present danger. And because I know it’s easy for me to fall into these chasms, I try as hard as I can to avoid them. 

It took a lot of time. I had to make some tough mental decisions. But eventually I began to convince myself that life is too short to spend it indoors. One has to get outside and live.

I didn’t have this mantra in my teens. I also came to New Zealand late in my youth. The area of England in which I grew up is not renowned for its outdoor opportunities. The closest I got to hiking when I was a kid was walking the dogs at our local forest. I’m ashamed to say that our parents took us to Scotland on a family holiday once, and I spent the entire time moaning about how wet and miserable it was. I’d give anything to go hiking in Scotland now. 

By the time we came to New Zealand, many of my school friends had already been on numerous school camps which ventured into the outdoors. In addition, some of them had been ‘tramping’ (the kiwi equivalent of hiking) with their parents since they were very young. It was in the blood for them. It was most definitely not in the blood for me.

Here’s the funny thing: It took our family 9 years to decide to hike the Tongariro Alpine Crossing, a 19.4km trek across an active volcano which sits just an hour south of us. That’s how much of an undertaking it was for us. 

The phrase, “If I can do it, you can too,” has never seemed more appropriate.

Stay tuned for the next instalment.