Back on Track

Charissa, myself, Jo, Hillary, Heather, Peter & Brian. Jo & Hillary were my team mates when we completed the Oxfam Trailwalker in 2011 when we walked 100km in 24 hours. Heather, Peter and Brian were our support team.

Charissa's mother Cynthia and her partner Alan. 

Wendy, Charissa & Tina at the Hamilton Herbal Shop. My healthcare professionals. 

Spring is here and, in theory anyway, the weather is getting warmer so time for me to return to the walk. Over the winter I have been picking up casual work with Tradestaff in Hamilton. The longest stint was 3 weeks with PGG Wrightson, phoning farmers. Contacts I made there will assist me later in my walk. One problem I often have is not knowing who to contact to get permission to walk over private land. PGG Wrightson have Livestock agents all over the country with an intimate knowledge of who farms where. I will be able to tap into this network to find out who the property owners are in each area.

The equipment I purchased last year all performed well however my sleeping bag was one I already owned and I found I was getting cold towards the end so I have replaced that. I have also purchased an inflatable pillow, pure luxury and hopefully an improvement on what I was using previously, a bundle of clothes. The only other addition to my equipment this year is a Steripen which Charissa kindly bought for me. This fantastic piece of equipment uses UV light to sterilize drinking water and hopefully wont need to be used too often but will be great for emergencies.
Once again thanks to Kirsty and the team at Bivouac in Hamilton who not only know the products they sell but who also give me a generous discount.

A big thanks too to Murray at The Map & Chart shop in Hamilton who has provided me with free 1:250,000 maps of both North and South Islands.  Murray is very knowledgeable about maps and was also very helpful when I was planning a train trip across Russia a few years ago.

So it's all systems go again. First however is an extended train jouney. Tomorrow Charissa and I travel on the Northern Explorer train to Wellington where we are staying for two nights. On Saturday we cross over to the South Island by Cook Strait ferry and take the Coastal Pacific train to Christchurch. On Sunday we take the Trans Alpine train to Greymouth and return back to Christchurch the same way the following day. Charissa will then fly home and I will restart my walk on Saturday 15th Sept from where I left off.

One of the things I that I look forward to during my journey is receiving comments from my friends and supporters so please send me your comments on this blog and I will try to reply to you all.  My next post should be from Timaru just 2 days after I restart walking.