Te Araroa Stories: My Wet Feet and the Deceptive Charm of Deception Valley
Who would have thought that hitchhiking from the main road near Methven could be harder than scoring a ride in Rachel’s truck the day before? Not me. And yet, there I was; standing for almost an hour, watching cars pass by every minute, all pretending I didn’t exist. Eventually, one kind soul stopped, and after one more hitch, I was...
Te Araroa Stories: The South Pole Chef, the Atlantic Rower, and the Truck Driver Who Saved My Day
My goal for staying in Twizel was simple: eat as much as humanly possible. I started at the bakery for breakfast, wandered to the supermarket for a snack, stopped at a café for a pastry, had lunch at an Asian restaurant, grabbed another snack at the supermarket, and wrapped up with dinner in yet another restaurant. By the evening, with...
Te Araroa Stories: Candy, Cliffs, and a Trail That Tested My Bowels
Right after leaving Queenstown, I wanted to do a quick resupply at Pack’n’Save — the mythical supermarket of low prices. It was the one and only Pack’n’Save on the South Island section of the trail, and I had to find out if all the legends were true. Spoiler: they were! I regretted that I needed only food for a few...
Te Araroa Stories: Tuna in a Water Bladder - Backpacking Goals
Crossing the extremely muddy Longwood Forest was one of the first big tests of the trail, and I passed it with honours. The next day, it was time to continue further. Ahead of me were four days without any chance to resupply food — another challenge. Looking back now, that seems like nothing special; packing food for several days, or...
Te Araroa Stories: Mud, Magic Mushrooms, and Trail Leeks - My First Days on the trail
After spending a week in Auckland before starting the trail, it was finally time to set out on the journey. I took a plane to Invercargill, in the south of the South Island, and from there I hitched a ride to Bluff, where the trail begins. Hitchhiking wasn’t my original plan, but after finding out that I should have booked...
The Scooter Trip That Changed More Than Just Our Lives
I never thought that travelling by scooter across Europe could actually change people’s lives. But that’s exactly what happened, and I want to share this story. Our big scooter trip from the Czech Republic to Norway turned into something we never expected. If you’ve read my earlier post, you know that when we were leaving Nordkapp, we were stopped...
Tour du Mont Blanc with a Twist - Umbrellas, Thunderstorms, and Wolves
Hiking the Tour du Mont Blanc (TMB) had been on my list for ages, and when I finally set out, I expected the usual: sore legs, stunning mountain views, and some epic memories. What I didn’t expect was to meet a wolf. A real, wild wolf. For a split second, my brain went straight from “wow, majestic wildlife!” to “so...
Te Araroa Stories: Stuff I Carried (and Stuff I Should’ve Left Behind) for 3000 km Long Journey
Well-packed gear is a crucial element for finishing the trail. You should have everything you need and nothing you don’t, because you’ll feel every extra gram. At the beginning of the trail, I saw many people with heavy backpacks, but as I went further, I saw fewer of them — and more hikers who were efficiently packed. My base weight...
Te Araroa Stories: What I Did to Be Ready for Te Araroa – And You Can Too
It was the end of October 2024. I officially defended my thesis titled “Searching for new physics using the ATLAS and FASER detectors” and became a doctor – Yay! Time to take a break and go on a big adventure! Right after defending, I went climbing with my friends in Leonidio, Greece, for ten days, but I didn’t plan...
Te Araroa Stories: It All Started Innocently… Then I Walked Across New Zealand
It was April 2024, and I was sitting in my office at the University of Geneva, pretending to look busy while analyzing data from the ATLAS experiment at CERN. My colleagues and I were searching for new particles called Higgsinos — tiny things that may or may not exist, unlike my social life at that time. Between writing a paper...
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