On the 27^th we diverted to Blenheim for an ANZ breakfast function with Tamati, the TV One weather god. Congratulations to our Community Partner in Marlborough (Karen Walshe and Rachel Anderson, trustees) and   Wayne Tippett (regional manager who had tried hard with his busy schedule to join us for a leg) and  the team at ANZ – there were heaps of friendly people and Tamati was a hoot. Apart from the more serious interview with me, Jessie and Brendon, he mischievously organised a kayak race between me, Mark (a Project K grad) and Wayne. It ended in chaos as Mark took me out, Wayne crept through to win and then we all attacked each other, as good sportspeople do, and finished up in the river.   

Back on the road, Jo and I completed the section from Havelock, over the hill to Anakiwa. It was tar- melting-hot and at Anakiwa Jo celebrated not having to get on the bike again. We met the new group from Auckland: Sophie, Shea, Jesse and Mason, the latter who’d been with us on the first leg. Gemma and Dingo were once again there to ensure the safety of the team. Outward Bound kindly let us camp in a pleasant field behind the school where friendly sheep grazed contentedly.

Early on the 28^th two bright red helicopters arrived from Wellington with Allan Freeth and some of his team from TelstraClear. They joined us for the first day of the Queen Charlotte walkway, albeit, we chose to sea kayak to add interest. It was very pleasant paddling through the deep green waters of the Sounds, with tui and bellbirds calling from the beech forest above and shags, mutton birds and gannets doing their fishy stuff at water level.

The sea kayaking ended at Torea Bay. The Telstra team helicoptered back to Wellington while we walked five kilometres, steadily uphill, to a gorgeous campsite on the ridge-top with views down to both Pelorus and Queen Charlotte sounds. As fit as I was, I was curiously stuffed, and felt considerable admiration for the young people who didn’t have the benefit of two months of hard graft.

Next day we continued along the ridge in a cooling mist which burned off about midday. Above Punga Cove the track intersected with the road and there we rejoined Cynth and the Australian. The team ransacked the trailer, like ravenous monsters, for food and then left to camp down by the water, while Jo and I elected to stay with Cynth, as this was the last time we would see her on the trail.

January 30^th was our last full day of walking. On the morning of the 31^st our friends on the iconic Blake boat, Lion NZ, had agreed to meet us at Ships Cove on their way back from the Sydney to Hobart Race. They would pick up the rest of the South Island participants at Picton, then after meeting us,  we’d all sail across Cook Strait to Wellington together.

Jesse had bad blisters from tight boots so when Jo and I found some soft trekking shoes that looked about his size, we encouraged him to try them. They fitted perfectly. The trail contoured through beech and podocarp forest to Furneaux Lodge, infamous as the place where Olivia Hope and Ben Smart disappeared at New Year about 10 years ago. Our old friend Merv English had come in by water taxi to join us here, so we shared tea and enjoyed the luxury of ice creams. The afternoon walk seemed to drag and the swim at School Bay Cove was very welcome.

During the night a gale blew up from the southeast – Cook Strait was going to be a blast, whether we liked it or not.

We walked over the hill to Ships Cove and waited in the shelter, with a sense of expectation, for Lion. She arrived about midday and the crew cheered us as we went aboard. Alistair, skipper; Blair, 2IC; Conrad, deck-cat; Eric, chef; Michelle, nurse; Tony, Trust boss; Cathy; and SJ (aka Iron Guts), who had spent a year on the boat as a toddler with her father, Peter Blake.

Let’s cut to the chase – we went through Tory Channel into a maelstrom. ‘Liquid Himalayas’ shouted Alistair over the roar of the wind and sea. The boat rose to meet the challenge of the giant seas and plunged into troughs that appeared to have no bottom. We were soon committed to a heinous Cook Strait of 6 to 8 metre waves belting into us from the southeast.

Before long the students were being sick, then they got cold and went below where it became very messy as sickness added to sickness. The Big Walk cocktail – keen young people, Lion NZ, Cook Strait, and shake. At one point Michelle, who was working heroically with the young people down below, was helping someone into the toilet to be sick but the giver became the receiver as she barfed all over her patient. When I went below to help someone who was becoming hypothermic I couldn’t believe the mess – it was almost impossible to keep my footing. The waves had to be experienced to be believed and the slippery surfaces didn’t help.

At one point Alistair was asked how the seas rated in his experience of big seas. He said 5 out of 10 – a little later as we battled the Karori Rip he raised it to 7.

It was a relief to be blown into Wellington Harbour and before long ‘the kids’ were up on deck being greeted by the Minister of Finance, Deputy PM, the Hon. Bill English. It was good to see Jamie and his mates Kevin Biggar and Rob Hamill, who had come so far to support us. 

At 2pm on the 1^st, we all gathered at the Civic Centre, all the young people who had done both the North and South Island mingled in the square and then walked down Lambton Quay to Parliament accompanied by the two Britz sponsored vehicles and the police. ‘The kids’ made a hell of a lot of noise and at Parliament called for the Prime Minister until he came out. He was gracious and friendly and everyone loved him. They also loved Ministers Paula Bennett and Pita Sharples who gave wonderful speeches of support.

That night Allan Freeth and TelstraClear hosted an event at Te Papa for the young people and next day we all gathered in the Beehive Banquet Hall along with many corporate and civic leaders to start a process for working together to produce better outcomes for young people. It was an inspiring day but sobering to think it was just the beginning of a process to ensure that fewer young New Zealanders would fall through the gaps. Yes, there was a long way to go but we had taken a very big first step.

On Tuesday we had almost every participant from TBW in the capital to spend time with CEOs, Ministers, and each other, to discuss their own life challenges and transformational experiences. Close Up joined us too – here is the clip that featured on Wednesday 3rd Feb.

We will be posting a lot more footage in the next week: video, images, and more stories from the various legs that made The Big Walk such a great success and connected young Kiwis to local commmunities around New Zealand.

MERC is situated at Long Bay Beach on the North Shore of Auckland. It provides marine and land based activities to a variety of clients including school groups, special needs and corporate groups. Some of these activities include kayaking, snorkelling, surfing, rock climbing, archery and adventure based learning activities. About half way through the year I was offered a position at MERC. I was stoked as it meant that I had the perfect job lined up for when I finished my degree.

It has now been about three and a half years since finishing university and I am still working for MERC. I find it hard to believe that I get paid to play on the beach all day. One of the best parts of my job is that I have been lucky enough to be involved with a number of the Project K programmes MERC provides. I find the programmes extremely rewarding as I feel like I’m helping to make a difference to the lives of the youth involved. Within the seventeen days of the wilderness adventure part of the programme I often see a huge change in the student’s attitudes and behaviour.

When asked if I would like to be involved in The Big Walk I felt privileged that I would have the opportunity to help make an impact on the youth of NZ. I think that what The Big Walk aims to achieve is just what our country needs right now. I have loved every minute of the journey. It has been so rewarding to see the changes in so many of the Project K graduate students that have participated along the way. It has definitely confirmed for me how important it is to engage NZ’s young people in their communities and what impact participating in a Project K programme can have on their lives. The Big Walk is helping to shape the future generations of NZ.

There have been so many memorable moments along the way…breathtaking scenery, wicked activities including mountain biking, quad biking, jet boating, kayaking, milking cows and hiking, amazing students, awesome conversations, very generous people who have offered us places to stay, tasty feeds and good company and so much more. There have also been so many laughs along the way…noodle challenges, lots of singing, hedgehog squashing (apparently accidental according to Jamie), heaps of bails from bikes, wet exits from kayaks, snoring machines, some of the best sleep talking I’ve ever heard, bivvy experiences and way too many mackerals!

Just down the road from Camp Elsdon, which is home for the evening, is North City Indoor Raceway, who specialise in speedy wee go karts and were more than happy to let us have a burn after our dinner of self caught paua.

The team lit up as we pulled off the road into the carpark and we flew out into our briefing, The boys were in the first lot to go out onto the raceway, and man were they off!! It was all throttle no brakes for the first part as they all found their feet, and with a few wipeouts the race was on! Jd roared round the track, taking out the overall title of fastest lap speed, with stiff competition from all involved.

The second group was laden with instructors who all had their competitive faces on as they helmeted up. Steve and Jamie battled it out for first place, and depending on who tells the story the 0.5 second that split them could go either way. Aside  from the competition though, the exhaust fumes got into all of our heads and we raced round the track like proper petrol heads (except for Cynthia who spent most of her time in the tyres at the side of the track getting rescued by the staff).

At the end of our time there were smiles wider than anything I can think of at the moment and we are all buzzed out on adrenaline heading to bed dreaming of go karts and exhaust fumes.

Smiles

Cynthia

Upon arrival, David and Dave were just finishing up the work for the day, so one pipe later we were pointed in the direction of what we were promised would be an awesome waterhole. We were not disappointed.

From the bridge, the creek drops into an amazing natural canyon, filled with rocks, logs and pools all the way to the water hole. The team clambered our way down, (some of us slower than others) over the obstacles and reached an awesome chute that shot us off into the pool below.

There were some awesome facial expressions on a few of us as we hit the cold water, but smiles were wider than any potential grimaces as it was excellent to cool off and relax after such a tiring day. Leroy won the bombing contest, with a huge splsh, despite stiff competition from almost everyone else in the water!

Our final mission for the day was a trip up to neighbour Steve’s deer farm to watch the stags being fed. We trooped up to see several massive stags with heaps of points staring us down through the fence. These were majestic beats with their antlers and pracing. As it is just before mating season, our timing was pefect as all the antlers were about to be removed before the agression kicks in later in the year.

Another wicked day down having great times with great people! Keep smiling!

Cynthia

The group arrived  in two vans at the Levin Motor Camp two days ago quite late after a drive down from South Auckland. Included in that group are  number of staff from the MYND (Male Youth New Direction), Steve, Bruce, Anaru and Lipi. As well as these guys we have the four boys from the programme Leroy, Levi, Dylan and Reti. After introductions, (during which Reti tried to convince us that he was from the Brisbane Broncos) and a quick team meeting it was time to go to bed and get ready for the first full day of the leg.

A 6am wake up followed by a cooked breakfatst of spaggetti, eggs and fried tomatoes was a great way to start the morning. Everyone then piled into the vans to head down to Waitarere beach where the day began in earnest with a sea kayak alongside the shore to Otaki. A big swell made it tough for kayaking (although awesome fun kayak  surfing) and so at Kuku beach it was decided to ditch the boats and make our way to Otaki on foot. When everyone arrived a the surf club it was time to jump in the vans agfain  and head off in the direction of Otaki Forks, to the awesome Dave and Isobel Launder’s house. Not only did Dave and Isobel offer to let us stay for a few days, but they and their neighbours David and Lynn put on a fantastic feed for dinner!! Thank you all so much again for your generosity! After such a great meal everyone was sleepy and so headed to bed.

If we were cricketers we would have been stoked because this morning we  hit a 6 for wake up again. After a quick breakfast we wlked from our campsite  into the Tarauas for the main activity of the day, a lengthy loop track that Dave and David had told us about last night. The track lived up to all expectation s  for being both challenging and rewarding.

Stay tuned!

Please join Graeme and me on The Big Walk.

Much love

Jo-anne

Dear Jo-anne

I can’t join you on The Big Walk but why don’t you come to my barbie in Wellington.

Much love

William

Anyway, this is the story Jo-anne tells which led to us leaving the bush at Nelson Lakes and flying to Wellington for a brief royal sojourn. We found the Prince to be a truly wonderful man and he did suggest that we should have invited him on The Big Walk. Of course we didn’t say we had but his minders had told us he had a full calendar while in New Zealand.

Back at Tophouse we donned our sweaty gear again and pedalled our bikes to the Richmond Range for a thorough dowsing as the awful summer continued.

Our route took us over a high ridge into the headwaters of the Pelorus River. In the bush it became darker and darker so that at 2pm it was like night time. The thunder began to boom and lightning lit the sky so that it felt like a war zone – then cold rain pelted down. Soaked to the skin we slithered our way along an awful sidling track which eventually descended to a raging Pelorus River and after 18 long kilometres, a welcome hut. We soon had a fire going and had transformed the place into a steamy bush laundry with stuff hanging from every hook and line.

The 23^rd found us sidling down valley in better weather but the previous day had taken its toll on Jo-anne’s knees so after 7 hours we were seduced into an early stop at Captain’s Creek hut and a wash in the gorgeous river.

On the 24^th as we walked in beautiful weather, through gorgeous mixed forest, we reflected on the queer summer – climate change or not, we had heard stags roaring at Christmas, mushrooms growing in January, spring flowers in midsummer – and like most days we came to significant storm damage – mature trees, at least 40 metres high, blown to pieces by the previous days storm. To add to the mysteries of the strange climate, many beech trees literally rained wasps as we passed. We felt lucky to only suffer two stings.

Our faithful Cynth and the Australian beast were waiting at the road end to whisk us off to John Baird’s and Marg Scott’s bach on Pelorus Sound for an evening of hospitality.   

Graeme

 After a quick jump start to my car that was feeling a little drained after charging too many mobile phones overnight (the locals made sure I knew I should have bought a Toyota rather than a Nissan) we were on to the river. Kayaks felt a bit slow after the jet boat ride but it gave us more opportunity to take a look at the sites of the Whanganui River. We just had a short 16km kayak to warm into it.

On Monday the hard work begun with a 50 km kayak. Robyn told us that the average speed we could expect to keep up for the day was about 6km/hr…..that’s a long day on the river! The students Phillip, Craydon, Matt and Scott were great and I heard just one “are we nearly there yet” all day!  Great effort guys I was really impressed.

There was a lot to keep us interested during the day with goats, pigs, sheep and horses grazing along the steep slopes of the river. We had a few small rapids to get us thinking, one dunking for Phillip and Scott to freshen them up a bit and sacrifice a few loose possessions to the river god! It was great to mix it up a bit after each break getting to know others in the group, each with their own unique paddling style!  Toward the end of the day we had a few races and water fights which probably reduced our average speed somewhat.

It was a fantastic day but must admit to feeling happy to see our spot for the night. I think we all slept well apart from Jamie who was woken by a friendly hedgehog in the middle of the night…

We had just 22 km to tackle the next day but with the incoming tide it felt a bit like the 50km the day before. All of us realised the importance of setting a few mini goals along the way to keep us going and the large packet of scroggin was devoured at half time for a bit of an energy burst for the last part of our epic journey. I paired up with Jamie for the final part of the journey and it definitely helped being in a kayak with someone that had rowed the Atlantic in record time!

So we finally made it! Definitely looking forward to a hot shower and a soft bed but stoked with what we had achieved – 100km of kayaking in just three days. The Whanganui River has been classified as on of New Zealand Great Walks and I can see why – would highly recommend it to everyone.

Thanks guys. It was a great trip and all the best for the last couple of weeks – love what you are doing!

Verity

We elected to kick off with a nice easy start, in the form of a 7km bike and an 8km walk. The team stonked out the whole distance, pulling off their 7km bike in just over an hour. We broke for lunch at the beach, entertaining ourselves at alovely little park with playground to boot. Post lunch it was on the wae wae express down to our campstie for the night. The team arrived shattered at Santoft forest and we pitched up for the night. The boys decided that a night under the stars was in order and spent the evening grabbing fallen trees and branches in the hiope of creating a water proof shelter for the night. Huge thumbs up to everyone who built their own bivvy, they looked very cosy, and the water proofing was an all but successful endeavour.

With the fading light we played the most epic game of capture the flag in our lives. A very psychological game ensued, with smack talk and tactics galore. The best team won in the end though and some of us even had a three from three total  at the end of the session!

The rain put in an appearance the next morning, which was rather unfortunate, but we hopped on the bikes anyway, headed out of the forest in the direction of Foxton Beach. We battled the elements all day, with the wind and rain joining the party for the majority of the day. A definate highlight was having lunch under the fly and hearing Robin say “Is the tide coming in?” Just as a huge wave rushed into our makeshift shelter… oops. We strolled into Foxton Beach Motor camp just in time for dinner.

Another attempt at the noodle challenge saw us all feeling slightly green around the gills this morning, and once again the record was not broken, (Tongaririo Crossing still holds that title) we all did very well though, we are slowly  making our way through to the end of the noodles.

We headed off to bed ready for our last day and trip into Levin for the end of the leg. Everyone is all smiles and loving that the sun is showing signs of life this morning.

Cynthia