The Larapinta Trail is an incredible adventure and one that I thoroughly enjoyed and recommend!

But it’s also rugged, remote and fire prone, especially in the hotter months from October through to March.

So as to take advantage of the cooler day time temperatures, we hiked the Larapinta Trail during June which is wintertime in Australia.

Fortunately we had no exposure to active bushfires though the threat of them in this area is not to be underestimated.

There were many days on trail when we navigated through areas that had previously been burnt out and the thought of watching a fast approaching, out of control bushfire does not bear thinking about.

Te Araroa is a dream hike for many outdoor enthusiasts and Aotearoa New Zealand is known to be a hiker’s paradise which internationally enjoy’s a reputation as a safe country to visit.  

As you traverse the 3,000 km Te Araroa route from Cape Reinga to Bluff there’s many exciting opportunities to immerse yourself amongst the diverse communities that you’ll wander by.

The chance meetings with locals were some of our best times on trail and these opportunities would have been completely missed if we’d skipped the roads.

Understanding and managing risk for solo women while hiking New Zealand’s 3,000 kilometre Te Araroa.

When planning to hike Aotearoa New Zealand’s 3,000 kilometre Te Araroa trail, I had the usual safety concerns like navigating a fast flowing river, becoming lost in the bush, suffering from hypothermia or possible injuries which were all dangers that I could anticipate and plan for.  

In this blog however, I’m not going to address those general concerns. Instead, what I will be discussing are safety concerns unique to us women hikers. Specifically, the danger that is presented by the one thing that women worldwide have learnt to fear the most, and that is men. 

Below me the swollen river raged down the valley, dirty grey water rushing, crashing and tumbling, rolling boulders, tugging trees from flooded banks, swirling and churning every which way. 

Above, sky the same colour as the water closed in, the tops of the mountains remaining hidden in the murk. I knew what it was like up there, near horizontal rain driven by a malicious wind intent on tossing me off the narrow ridge. Behind, the perilous trail from where I’d descended was more a cascade than a track.