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Aotearoa New Zealand is an adventure playground which has been thrilling hikers for many years with its incredibly beautiful scenery, luxuriant rainforests, magnificent rivers, seemingly limitless mountain ranges, remarkable valleys and tranquil lowland plains.

In this article, I share with you my favourite New Zealand Hiking Essential Gear List, these are my go to items that I reach for when planning any hiking trip in our beautiful outdoors. 

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.

I fielded many questions from curious family and onlookers when planning to walk New Zealand’s stunning 3,000km National Walking Trail, Te Araroa.

On hearing of my extraordinary plans to walk the entire length of the country, one concerned youngster asked "but will you have to carry all your own food?" It’s a valid question which can be answered succinctly with yes and no.

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.