A network of locals ready to provide a bed, a lift, or a box of chocolates to tired walkers along the Te Araroa trail has become a lifeline
American hiker Donna Barkley was weeks into walking New Zealand’s longest hiking trail when her strength started to falter. Starting at the northern tip of the country in mid-October, she had trudged south along vast empty coastlines, over farmland and through dense forests thick with mud.
“I have a new definition of muddy – at home we have boot scrapers but after these trails, you need a fire hose,” Barkley tells the Guardian, while taking a rest day in the central North Island.
