Te Araroa’s Te Kūiti volunteer coordinator, Pete Chandler (foreground), with Dael Downs from Maniapoto iwi group Te Nehenehenui and Mike Cosgrove, a longtime Te Araroa volunteer from Te Kūiti. Photo: Te Araroa
The unique story behind the cost of registering for Te Araroa
In part one of this two-part feature, Te Araroa trail manager Dan Radford described how walkers’ registration funds are being put to excellent, and regenerative, use. Today, we look at the good reasons why registering for Te Araroa costs money – and how that produces so much value.
Dan understands the registration fee has come as a surprise to some, given Te Araroa’s international peers, such as the Appalachian and Pacific Crest Trails, do not come at a similar cost.
But that’s because Te Araroa is unlike any other long hike, both in terms of the experience and also of its precarity as a functioning trail.
“Without that registration money, there’s just no way we can even remotely look after Te Araroa. That’s the bottom line.”
Like many visionary outdoor projects around the world, Te Araroa has always had in its DNA what Kiwis call the “number eight wire mentality” – named after the gauge of New Zealand wire best suited for bending and shaping into an ad-hoc tool for solving any problem, when you’re far from your tool shed.
Others call this attitude the “jump off the mountain and build your hang-glider on the way down” approach.
This has worked for Te Araroa because, to finally get the trail launched in 2011 — after long years of obstacles — some sections were allowed to remain more theoretical than practical, to start with.
In other words, those sections have had to take shape through being walked on.
Leading Te Araroa volunteer Pete Chandler hanging a gate and tiding an entrance onto private land between Waitomo and Te Kūiti. Photo: Te Araroa
This is the reality of having the imagination and the audacity to launch a national trail covering roughly the same amount of land as Italy, the United Kingdom, or Michigan – in a country with around half the taxpayers and donors of Michigan, one twelfth of Italy’s and one fourteenth of the UK’s.
If you wait until all your tracks are perfect, your trail may never open.
That’s the case for many of the world’s great hikes. For example, when the Appalachian Trail was roughly the same age as Te Araroa is now, a mere teenager at fifteen years old, it was only recently through-hiked for the first time and was in a precarious state, Dan says.
“I’ve been told that a lot of the trail was disappearing back into the wilderness because World War II was happening, and no one was taking much interest. It wasn’t until 1968, 30 years after its inception, that it got designated a national scenic trail, which changed the game.”
Dan’s peers at the Appalachian Trail have told him that even at that point, when their trail was twice as old as Te Araroa is now, nearly half their land arrangements for the trail were just hand-shake agreements.
Despite the parallels, Dan points out that Te Araroa differs from its peers in many ways.
“It’s a tramp, and a hard one. New Zealand has a different perception of tracks and trails. We’re quite happy calling a river a trail – you know, ‘follow the river for the next 20km’. It’s wild, it’s rugged, and that’s cool. I celebrate it.”
There are other compelling differences.
Dan has been told by peers at the Appalachian Trail that it, at a similar length to Te Araroa (about 3,500km), has more than 50 full-time staff. Te Araroa has three, and only one of them works on-trail every day.
Then there’s the funding. The Appalachian Trail receives millions of dollars annually in Federal grants and from donations for trail maintenance.
By comparison, Te Araroa this year has NZ$326,000 for every aspect of trail upkeep and development – entirely funded by trail registrations and donations.
The hard reality, says Dan, is that the size of New Zealand’s population relative to its land area means it will never be able to fully fund, maintain and enhance a length-of-the-nation trail.
“Those who use it need to support it, or it will die.”
Registrations for the 2026/27 Te Araroa hiking season open on June 1. The 2026/27 Trail Pass, which you get with your registration, is even better value than last year’s. With partner deals and the Queen Charlotte Track Permit included, all exclusive to registered walkers – more details to come. From June 1, register here: Register to walk
Your funds at work – more highlights
Northland
Trail registrations have paid for cutting back new growth off the trail, better drainage, boardwalks, bridges, retaining walls, and pathways cleared through slips.
They have also funded stiles, signage, trail marking, and vegetation clearing for a new off-road section that opened mid-season near Whananaki, saving about 10km of road walking.
Manawatū
A campaign of track rafts has improved the Makahika and Burtton’s Tracks. Track rafts are prefabricated sections of boardwalk, flown in by the air force in stacks. Soldiers and volunteers then carry them to muddy spots, where they are pegged.
“Within a year, you see the soil underneath settle back in, and the trail shrinks to a normal width rather than sprawling as walkers try to avoid mud. It’s not a fancy boardwalk, but a great tool for a tramping-track standard.”
Wellington
As in every year, the Escarpment Track on the Kāpiti Coast has been maintained and repaired.
“It’s a fantastic asset, not just for the trail but for the capital city,” Dan says.
“More than 60,000 people a year walk it. It’s beautiful, it was created by Te Araroa, and it’s well-maintained by the Wellington trust, entirely supported by walker registrations.”
Those contributions have also funded Te Araroa’s support for the Greater Wellington Backcountry Network, another volunteer group.
“They do essentially all the track and hut work across the Tararua Range, on behalf of the Department of Conservation.
“We put some money into their work because Te Araroa walkers see the direct impact of it, in the huts and tracks they use on that section.”
Nelson
Hikers’ registrations have funded the Link Pathway which runs from Anakiwa at the south end of the Queen Charlotte Track to Havelock. This year Te Araroa walkers funded a 1.5km extension of the pathway, getting walkers off the highway as they leave Havelock towards Pelorus Bridge.
“It’s another very tangible and visible benefit of registrations and donations.”
We’ve also used donations to fund volunteers in the Richmond Range to control invasive wasps with Vespex bait provided by DOC through the Wasp Wipeout Program
Pete Chandler and the digger the team is using to improve the Mangaokewa Gorge track. Photo: Te Araroa
Longwoods Forest
A project to put in permanent boardwalks across very muddy sections in this Southland range is set to be one-quarter complete this walking season.
While this is one of two large capital-intensive projects funded in part by grants and government funding (the other being the Whangaehu Bridge, see below), donations are also crucial.
“It’s the muddiest section of Te Araroa,” says Dan. “It’s always been muddy. Ten years ago, when I walked it, it was horrible. But it’s now undoubtedly worse. It’s a place where the impact of the growth in the popularity Te Araroa is very visible.”
Inmates at Invercargill prison are currently building the boardwalks, which will be flown to the track, then carried by volunteers to the muddiest spots.
Realignment or rerouting will be undertaken to remediate other muddy sections.
“We’ll chip away at it as we can afford over the next few years.”
Whangaehu Swing Bridge
This 120-metre pedestrian suspension bridge south of Wanganui is another capital project. Again, donations are key.
Construction is to start in April and be completed by June, ready for next season’s walkers, who will have the treat of avoiding a long road walk.
“What this will open up is a cool beach walk, a scientific reserve in a dune system that is one of the last of its kind in New Zealand. Also, the bridge itself and the area around it are special. I’m excited for the walkers.”
Dan hopes the bridge will set the tone for that section.
“Our Manawatū Trust is incredible; they do such a good job. Anyone who walks that section is like, man, there’s a lot of care being given to the trail. This bridge goes back to even before the trail opened in 2011. Getting it across the line finally is exciting.”
Whakahou: the regenerative strategy at the heart of Te Araroa
Of all the myriad good things powered by walker registrations, perhaps the most exciting is Whakahou.
Whakahou is the name given to Te Araroa’s strategy and aspiration to become a fully regenerative trail. In te reo Māori the name expresses renewal. The vision is for the trail to restore and revitalise the land and people it connects.
To not just take, but also to give – for now and into the future.
In terms of trail management, Dan says this is about ensuring it has only positive impacts on the land it crosses.
John Birch, chair of Te Araroa Trust, Aksel Bech, mayor of Waikato District Council, and Justin Tamihana, Te Araroa team member, plant trees along Te Araroa. Photo: Te Araroa
“To get Te Araroa open, there were places where it was nothing more than mark and hack a piece of bush to get people to start walking. And those are the places where we now need to do more work.
“When we develop a track now, we do it to a high standard. When we re-route, we do it with good trail-building principles so we’re not creating erosion or sediment into waterways, nor entering delicate places.
“Which sometimes means we can’t afford to do it. But we’ve got to be making Te Araroa more sustainable and maintainable. If you have a good track surface, gradient and bench, then it’s much easier to look after it.
“We’re not moving backwards. The work we do, we’ll do it right.
“That’s what your registrations are funding.”
From June 1, register here: Register to walk
More information on:
