Trail tales

When her parents suggested a family adventure walking the length of Aotearoa New Zealand, JUNO, 12, thought … No! But in late 2020, they set off on an epic 2,300-kilometre, six-month journey over mountains, rivers and beaches, past volcanoes and lakes, on the Te Araroa trail.

+ + +

Your trek sounds huge. Who’s idea was it?

Yeah, we did go on an incredible adventure. But funnily enough, we can’t remember whose idea it was – either my mum’s or my dad’s. Mum had known about the trail for a while, and then one day she saw an article saying another family had completed it. So that’s when it kind of popped into our heads that it might be possible.

What did you think when you first heard it?

My reaction was a plain old, no. I didn’t want to leave the amazing life I had in Sydney to go walk the length of New Zealand. At the time, I was halfway through year 6 and had enough going on in my brain, being midway through Covid. I was also taking academic and music tests, and I’d finally got into the class I really wanted. It seemed insane to leave that all behind.

Your brother and sister were 10 and 5 years old at the time. How did they feel about it?

Joppy and Goldie were pumped. They thought it meant eating Snickers, climbing trees and rocks, making weapons and playing all day.

What was the hardest thing about the walk?

As hard as it was physically, it was definitely my mental game that I struggled with the most. I watched all my friends graduate primary school and go to the year 6 formal together, and I’d wanted to do that stuff ever since I started school. Then there’s always homesickness, which I struggled with a lot. As we got further into the trip, I felt like I didn’t have a purpose. I felt so disconnected from the outside world and thought people would forget about me. Another issue was the lack of privacy, and I found it really hard to express my emotions. My favourite thing to do when I was having a hard time was to walk ahead and sing my favourite songs, or ones that explained how I was feeling.

What was the best thing?

There were so many amazing things, but the top one was meeting incredible people. We met so many people – other walkers, trail angels (people who let you stay at their house and even cook you a meal occasionally), and of course family and friends.

You were walking for six months. What were some of the most memorable moments?

There are so many, but the clearest one was reaching the finish line. It didn’t feel real. I felt amazing, like nothing could ever hurt me. It was also saddening that the journey we’d been on was over, but that didn’t stop us from celebrating!

What did you learn along the way?

You learn so much doing something like this, so many life skills, but the biggest thing I learnt was that I can push myself. I can do hard things and I am strong. I think many people lack self-confidence, especially tween and teen girls. Before the trip, I was lacking confidence without even realising it. I was so caught up with trends and having a good time that I wasn’t comfortable being myself around many people. I would try to be like my friends. Now I can truly be myself, and I love that.

Did you keep doing schoolwork?

The short answer is no, we didn’t. We would do equations as we walked along and we read a lot. It was going to be very tricky to do anything more, as we couldn’t carry laptops or stationery. By the time it was the end of the day, we were so tired that we would be in bed as soon as the sun went down.

What other adventures would you like to go on?

I would love to do many more adventures, such as sailing to Fiji with my family (a tradition my great-grandparents followed every summer), walking the Pacific Crest Trail (from Mexico to Canada) and going on a horseback adventure with my best friend.

If you could change something about the world, what would it be?

If we learnt anything to do with the environment on our trip, it’s that we need to change what we’re doing because it’s not working. We saw a lot of pollution, rubbish and human waste, and people being very careless. And if I could change something about the world, it would be world peace. I feel that could stop so many issues, like climate change, poverty and war. If people were open to other people’s ideas and beliefs, it would make the world a much happier place. It felt like that out on the trail, like everyone was open to each other’s ideas.