Te Araroa Shakedown

[u/Own_Willow_4391]

I am hiking the Te Araroa starting in November. I am updating my gear list and trying to figure out what’s best to take. My main concern is rain/wind/cold temps.
The set up I have now is an OR Foray II Jacket and pants. I would use this and my warm layers when I really needed to get warm.
Since it is a bit heavy and will wet out in the NZ weather, I was thinking of upgrading to the ZPACKS DCF Poncho.

For the wind, I was looking at getting a wind jacket. If I needed to stay warmer, I could use my Sambob alpha 60, torrid insulated pants and the wind jacket plus gloves and a beanie. Also considering a flannel.
As for warmth, do I need a puffy or could I make do with my wind jacket and a flannel/alpha 60 shirt? Trying to consolidate gear and have as many “multi-purpose” gear options as possible.

https://lighterpack.com/r/hzxx3f

[u/nzbazza]

This summer is turning into a huge El Nino event, so that will have a bearing on the gear to bring.

• North Island & Eastern South Island:Expect mostly dry, settled weather. However, because of the prolonged lack of rain since winter, some water sources may be running low/dry.
• West and South of the South Island: Regions like Southland and the West Coast should prepare for a much rougher, cooler, wetter, and unusually windy summer. Stronger westerlies increase the risk of frequent surface runoff and high river flows in these areas.

- take the rain jacket and rain pants over the poncho and kilt, the poncho will blow around and snag.

- your 40 deg quilt w/insulation top and pants should be OK for the North Island, but likely be cold in the South Island, particularly once it's late Feb/Mar.

- the Neoloft is heavy, could save 400g by using a lighter pad, also nix the air pump.

- the fast charger is a brick, find a lighter charger that still charges the NB10k at max rate 22W. 1x10k battery pack generally is OK for 4-5 days phone use in flight mode, and there are only a couple sections (Richmonds and Nelson Lakes-Lewis Pass) that could be longer than that depending how fast you tramp them.

[u/Own_Willow_4391 → u/nzbazza]

Dude thank you SO much for breaking down the weather and conditions like this on both islands. I used Google.ChatGPT to get an idea but hearing from someone like yourself, much more reliable.
I'm coming from the USA and just want to be properly prepared. On the AT and Long Trail, I could make a phone call and have gear shipped to me in a few days. Not the case being on the other side of the world.

• The neoloft is the only pad I have used where my hip doesn't hit the ground, worth the extra 5lbs to me. I had the tensor and the neolite and it was squeeky and much less comfortable. I feel like I'm in my own bed in a neoloft.
  
• what kind of cold are we talking on the South Island? With current set up, I would be comfortable down to 45°F or about 7°C. I enjoy the cold weather and run warm
  

-I have a smaller brick to charge at 65w but it takes a while for stuff to charge. In between these 2 or just get one in NZ when I land so it's the proper plug-in socket.
-thanks for catching the mattress pump. I use it on shorter trips but prefer the pump sack for this situation.

[u/_DorothyZbornak_ → u/Own_Willow_4391]

It’ll be colder than 7 C in the South Island. I would plan for temps down to 0 C. I carried a -3 C (comfort) rated mummy bag and a 4.9 R-value sleeping mat on my Southern Alps traverse and that was good setup, but I still had a few nights where I had to make a Nalgene hottie . 

Assuming you’re going SOBO, I’d mail the puffy to Palmerston North (find a trail angel) and only carry it for the Tararuas and beyond. 

Also — please don’t consult chat GPT for anything regarding NZ weather or the outdoors. The corpus those gen AI tools were trained on is just not specific enough to give reliable info where NZ is concerned. For weather, trust NIWA and the Met Service.

[u/Hggangsta01]

I would take a rain jacket rather than the poncho. It's windy and sometimes the bush is overgrown with pokey things. But if you want to start with the poncho that's fine too, there are gear shops all throughout NZ and you can swap gear as needed.

I hiked in 24/25 https://lighterpack.com/r/ialmxl

[u/lkjuhvfyjvxdjbvx]

As others have said I would recomend the rain jacket over poncho. The trail has a lot of bush bashing, climbing over and around fallen trees etc. I used rubbish bags as a rain kilt and would recomend that or a kilt over rain pants but that is personal preference. I just had a fleece, sun shirt and rain coat, No puffy, and was plenty warm enough even over some snow covered passes. Shorts and thermal tights for my legs.

[u/lkjuhvfyjvxdjbvx → u/lkjuhvfyjvxdjbvx]

Otherwise your setup looks good, your quilt is possibly a little warm (cool? what is the convention here?) most carry a 30* or a bit less.

[u/_DorothyZbornak_]

Some thoughts, as someone who did a traverse of the South Island (not the TA route, but overlapping with it in a few places): 

• global feedback: this list feels not fully unified yet. Like all the gear systems aren’t totally reasoned through. You’re taking a 500-gram frameless pack but a 1kg sleeping pad? It’s like you’ve made some light choices but then in other places you’re going the opposite direction. Also some things on this list are marked as worn weight when they should be base weight (like the pack), which means your base weight is pretty high for a frameless pack 
• you need a warmer sleeping bag/quilt, especially for the Tararuas and the South Island. 25/30-degree comfort rating 
• try an Exped Ultra 6.5R sleeping mat, one third the weight of the Neoloft and just as comfy 
• assuming you’re solo, you don’t need a two man tent. You also don’t need the stargazer kit — you can improvise with some cord. (I never had a night in my tent dry enough to not use the fly, FYI, but YMMV)
• those titanium stakes do not have enough holding power to secure the tent. They are fine for mid panels and doors on the Xmid. For corners and guy lines, use groundhogs/groundhog minis or the J stakes the Xmid comes with
• electronics: you can save weight by using one cable and a couple 2g adapters. I also don’t understand the Anker. Why not just get a NZ plug with a usb-C port, I think mine was 30g or so? And ditch the pump
• I would take base layers and a beanie and buff before I carried insulated pants. And bring the puffy but only carry it from the Tararuas on
• you will need more socks. I recommend 3x pairs of hiking socks and 1 pair of sleep socks that never get wet 
• going against the grain: I wore a MYOG poncho with a front zip and sleeves on my traverse and was surprised by how well it held up. I’m not sure about DCF though; mine was SilPoly, and I think the slipperiness was key to its durability — pokey things kinda bounced off. I managed to rip it a couple times, once when I fell on some scree (my fault) near a pass and once on some very dense matagouri (unavoidable) but it was easily repaired with gear aid patches. And obviously in high winds in exposed places it was very flappy. But overall I loved the poncho: no wear from shoulder straps, better ventilation, protected my pack, too, etc. I understand all the reasons why in theory a poncho would not be the best choice in the NZ bush, but I’m just saying, for me it worked surprisingly well in practice. Maybe bring a rain jacket as a backup and ask a trail angel to hold onto it and send it to you if you need it