A guide to hiking Te Araroa Trail, NZ

Plan the hiking adventure of a lifetime with this interactive Te Araroa trail guide.

Te Araroa is New Zealand national trail and an epic 3,000km thru-hike running from the top to the bottom of the country! This guide explores the best of both the North and South Islands walking through incredible landscapes, county towns, cities, snowy mountain passes, crystal clear rivers, open grassy high plains and even volcanoes.

Make the most of your journey with must see points and side trips, gorgeous mountain huts, campgrounds, hikes, towns, cities and resupply points – all on an interactive map. Select 'things to do' for details, links to transport and activities, campgrounds, photo spots, trail information etc.

Planning is made easy with curated itineraries for 7 of the most logistically challenging sections of the trail including: Getting started on the trail, The Richmond Alpine Track, Whanganui River, Tararua Range and more.

Guide by Laura Waddell
Made in English

7 itineraries

Get expertly curated itineraries that help you organise all the 'things to do' in an ideal time order
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Laura Waddell
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Hi there, I am Laura Waddell Guide. I have been trained to answer travel questions just like Laura Waddell would do in person, but faster.

What is the best season to visit?

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Get an interactive, playful, and easy-to-navigate map that you can personalize by adding and favoriting spots, then filter to see only what matters to you.
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Start with a pre-made itinerary as a template, or build your own from scratch by using all the listed things to do and adding your own
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Guide by Laura Waddell
Joined in June 2025

Hey adventurer, I'm so glad to see you here planing your next trip!

My name is Laura and I've been full time traveling and sharing epic hiking trails since 2023. My love for travel started in Australia with a 'big lap' of my home country before walking thousands of kilometers across some of Australias best hiking trails including the Bibbulmun track, Larapinta, AAWT, Overland, Cape to Cape and Great Ocean Walk to name a few.

In 2024 I headed over to New Zealand to walk the length of the country on the Te Araroa trail and absolutely fell in love with the place, I had planned to head back to Australia after but with so much to see and do have now spent over 6 months exploring beautiful NZ!

Outside of Australia and New Zealand I have spent time in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia and Singapore with a few trips also to Indonesia to hike volcanoes and swim in some truly stunning waterfalls.

My goal in the digital space is to share my love for travel and the outdoors and to get people inspired and equipped with the right information and resources to head out on their own epic journeys! x

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