By Elliot
The past few days we’ve been thinking about quitting the trail. We’ve thought about alternative things we could do, including going on hikes in the South Island unrelated to Te Araroa. Ultimately, our time in Wellington has been restorative enough that we are cautiously continuing. It helps that the first section on the South Island is meant to be relatively easy and very beautiful.
Our biggest concern is not the difficult of the trail, or the remoteness of the trail, but our relationship on trail. The last few days into Wellington we had a tough time dealing with each other’s moods, and found ourselves more annoyed and frustrated with each other.
The trail has exposed us to a situation we’ve rarely encountered before and never for very long. There are times when both of us are struggling, and as much as I want to be supportive of Ruth, I find my ability to do so diminished. Ruth has come to expect a certain level of support, which is flattering to know I can usually give, and so feels my lack of support more keenly. Meanwhile, I become withdrawn, monosyllabic, and quick to be annoyed when things aren’t going well, and I’m bad at accepting support no matter how hard Ruth tries. I usually end up annoyed at Ruth’s attempts.
It probably doesn’t help that we spend all day, every day together doing the exact same thing, facing the exact same external difficulties. We are going to try to give each other more alone time, especially in towns (on trail is not the time to be alone, for safety reasons). And we will try to be more aware of when the wheels start coming of the wagon, and attempt to be cooperative instead of combative. If it doesn’t work, that means the trail isn’t working for us and we will stop.
Today we made multiple trips to the outdoor store and grocery store to stock up food for 18 days. We are sending food parcels ahead to places in the South Island where we need to resupply, but the food options are very limited and expensive. It was overwhelming at times to see the amount of food we need and how heavy the food we have to carry will be!
We treated Harry and Annika this evening to dinner at a place that has fresh pasta. Given the generosity and hospitality they showed us, it is the least we could do! Plus it was a fun time.
Now that we are going to the South Island, the cadence of our posts might change. We no longer promise daily updates. The sections of trail without internet will be bigger and writing and formatting more than one post at a time is exhausting. So expect more posts to cover a range of days.