Some newbie-questions concerning Te Araroa :)

Hey, haha, first of all I'm really cracking up on all the "am I for real" -gibberish :P Of course I'm for real, assuming I even know what you mean by that. Do you mean that I'm not seriously considering this OR that I'm just some forum troll trying to waste your time? Cause I'm just a clueless young guy, don't know anything about tramping, which is why I'm here! Let me introduce myself again once more and I'll also tell a little bit about myself and my reasons as to why I'm doing this :) I'm Alex, just turned 20 ten days ago. Next month I'm called up for military (no choice in my country) but I'll refuse and go for a long hike instead. I feel I can't stand being stuck at home with my family either. I'm leaving without a word's notice, and I'll be a fugitive in my own country, haha. I really couldn't care less of authorities though. For this reason I think tramping would suit me brilliantly as I enjoy loneliness, but I'm still very socially coherent and get along with people well, it's just very mentally taxing for me. I've also been into bodybuilding for about 3 years so my fitness shouldn't be an issue when tramping. Call me unusual, and I would agree mostly. But I'm definitely for real, and I know with your help I can make this happen :) Don't worry about me just answer my questions and I will take care of everything. So basically, fire's a no-no in tents. Fair enough. I'll just be sure to have warm clothes :) Also, about the electricity, yeah music is more important to me than gaming, so if I don't find a reasonable source of sustainable energy for my laptop I'll just stick to solar chargers on my iPod :) By the way, I just bought my hiking shoes yesterday! Now it's just the tent, fire-tools, proper trousers, proper socks, just proper EVERYTHING concerning the climate in wherever I'm going (haven't decided yet!)

Also I do have a guide on scouting & fieldcraft by Bear Grylls which I'm currently reading and will also bring on my trip :) I don't know, you guys are just like my dad, thinking everything's much more complicated than it really is! :D Snap!

Things are not complicated but the consequences of getting it wrong can be. Its not uncommon to tramp in cotton shirts in some countries but get one wet and then have a stiff cold breeze and wind chill will have you suffering from hypothermia in no time Hypothermia kills and you dont realise youve got it till its too late to fix it yourself. Ive seen university students in a hut who had bought this nice expensive stove and didnt have a clue how to use it. They were lucky not to burn the hut down which would of seen 20 people sleeping in the snow possibly only with the clothes they were wearing. Dehy food does not taste nice uncooked and a warm drink can work wonders if cold but no working stove means no warm drink. Getting all the warm clothes is good but also rain proof clothes etc. Remember the maximum you should carry is 25% of your ideal body weight ie my ideal body weight would be 66kg so I should not carry more than 16.5kg. Include food fuel and water in this weight. As for Bear Grylls cross reference everything you read with other publications. You may of noticed comments here about his abilities. To see what I mean count up what he eats in a typical adventure and see how you would survive on that number of calories. As a rough comparison bugs are less than but similar to steak for nutrition so a half cup of bugs will give about the same as a small hamburger patty He seems to get by on a tablespoon of bugs. It may be fun but if your several days from anywhere and something minor goes wrong you will quickly realise its not a game any more. If something major happens then people do die.

id like to see how bear grylls survives in nz bush without the camera grew to help him probably be another statistic or just missing in action

I think he would survive but people following in his footsteps might not. The number of times he puts himself in harms way just for the camera shot where the easy way was just round the corner. Just his mental state adapted from his army time could buy him several hours in the hypothermia stakes Not because hes actually any better but he has been conditioned.

bear grylls has his camera crew feeding him extra food, if its too cold, he gets a helicopter to take him to luxury accomodation at night, he often is nowhere near as far from civilisation as he makes out. someone found a spot he filmed in hawaii, they turned their camera around to show the road just next to it.... in new zealand he jumped around to totally different areas from one shot to the next , one minute he was in rotorua, the next shot he was 200km away. dont ever run and jump around. avoid vertical faces. its just all done for the camera for entertainment and its dangerous on your own

frankly mate, i'd just do your military service, NZ will still be here at the end of it... you better check extradition agreements with our country, if we have one with your country they can request our authorities extradite you back to your country. you may think you can hide but you can't hide forever

Would extradition apply in this case? My understanding is that NZ applies the agreement if the same offence can be committed here. There was a recent case of Aussi wanting to extradite someone who had been charged over an accidental death (it was an unusual charge due to the circumstances)but there was no equivalent law here so it never happened. In the end the person went back voluntarily and got 5 years jail. We dont have draft so I cant see extradition applying.

well how long can he stay away from his country? whenever he goes back home, the law will have their way with him.... he won't qualify for nz residency, without decent qualifications and work experience

Actually, waynovski, the EU is very flexible about current residence, you can linger in one country without any paperwork for up to 3 months if I'm not mistaken. I won't be staying in one country that long though so I should be fine. I actually thought of starting my trip up North in my own country (it's summer right now) so it's be reasonably warm. The trail called "Nordkalotten" takes about 1 month to traverse, goes through Norway and Sweden too. When I'm done I take whatever transport available down to the South again, start "interrailing" until I reach the French Alps, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_du_Mont_Blanc) as I'm quite sure that's where I want to go. This will be the main part of my trip. Kind of a training-hike near my own country first, then go for the real deal :) The temperatures should be the same during all stages of my trip, because it's mid-summer when I start my trip, and as summer becomes autumn I will be much more South in Europe (which is warmer by default). So the temperatures should be the same. Although we will see if I find the Alps too unpredictable/cold. In this case I'm thinking I could go more South still, to the Pyrenées instead of Alps. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haute_Randonn%C3%A9e_Pyr%C3%A9n%C3%A9enne The last option I'm also considering is simply walking the Santiago de Compostela, or St. James' Way, which would be safest of them all :)