Over the course of 84 days, head boy Hunter Wilson and sports captain Tasman Pidgeon navigated the length of New Zealand on foot, starting from Cape Reinga and ending in Bluff.
The two 17-year-olds set off on September 28 spending an initial three weeks walking from Cape Reinga to Auckland Airport — arriving there on October 22.
After heading back to school for the final term they resumed right where they left off on November 23, walking out of the airport and hopping right back on the trail to finish what they had started.
They made it to the ferry on December 21 and reached Bluff on January 20 to complete their adventure.
Hunter said it was something he had always wanted to do.
"I was going to do it at the end of school after I had finished year 13 but my parents were like ‘you might as well do it now, you don’t have a serious job to get leave from’.
"So we just decided to do it.
"There wasn’t any real reason or anything, it was just like a cool thing to do, it was just let’s do it while we can."
He said they put a lot more effort into the physical training rather than the logistical planning for the trail.
"We climbed Mount Peel quite often and walked all around Woodbury and Te Moana a lot.
"We did did research but really we just booked our flights and worked out how we were going to get to the top."
"It happened on day two.
"We were on Ninety Mile Beach and there was a point in the day where when you looked back you couldn’t see the start of the beach and when you looked out in front you couldn’t see the end of the beach.
"It was during that time I was like ‘uh-oh we’ve got a long way to go’.
"It really hit home that this wasn’t just a physical undertaking but a mental one as well, which was something we didn’t initially consider."
They really had to push themselves to finish, he said.
"We started with 12km for the first day, then we went 25km, 30km all the way to Auckland which is 600km from the start.
"At that pace we weren’t going to be able to finish so we started winding it up as we could.
"Once we reached the South Island we were averaging 36km a day.
"From there it went up to like 40km a day and a couple of 50km and then we made it into the Longwood Forest.
"It was 100km to Bluff from there and we did that in 24 hours."
His biggest scenery highlight was standing atop Mount Rintoul in Marlborough, the second-highest point in the trail, and looking out while standing above the low-lying clouds.
Another highlight for the pair was meeting up with other trampers in Ngunguru and sheltering from the rain under a small dairy veranda to eat pizza.
"It was cool to see these big ancient trees, it was a nice change of scenery.
"It made me start looking at it differently and enjoying it more, rather than trucking ahead.
"The whole thing really helps you to surpass any limitations you put on yourself both physically and mentally."
Hunter said he could not quite put into words the feeling he had when they finally reached Bluff.
"It was something I’d never experienced before.
"I got to the end and looked back up the country and was just like ‘wow’.
"I felt a lot of satisfaction knowing I’ve done that and I can now look at any other challenges with that perspective."
Tasman said he also took away a big lesson.
"It really showed me that if you can look at something and break it down into small steps, you’ll make it.
"When we arrived at the end it was a weird moment of silence for me.
"You’ve just been going, moving, and moving, it’s always continuous and then you just stop.
"It was a a bit surreal."
The two highly recommended the experience.
"It doesn’t specifically have to be the Te Araroa trail but any long endurance event because it’s not about the actual endurance, it’s what you learn.
"You start knowing yourself and then by the time you’re finished, you know a whole lot more about what you’re capable of.
"If you see a challenge like that and you want to do it, try because if you try and fail, it’s better than not trying and then if you try and succeed, then you feel quite good about yourself."
