There are only 5 days left until I leave Sydney for the Te Araroa Trail.  My last day at work was yesterday, and my friends all gave me a wonderful send-off for the journey.  I was a little choked up by the number of people that were at my Bon Voyage lunch and by all of their good wishes for my hike.

I have allowed for 6 months away from work for the journey, although my estimates are that it will only last a little over 5 months.  But this will allow me to take extra time in the places I find most enjoyable, and allow me the potential opportunity to take an unplanned side trip or two along the way.

The next few days will be a rush of activities.  Sunday will be spent completing the packing of my apartment.  For the last two weeks I’ve hardly had time to give thought to the hike because I’ve been so busy making arrangements to move out and packing up everything to put it into storage.  Monday morning the movers will come to take it all away, leaving me pretty much with just my hiking gear. So I will basically be camping in my living room for the rest of the week.

I will spend most of the day Tuesday cleaning the apartment in an attempt to get my entire bond back.  Wednesday I will give my gear a final practice run with a hike out to Lane Cove Park.  While there, I’ll set up my new tent another time or two to make sure I’ll be comfortable enough with it to set it up in the dark in a rain storm if necessary.

Thursday morning I have the move-out inspection for the apartment and turn in the keys.  Then it’s off to the airport for the flight to Auckland.  I’ll spend two days in Auckland getting final supplies and making other preparations for the hike. It will also give me a chance to transition from the frenzied last minute preparations in Sydney to a more relaxed frame of mind.

Rather than fly up to Kataia on Sunday, I’ve decided to take a 6-hour bus ride to get my first good look at the Northland of New Zealand before I start walking the trail.  Then on Monday morning I’ll take a tour bus from Ahipara up the length of 90-mile beach to Cape Reinga and the start of the Te Araroa Trail.