The scenery is definitely different overseas.<br>
Vol.1 Te Araroa (New Zealand)

Hang Out vol.01 “Mountain”

The scenery is definitely different overseas.
Vol.1 Te Araroa (New Zealand)

If the appeal of long trails is the freedom to travel as you please, then walking overseas will give you an even greater sense of freedom. Traveling through dynamic terrain not found in Japan while experiencing different cultures. Listening to the stories of these three experienced trail hikers, I started to think that overseas would be nice too.

Chapter 04

2024.09.02

Text：Takashi Sakurai

Edit：Suzuki Yusuke
Hideki Shibayama

HANG OUT VOL1

Chapter 04 | Long trails overseas

PROFILE

Eriko Nemoto / Photographer

After working in a studio and as an assistant, he became a freelance photographer in 2016, working in the fields of advertising and magazines. He frequently hikes in the mountains as a life's work and has also experienced living in a mountain hut. He continues to take nature photographs. In his 2022 photo exhibition "Today's End," he exhibited landscape photographs taken during his travels in Mongolia, South America, and Japan. Photos from his trip to Te Araroa are on display at Terrace Square in Kanda until September 20th.

01. Te Araroa (New Zealand)

Te Araroa means "the long way" in Maori, and is a long trail of about 3000 km that crosses the North and South Islands of New Zealand. Photographer Eriko Nemoto walked about 1300 km on the South Island. In addition to staying in tents, there are also mountain huts, where you can meet people. Over the course of about two months, she enjoyed various locations, including mountain areas, lake areas, and deep forests.

Walk and take photos. A simple life.

Even though it was my first real long trail, I had done almost no preparation beforehand. I was busy at work and only packed my things 3 hours before I left. So I hadn't decided on a plan at all. I didn't know how long each section would take, and I didn't know how much I could walk in a day.

At first, I wrote down the location of the hut (mountain hut) where I was planning to stay in a small notebook, but on the second day, I met up with a New Zealander named ORANGEMAN and an American named FREYA at the hut. Both of them had experience thru-hiking the PCT (Pacific Crest Trail), ORANGEMAN had already hiked Te Araroa once, and FREYA had also hiked the Triple Crown (traversed the three major trails in the United States). I thought they were amazing people, so I asked them about their plans for the next day, but they were both very vague. They told me, "Well, we just have to keep moving forward." But at the time, I didn't really understand what they meant.

In the end, I started walking with those two after about two or three weeks. Then, after about a month, I realized that I had stopped taking notes. I was just moving forward.

I was deciding where to stay on the spot. I remember that at that moment I realized, "I'm really walking around New Zealand." After a month, I guess I finally fit into the situation.

Until then, I was thinking about which hut I should walk to today, when I should get down to the town, how to get to the town, and so on, but it became simpler and simpler. Even if I thought about my feet hurting or what to eat at night, all I did was walk and live, and take pictures. I felt really happy in that situation.

But even though I had the stamina, the shoes I wore at first didn't fit me at all. This was also due to a lack of preparation. Every day, it didn't hurt for the first 15 minutes, but then it hurt all the time, so it was physically tough. At that time, I posted about the condition of my feet on Instagram. Then, one of my followers was a physical therapist, and he taught me various things about massage methods and foot care, which was a great help.

I think I was carrying more luggage than most people. At my heaviest it was about 18kg. In addition to my camera equipment, I took 250 rolls of film this time. I brought about 120 rolls from Japan, but I ran out at about 600km. So I hitchhiked for two hours to Christchurch to get some film, but they didn't have any in stock... So I bought all the film in the store (laughs). In the end I imported it from the US and had a friend send it to me, and I managed to get some, but it seems I became a bit of a celebrity at the Christchurch developing lab. That's because I sent film there from towns along the way to get it developed, and I guess they were surprised by the amount. They were like, "I got some more film from Eriko!" I think I was a super-large customer (laughs).

To begin with, I wasn't sure if I could reach the finish line. I had never walked that far, and I didn't know if Te Araroa was fun. When I actually went there, the scenery changed with each section. After the section walking along the sea, a place like the Southern Alps appeared, and then there were many lakes, and then grasslands, and the scenery changed rapidly.

Of course, well-maintained roads were nice, but I preferred going on unpaved roads. I decided my own route. Of course, I made mistakes and had to cross rivers like muddy torrents. Things I'd never done before happened one after another, and I felt like I was on an adventure and never got bored.

I've always been drawn to the unknown, and the further I walk the more there seems to be to discover.

The worst part was the final section. It was 50km long, a muddy road. And it was a cold day with hail. It was more physically tough than the Ridgemond Mountains, which are said to be tough. In some places, the mud was up to my knees. Some people were even up to their chests (laughs). Many people skip this section, but I'm sure I'll never walk through this kind of mud again in my life, so my curiosity to see what it was like got the better of me.

There was another reason why I absolutely wanted to go to this muddy section. The ORANGEMAN who was walking with me had temporarily left the muddy section due to some circumstances, but I had heard that he was doing a trail magic where he would serve beer two or three times a week at the end of the muddy section, so I thought I would definitely be able to meet him there.

As expected, they were waiting for us with beer and a BBQ set. There was no road for cars to get through. They came carrying about 50kg of luggage. It was the best BBQ party of my life.

For me, this trip wasn't life-changing or anything like that, but I was happy every day. I just wanted to keep walking. When I got about halfway, I was thinking about just going back and forth.

I'm the type of person who thinks too much, so the simple life I lived while hiking Te Araroa gave me the feeling that I could reset myself. I think I need to live a simple life for about a month on a regular basis. It could be a long trail like this one, or working in a mountain hut. A state where simplicity can become a part of your daily life. I think that's what's needed.

I don't travel to take photos. If there's a place I want to go and I can take a good photo, I'm lucky. I just hope I can take a photo. I don't know what kind of scenery or people I'll meet.

I was able to take many photos that I like at Te Araroa, including 250 rolls of film. That's what makes me realize that it was a great trip.

Read Volume 2