Olive and Rachel Lloyd on their way through Levin.
Olive and Rachel Lloyd on their way through Levin.
A Northland mother and daughter are walking the length of New Zealand - more than 3000km.
Rachel Lloyd, 50, and Olive, 10, left the seaside township of Taipa in the Far North on December 9 last year, the day after the end of the school year.
They had each celebratedbirthdays along the way.
They stopped off in Levin for a night and had planned to meet up soon with older brother Luke, a policeman in Wellington, who will join them for the next leg of their journey, a trek along the Tararua Ranges.
The walk was part of the Te Araroa trail, a purpose-mapped trek that took them off the beaten track. It took trampers through national parks, beaches, through forests and along highways.
Rachel, who works as a teacher aide at Taipa School, said most nights they slept in a tent on lawn space provided by what they called "Trail Angels", who also share toilet facilities and showers.
They'd been given cups of tea, water and encouragement - and an unforgettable watermelon. Olive had also been treated to icecreams, fudge and chocolate.
"We have met some amazing people. That's what has been a real highlight for me," she said.
Each day they packed two litres of water each, and on occasion had refilled at a range reservoirs along the way, making sure to sterilise the water.
With backpacks weighing 7kg and 17kg respectively, they've had their fair share of blisters and bad days, and there had been the occasional talk of home and their animals.
Olive and Rachel Lloyd.
But generally they were in fine spirit, singing songs along the way. Olive had often broken into an impromptu dance when arriving at key landmarks, like a paddle of the Whanganui River and crossing the Bridge to Nowhere.
"We've had a heckuva lot of fun," they said.
There had been moments they would never forget. Crossing one farmer's paddock they took to a tree after attracting the attention of some well-grown bulls.
They'd become experts at putting up their tent, which now took less than five minutes.
They hoped to reach their destination at Island Bay in Wellington and look out over Cook Strait within the next two weeks, completing a total of 1700km thus far.
They planned to pick up the southern leg of their journey in December this year.
They were also raising money for charity along the way. Dr Donna Doolittle's Animal Rescue in Kaitaia seemed like a worthy fundraising cause, because back home in Taipa they had two dogs, two horses, cows, sheep, chickens, ducks and a kunekune pig - Lulu.
"It's just something I had always wanted to do and if you don't do it you might not ever do it," she said.
