Gustav answers his call from God

He gave away everything he owns to walk the length of New Zealand with a cross on his back.

"I am not frightened anymore - Jesus is with me," said Gustav Eggerking.

The night before, he slept on top of his cross in bush near Mamaku because the ground was too wet to lay on.

"I gave everything away, my business, my computers, my truck and my dog - a greyhound called Magic. They were all links to my materialistic past and I don't need them anymore," he said.

Mr Eggerking moved to Auckland in 2004 from a small town just south of Hamburg, Germany and bought a magic shop in the city.

He had been a professional magician and hypnotist for 26 years before he received his calling late last year.

"I was doing a children's show and was given a box of books.

"One of them was a Bible and I decided to read the 10 commandments - every one of them hit me like a hammer," Mr Eggerking said.

In garb reminiscent of an old testament prophet, Mr Eggerking has been walking the streets and highways of the North Island since he left the steps of the lighthouse in Cape Reinga on March 5.

He hopes to reach Bluff and the southern most tip of New Zealand before his 50th birthday on September 25.

"It's going to be tough walking the South Island in winter but God has his plan and will provide for me. I have blisters on my feet and have worn out three pairs of shoes already," he said.

As the Daily Post spoke to Mr Eggerking, a motorist pulled over and gave him $20 - saying that God had told him to stop and give him some money.

He will sleep wherever he stops at night but usually under the cover of a church entrance, sometimes people will take him in and he relies on the kindness of strangers for food and water.

Ironically he gets more abuse from Christians for walking on a Sunday than from anyone else as he keeps the Sabbath holy and will always rest on Saturday.

The police have stopped him on a number of occasions as he sometimes disrupts traffic when people slow down or stop to take a better look. "I have been asked to go to the police station here in Rotorua - they are going to give me a reflective jacket so I can be seen on the roads."