Billy Meredith on his Te Araroa trek. Photo: Instagram / Billy Meredith
A severe case of trench foot did not stop an intrepid American hiker from completing the fastest self-supported journey of Te Araroa last week.
The new record on the trail covering the length of the country - 52 days, 11 hours and 58 minutes - was set by Billy Meredith from the United States.
Meredith told RNZ's Midday Report the biggest challenge came towards the end of the epic journey, when his feet started to suffer.
"When I got to about 160kms left, I had about 100 miles to go, I started to get into some really muddy, swampy sections there on the trail. I was making a big push to try and finish in less than 50 days, so I went over 24 hours without sleeping and there was a lot of river crossings and swampy sections, and I had wet feet the whole time."
Meredith ended up with a "real bad" case of trench foot in both his feet, and had to pause his walk to find a local doctor.
"And they told me I had to get my feet dry as soon as possible and keep them dry, and I still had the wettest part of the trail ahead of me in the Longwood Forest.
"So, I ended up just grabbing the antibiotics and getting back on trail and pushing 48 hours to the finish without really sleeping, just taking a few naps here and there because I knew I had to get off my feet and dry them out.
"And I just lost a lot of skin on them and they are all swollen and gross looking, but they are doing a lot better now."
Meredith said "you don't want to see them", but also noted he had pictures of the damage on his Instagram page, with a warning ahead of them.
Billy Meredith before he set off on his big trek. Photo: RNZ / Samantha Gee
Meredith said the national trail of Aotearoa was very different to the long tracks he had walked back home in the US, such as the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail
"Those trails are basically a footpath from start to finish, so you can just follow the marking on the trail and once you are on the trail you don't really need to get off, it's pretty easy to follow.
"But on Te Araroa, especially up in the North Island, there is quite a bit of ocean crossings and tide crossing where you are catching ferries and boats and water taxis - you have to paddle the Whanganui River, which was incredible, that was a three day paddle.
"And then in the South Island there are a couple of rivers that you have to get a ride around, so it's very different, just a lot of logistical equations to solve that I wasn't used to, so that was unique. And there was a lot of beach walking that was unique to Te Araroa."
Meredith said it was fair to say it was tougher than all three of the big US tracks.
But he said he was feeling quite good after the long hike.
"I'm feeling all right, I've got some sore feet right now and I've actually been doing a bit of travelling with my parents because my working holiday visa expires this week, so I haven't really had a day of relaxation yet."
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