I was on the coast just south of Fiordland and I saw a guy walking with an enormous pack, but what caught my eye was the quiver of arrows. With his huge pack, youth and general cleanliness, I was tempted to pass him off as some adventurer who had no idea what he was getting into but I could not have been more wrong.
We started chatting and he told me that he was walking all the way around New Zealand. It took moment to sink in. Not "walking the length of South Island" as many have done. Not "walking the length of New Zealand" as a few have done. And following the coast? No one does that. And to circumnavigate the whole thing (quick google check 14,000 kilometres)? Yeah, right. And the arrows? "I am am trying to live off the land." We were clearly dealing with a delusional character here. From the clean clothes and happy smile I was guessing that this was the first day of the trip and he would not make it to Invercargill. "So when did you start" I asked. "February, up at the top of the North Island". So this cat just spent 9 months walking the west coast in winter, "living off the land", and he was only half way. As my mind tried to process this I couldn't quite accept it. "So what did you do about the rivers?" I mumbled searching for something to say. "I just use the raft I am carrying. I'm Brando and here is my card".
I see a lot of people in the mountains of New Zealand who pull off amazing feats. And if that was the end of the story it would be amazing enough. But there is a lot more to Brando's story. Check out his story here. He said he was raising money for charity and that he had just graduated from high school in Cromwell, was at a bit of a loose end and thought he would do something he could sink his teeth into. He said he had dyslexia and it made a lot of things hard to do for him but that this was something he thought he could do.
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