In January and February 2024, we (Maddie and Tom) set the self-supported FKT for Te Araroa hiking ~3030km in 54 days 14 hours. The guidelines distinguishing between supported, self-supported and unsupported FKTs can be found here.
Below is the list of gear we took with us. If you have any questions, please feel free to comment on the page or reach out to us via social media!
Total weight in list: 8178g
Individual worn weight: 1307g
Individual base weight: 2782g
Sleeping
| Item | Product | Weight (g) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tent | Durston X-Mid Pro 2 | 509 | DCF floor. Strong, durable and quick to set up. |
| Stakes | DAC J-Stake, RT90 Swiss Piranha | 59 | 4x DAC (10.7g each) for main tie outs and 4x Swiss Piranha (3.2g each). Stored in 3g Toaks stake bag. |
| Sleeping mat | Plastazote LD15 | 136 | Carry one each at 68g. 5mm thick and cut to 96cm x 92cm. |
| Sleeping bag | Zpacks 0C Twin Quilt | 530 | Short length (168cm). |
| Earplugs | Not much | ||
| Total | 1234 |
Clothes Carried
| Item | Product | Weight (g) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Synthetic jacket | Enlightened Equipment Torrid | 404 | 202g each. 2oz/yd² CLIMASHIELD APEX synthetic insulation, 7D fabric, full zip. |
| Fleece pants | Zero G Gear Alpha Direct Pants | 190 | 90gsm, 95g each. |
| Buff | Outdoor Research Echo Ubertube | 40 | One each at 20g. |
| Rain jacket | Inov8 Raceshell Pro FZ (Tom), GORE R7 Shakedry (Maddie) | 194 | |
| Rain pants | Zpacks Vertice Rain Pants (Tom), Montbell Versalite Pants (Maddie) | 170 | |
| Poncho | Emergency poncho | 90 | One each (45g). With cord added to cinch arm sleeves. |
| Gloves | Polartec Fleece Flip Top Mittens | 88 | 44g/pair. Excellent. Flip top mitten is versatile and warmer than gloves. |
| Rain mitts | Oven Bags | 20 | Medium, 10g each. Cord added to cinch around wrist. |
| Spare underwear | ExOfficio Briefs | 56 | One spare pair each (27g). |
| Spare socks | Injinji Liner Crew | 204 | 34g/pair. x2 spare walking pairs each and x1 sleeping pair each. |
| Spare insoles | Spenco RX Comfort Insoles | 100 | Spare insoles that are comfortable for road walking. 50g/pair. |
| Head net | Sea to Summit Nano Head Net | 20 | One each at 10g. Permethrin treated. |
| Plastic shoe ponchos | DIY job | 34 | Chord to cinch at top, velcro to attach to shoes. 17g each. |
| Total | 1610 |
Electronics
| Item | Product | Weight (g) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Phone | iPhone 13 Mini | 304 | Carried one each at 152g with case. |
| SOS/Satellite communication | Garmin inReach Mini 2 | 100 | For safety, texting, weather forecast and FKT verification. |
| Power bank | Nitecore NB10000 | 300 | Carried two at 150g each to reduce charging time in towns. |
| Headphones | AirPods Pro 2 | 50 | Essential gear. |
| iPhone cable | 8 | Short length, 1x USB C, 1x USB A. | |
| USB C cable | 10 | Short length, carried two. | |
| Micro USB cable | 5 | Short length, USB A. | |
| Cable adapters | 7 | For redundancy. Carried USB C → Garmin, iPhone → Garmin, iPhone → USB C, USB C → iPhone, USB C → micro. | |
| Head torch | NITECORE NU25 | 62 | One each at 31g. Homemade UL strap. |
| Backup head torch | NITECORE NU25 | 24 | No strap. |
| Wall plug | 20W wall plug | 80 | Carried two (40g), each with two ports for faster charging in town. |
| Spare headphones | Generic | 10 | For when we accidentally drop our Airpods in the river. |
| Total | 960 |
First Aid & Repair
| Item | Product | Weight (g) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mini scissors | 5 | With safety cap. | |
| Needle and thread | 2 | Also for popping blisters. | |
| DCF tape | Zpacks DCF tape | 2 | For patching gear. |
| Superglue | 2 | For big cuts and repairing stuff. | |
| Cord | Zpacks 1.3mm | 3 | For repairs. |
| Hiker wool | 1 | For blisters. | |
| Poron foam | 5 | PPT. For deflecting pressure. | |
| Total | 20 |
General Consumables
| Item | Product | Weight (g) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ibuprofen | 4 | For pain relief and inflammation. | |
| Paracetamol | 4 | For pain relief. | |
| Antihistamines | 3 | For bites etc. | |
| Caffeine tablets | 3 | 200mg tablets. | |
| Lip balm | Carmex Squeeze Tube | 14 | Mini. For lips/face. |
| Water purification | Aquatabs | 2 | |
| Sunscreen | 15 | For legs. | |
| Zinc | Key Sun Zinke Sticks | 6 | For face. SPF 50+. |
| Toothpaste | 6 | 5ml tube. | |
| Hand sanitiser | 15 | In 15ml dropper bottle. | |
| Insect repellent | Picaridin | 6 | In 5ml dropper bottle. |
| Total | 78 |
Footcare Items
| Item | Product | Weight (g) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lubricant | Gurney Goo | 30 | |
| Moisturiser | Rawleigh’s Salve | 30 | |
| Friction reduction tape | ENGO patches | 10 | Our go to for blister prevention. |
| Breathable tape | Fixomull Stretch | 3 | |
| Kinesiology tape | Rock tape | 3 | For blisters and injury management. |
| Rigid tape | Leukotape | 5 | Good for distributing shear load over a broader surface area. |
| Duct tape | 3 | Makeshift ENGO patches and for repairing gear. | |
| Adhesive felt | 10 | 5mm thickness. For deflecting pressure for blisters and changing foot strike pattern. | |
| Toe gels | Scholls Toe Protector | 3 | Multiple sizes. |
| Splinter probes | 1 | Puncture blisters. Individually sealed. | |
| Hydrocolloid plasters | Compeed, Scholls blister plasters | 3 | Various sizes/shapes. For torn roof blisters. |
| Tincture of Benzoin | 7 | Tape adherent. In 5ml dropper bottles. | |
| Joint dressing | Livingstone joint dressing | 3 | Small (3.8 x 7.6cm). For edge blisters/hotspots. Also for cuts on rest of body. |
| Epsom salt | 30 | For foot soaks in the evening. | |
| Baby powder | 30 | For drying macerated feet. | |
| Total | 171 |
Miscellaneous
| Item | Product | Weight (g) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pack | Nashville Cutaway 20L | 760 | 380g each. Extremely comfortable vest-style pack with lots of pockets. 2x chest straps. |
| Pack liner | Nylofume | 84 | 3x at 28g each. One each for food, and one for clothes/sleeping bag. |
| Water bottle | Woolworths 1L | 132 | 4 x 1L plastic bottle with 28mm thread and pop top. |
| Water filter | Platypus Quickdraw | 63 | Replaced every 1000km. |
| Rehydration container | Gatorade container | 34 | One to share. |
| Spoon | Sea to Summit tea spoon | 12 | One each (6g). |
| Sun umbrella | Montbell Travel UV | 260 | One each (130g). Used almost every day. Keeps you much cooler. |
| Dry bags | 50 | 2x 8L DCF dry bag (25g) for sleeping bag and dry clothes. | |
| Stuff sacks | 10 | 4x 0.5L (2.5g) for misc items (poncho, buff, head net, gloves etc.). | |
| Toothbrush | 6 | One each (3g). | |
| Hair comb | 2 | For Maddie. | |
| Massage ball | Practice Golf Ball | 8 | One each (4g). Used every day on feet muscles. |
| Exfoliator | 8 | Lightweight pumice stone. One each (4g). Used every day for foot maintenance. Replaced every 600km. | |
| Bidet | CuloClean | 11 | |
| Cards | 6 | ID/debit. | |
| Cash | 5 | ~$200 NZD. For trail angels, shuttles etc. | |
| Plastic shoe covers | 40 | 20g/pair and 50cm tall. For nightly foot soaks and dry feet for small river crossings. | |
| Total | 1491 |
Clothes worn (Tom)
| Item | Product | Weight (g) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Long sleeve shirt | Rab Pulse Long Sleeve Zip | 100 | 1/4 Zip. Super breathable. SPF30. |
| Running tights | Nike Trail Lava Loops | 180 | Lots of pockets but fabric isn’t breathable enough. |
| Underwear | ExOfficio Briefs | 28 | |
| Shoes | Hoka Speedgoat 6 | 560 | 2E (wide fit) for more space. |
| Socks | ArmaSkin | 40 | Long style. Excellent for preventing blisters. |
| Gaiters | Trail Gaiters Australia | 25 | Lightweight but not very durable. |
| Hat | Sunday Afternoon Ultra Adventure Hat | 60 | Great sun protection. Trimmed the brim so it doesn’t get caught in the wind as much. |
| Sunglasses | Julbo Shield M | 27 | Cat 2-4 photochromic sunglasses. |
| GPS watch | Garmin 965 | 42 | With nylon strap. For FKT verification with good battery life and to navigate courses with topo maps. |
| Trekking poles | Leki Ultratrail FX One Superlite Poles | 270 | 120cm. Uses their glove system. |
| Total | 1332 |
Clothes worn (Maddie)
| Item | Product | Weight (g) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Long sleeve shirts | Rab Pulse Long Sleeve Zip | 100 | 1/4 Zip. Super breathable. SPF30. |
| Shorts | Nike Second Sunrise | 135 | Lots of pockets. |
| Underwear | ExOfficio Briefs | 28 | |
| Shoes | Hoka Speedgoat 6 | 560 | 2E (wide fit) for more space. |
| Socks | ArmaSkin | 40 | Long style. Excellent for preventing blisters. |
| Gaiters | Trail Gaiters Australia | 25 | Lightweight but not very durable. |
| Hat | Sunday Afternoon Ultra Adventure Hat | 60 | Great sun protection. DIY modification to make brim smaller so it doesn’t get caught in the wind as much. |
| Sunglasses | Julbo Shield M | 27 | Cat 2-4 photochromic sunglasses. |
| GPS watch | Garmin 955 Solar | 42 | With nylon strap. Good battery life and navigate courses with topo maps. |
| Trekking poles | Leki Ultratrail FX One Superlite Poles | 265 | 115cm. Uses their glove system. |
| Total | 1282 |
15 Responses
Thank you for sharing
Where did you pick up a Plastazote LD15 Sleeping mat? Clark Rubber?
It was a bit of a pain. We had to get it from the UK in bulk from wearefoam as they were the only place we could find that had a 2 person width.
Thank You
Really well done both of you. You certainly know how to travel but not for us! Keep it up.
Thank you! ☺️
Our comment should have come from Anne and Mick!
Did u find the stiff runners helped?
We really liked the shoes we used, and found that swapping the insoles over depending on the terrain made a huge different ☺️
The plastic shoe ponchos?
I’ve never found a light camp shoe. can you elaborate on these please?
Hey Maurice! Yes the plastic shoe ponchos were a DIY that we made up a few weeks before leaving. They wouldn’t really work as a camp shoe unfortunately, as there was no bottom to them. We cut the base off some Temu plastic shoe covers and held them onto our shoes using velcro.
For lightweight camp shoes, we would typically use the original shoe covers inside our shoes to stop our socks getting wet around camp, rather than taking a spare pair of shoes ☺️
Can see you took ultralight rain gear on this (naturally). Did you have any issues with scrub and the light rain gear on the south island? Going this summer and wondering if lightweight rain gear would hold up.
Also did you feel the poncho was worth carrying? Or often too scrubby/windy?
Thanks!
Hey Liam! We found that the combination of the plastic poncho and UL rain gear worked really well for us. There were times when the poncho wasn’t durable enough, and would get snagged on bushes, but overall we were surprised at how well it held up. If anything it added a small layer of protection for the rain gear (not that you there were many shrubby bits on the South Island anyway).
We did replace the plastic ponchos every 500km or so though. We would definitely recommend carrying a poncho, it goes a long way to helping you stay dry. To stop it flapping in the wind as much, we carried some thin cord to cinch it around our waist.
We really liked the shoes we used, and found that swapping the insoles depending on the terrain made a huge difference ☺️
Great List! How did the stake setup work in strong wind?
Thanks! The stake setup worked really well – although for a non FKT we would probably take a few more with extra guylines setup on the X-Mid. The 7g DAC stakes that come with Durston tents are also a good robust alternative to the Swiss Piranha stakes 😊