One Plus One Equals Two

So - it's official. The Te Araroa Trek has turned from a solo journey into a team event. I have finally found someone as crazy and passionate about New Zealand's newest long distance trail as me and we have decided to go together.

Alex Ward and I met only a week and a half ago - at the caravan park here in Broome. She set up tent next door to Hannah and I, replacing the last occupant whom we dubbed the name "The Hippie Lady." Alex proved to be a little more sane. Or at least simply our type of wierd and, as such, we three immediately got along. That being said, the first few days Alex arrived I spent most of my time either working shifts or hibernating in my tent as I was in the final stages of my website creation, ONE.LIFE Adventures. At some point Alex came to see what I was doing and I explained my intentions for the Te Araroa Trek. Her response was to ask if she could join me.

Now, up until this point I had never had anyone that serious about joining in on this journey. So I directed Alex to check out my website along with the official Te Araroa Trail website to see if it was seriously something she'd want to be a part of. By the next day she had done all that and was still wanting to come along. So we sat down on Hannah's picnic blanket (aka: The Love Rug) and proceeded to hash out some important details regarding both of our ideas of what the trek would look like. What we were willing to put into it. What we wanted to get out of it. Backed by a common interest in adventure travel and a history in long distance trekking (me doing 1000km in BC, Canada and her doing the Annapurna Trail in Nepal), our team was quickly born.

Since then Alex and I have been on a mission to sort out the kinks in our plan and start to gain momentum in support for our journey. She has created her own website, Mission Live Life, in order to be able to post her perspective on our plans and journey at large. Even with the two websites though, we will still be intending to raise money and awareness for the Indigo Foundation and try to get corporate sponsorship for our journey. Every little bit helps.

Now as far as actually making the decision to do this with Alex - there was a lot to take into consideration. Five months is a long time to travel with anyone, let alone if you are doing the travelling in the more remote regions of a country and the only thing separating you two is the sleeping bag covers as you cozy it up in a 2-man tent. Not to mention issues such as budget, how to fundraise for Indigo Foundation and how to go about getting sponsorship and support from the community. It's a little different than flying to Cancun for two weeks and homing up in a 5-star resort. We're talking a lot of hard work mentally, physically and emotionally. Pushing ourselves to the limit. Trusting each other essentially with our lives. Making decisions that will affect the way the rest of our journey pans out. And sticking together no matter what.

So here we are. We decided to push through and be that team. We will share the pack load as much as we will share the tent space. We will push hard to get all the support needed for such a journey. We will raise our intended $5000 AUD for Indigo Foundation. And one day, we will make it to the end of the Te Araroa Trail and have done it. The journey has just begun.