tramping new zealand

They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, and in my case, I’d say that is true.

A feature of this Southern Expedition has been flailing around in the dark for more time than as recommended, as in, never.

So, my trip didn’t turn out the way I originally anticipated, but I was able to make the most of it, considering my knee situation.

My Nelson physio seemed to think my kneecap had been dislocated and I needed a couple of months of rehab to strengthen the muscles holding it in place.

Summer had been a slow buildup of stress on my torn but healed Achilles tendon.

The most valuable learning experience from this trip was that I may need to consider my body’s needs more in the future. It was starting to become obvious that I can’t go from a standing start to carrying 11 days of food and all my gear and doing big days.

Can I learn this?

Have to try.

It was more than six weeks after I left Nelson that I finally made it home. I had avoided the major rain events and flooding that my friends had suffered, instead having many cloud-free days, even if it often rained at night.

Just to let me know what I’ve missed out on, I had some serious rain to get through on my final day out on the road. But, overall, I had excellent mid-winter weather. Perhaps a little cold in the mornings, but you can dress for that.

Yes, it was quite frustrating to be unable to utilise the good weather to a greater extent. I really needed to dig deep into my reserves of resilience to avoid total frustration.

I coped pretty well, just accepting my leg injury, which had stopped further big adventures.

The behaviour I need to change is starting a better training schedule for multi-day walks. My body just doesn’t seem to cope with shifting directly from first gear to fourth.

I survived the summer hiking season because my endeavours started fairly easily, then built up over the weeks.

In the end, the 11-day Johnson River expedition went well, as I’d already had 65 nights in huts and plenty of kilometres under my belt.

My knee will take at least two months to recover and strengthen enough to carry a pack again.

Just need to keep going with the rehab exercises.