Day seven of a 3,000km walk down New Zealand is not glamorous. A hiker blogging for The Trek logged everything she ate across a 23km road stretch between Makene Road and Blackbridge Road campsites in Northland — and the result is a genuinely useful snapshot of how vegetarian and vegan thru-hikers actually fuel up.
The day started at 6.30am with, by her own admission, chocolate licorice bullets — and ended the same way. In between came muesli porridge at camp (too sweet, dairy in the berry coating, crossed off the list), a mid-morning feast at Mangamuka Dairy, and wraps stuffed with hummus, salad and mayo for lunch. She also learned a hard lesson many first-week thru-hikers share: not snacking enough during the day means arriving at camp ravenous.
The dairy stop is the cultural highlight. In New Zealand a 'dairy' is a corner shop, and Mangamuka's is famous for burgers, milkshakes and fish and chips. Potato fritters at a dollar each turned out to be a Kiwi takeaway institution — one of her walking companions runs an entire Instagram account reviewing them nationwide. A lime milkshake, apparently another national classic, was judged as unpleasant as it sounds. Vegan treats were spotted and noted for later.
Lunch happened in a roadside ditch when rain interrupted, but the wraps themselves were winners — fresh ingredients inspired by a fellow walker. Dinner at Blackbridge campsite was improvisation at its finest: pasta with kumara (sweet potato), minestrone instant soup (the only vegan option she's found), peas and donated tomato paste. Snacks included Nice and Natural protein nut bars, with the dark chocolate flavour a favourite.
Beyond the food diary, the entry is a window into early-days Te Araroa realities. There's road walking along State Highway 1, dodging traffic by stepping into ditches. There's the critical river ford near Omahuta Forest — if water rises above the concrete, the next section is off-limits and the detour is another 30km of road. There was a broken headlamp to replace in Kerikeri, a soggy tent-packing delay in the rain, and a native ruru (owl) spotted at dusk. Campsite camaraderie rounds it out, including meeting another Trek blogger on the same route.
Why care? Anyone considering a long-distance hike in New Zealand — vegan or not — gets honest intel here: what resupply food actually looks like a week in, where the good dairy stops are, and which store-bought snacks (Nice and Natural bars, certain crackers) fit a plant-based diet. It's also a nudge that the trail's opening Northland sections mix quiet gravel forestry roads with the occasional highway grind, so planning food stops around the small settlements matters. Even the writer is quick to say she has no idea what she's doing yet — which is exactly why the honest, unpolished detail is so useful for anyone dreaming of their own thru-hike.
Via The Trek.
