The Long Stroll – Part 1

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Journey of Jory

“While some people may see a jobless, barefoot hobo in a flax coat, I see a chance for survivalist craziness.”

The idea of walking 3000 km’s is something most of us would never contemplate, let alone do. Yet this is exactly what Jory Akuhata is going to do, and FLINT is going along for the ride (or walk) as Jory makes his way down the Te Araroa trail in New Zealand.

Te Araroa spans the length of New Zealand, from Cape Regina (the northern tip of NZ) to Bluff (one of the most southern points of NZ) passing volcanoes, mountain ranges, beaches and cities and all sorts of other wild shit.

Barefoot and armed with only the most basic supplies and mostly self made equipment, Jory will survive by hunting his own food and in general will be looking like a hobo after the first five minutes.

Before the journey even begins, Jory has been preparing himself for whats ahead. Completely changing his lifestyle. Welcome to the world of Jory.

In Part 1 of The Long Stroll we find out what Jory is doing to prepare himself for this adventure and why the heck he is doing it.

Preparation

6 steps to the long path ahead.

1. Be barefoot as much as possible – the easiest of all the changes.

2. Start sleeping on the floor – everywhere is now my bed.

3. Start hand washing clothes – hand made washboard.

4. Cold showers – pic not available.

5. Give up coffee – this is a native berry and its seeds can be toasted and ground like coffee. It happens to grow on the side of my house….I have a problem!

6. Start taking selfies – no travelogue is complete without them. Here I am in a flax cloak.

Why

4 Reasons why I would do this

 1. The coming together of three life changing events:

• I had just heard about the Te Araroa trail opening and I have to admit the idea of walking New Zealand top to bottom was appealing from the get go.
• At the same time I was taking a stone tool making workshop and was amazed how I could turn a simple stone into a useful tool – learning about what it took to live here before Europeans arrived really speaks to me.
• And then I had just started the paleo diet. A diet where you try to replicate a hunter gatherers diet in a modern setting. I got great results with the general guidelines but felt like i could take it further.

And so these three things began me on a path of new and interesting skills each shaping how I would take this journey.

2. I have a love of making things from scratch. It’s usually a lot of work, can be more expensive sometimes (if you consider time valuable) and never works great the first time. But there is something about slowly understanding how stuff works and having a completely unique (ugly) project that only you know how it works because its a mess.

3. I also enjoy learning old knowledge

I have been straight razor shaving for a few years now. And there are a few things about it that are common when it comes to old vs new knowledge. New is always convenient but expensive and old is cheap but takes longer. If you stick at it long enough the things that take a long time stop being hard and you look like a tough guy.

4. All my idols are wandering vagabonds. I’m talking about Samurai Jack, Musashi and Caine (from the kung fu series). I grew up doing martial arts and it is full of stories of men wandering the countryside helping people with their kung fu skills. While some people may see a jobless, barefoot hobo in flax coat I see a chance for adventures and tales.

Jory Akuhata is hunting, gathering, and making his way across New Zealand. Check his blog here: journeyofjory

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