Te Harinui

For most of Lent next year I'm going to go for a bit of a road trip, and you might like to come on some of it with me. Or all of it, if you like. Beginning on Thursday March 13, I'm going to start at one end of our diocese, on Stewart Island and travel by foot (mostly), boat, train and bicycle to Kurow and the Waitaki River at the other end,  arriving on Saturday April 13.

I'm doing this because 2014 will mark the bicentenary of Samuel Marsden's landing in the Bay of Islands and the first proclamation, by Marsden and Ruatara, of the Gospel in Aotearoa. The Church throughout New Zealand is planning various events to mark this anniversary, and this will be one of ours. In keeping with Ruatara's and Marsden's original Christmas day message of "Good News of Great Joy" this Hikoi through the length of Otago and Southland will be a proclamation event. At each daily stopping point I anticipate holding some small, local event at which the Good News of Jesus is shared. Once a week, at various strategic points along the way I intend to host larger, regional gatherings where we will join together as witnesses to the Gospel. Throughout the journey, I will be carrying a wooden staff cut from Stewart Island; a symbol of the Joyful news and of our journey together in proclaiming it.
I have driven the proposed route, and it will cover more than 700 km. Of that distance, I intend to walk about 550km. The rest will be covered by train (the Kingston Flyer and the Taieri Gorge Railway) bicycle (The Otago Central Rail Trail) and boat (The ferry from Stewart Island and the leg from Kingston to Queenstown). The various modes of transport, each a quite distinctive feature of our region,  will enable people who don't fancy their chances of walking to participate. I have already heard from one or two people who intend to walk the whole thing with me, and I am hoping that a few more might have the time and energy to do that; but only a few. Much of the route will follow long straight country roads but some will be over small, narrow, winding, highways where a large group of walkers might be a hazard to traffic. I am hoping that groups might come and walk with me through their parish or from the outskirts of town into the centre.

A tentative schedule of the Hikoi is as follows:

		Destination	Km	Comments
1	Thur 13 March	Stewart Island	0
2	Fri 14	Stewart Island to Bluff	0	Ferry Stewart  Is to Bluff
3	Sat 15	Bluff to Invercargill	28.2
4	Sun 16	Regional Event Invercargill
5	Mon 17	Invercargill to Winton	31.0
6	Tues 18	Winton to Dipton	28.4
7	Wed 19	Dipton to Lumsden	20.8
8	Thurs 20	Lumsden to Athol	31.3
9	Fri 21	Athol to Garston	11.4
10	Sat 22	Garston to Kingston then boat to Queenstown	17.6	Utilising the Kingston Flyer for part of the way
11	Sun 23	Regional event Queenstown
12	Mon 24	Queenstown to Arrowtown	21.1
13	Tues 25	Arrowtown to Kawerau Bridge	22.0	Transport from bridge needed
14	Wed 26	Kawerau Bridge to Cromwell	26.3
15	Thurs 27	Cromwell to Clyde	23.7
16	Fri 28	Rail trail
17	Sat 29	Rail trail
18	Sun 30	Rail trail to Middlemarch then Dunedin by Taieri Gorge Railway
19	Mon 31	Outram to Dunedin	25
20	Tues 1 April	Days off
21	Wed 2
22	Thurs 3
23	Fri 4	Dunedin to Waitati	22
24	Sat 5	Waitati to Karitane	16.5
25	Sun 6	Regional Event, Waikoauaiti
26	Mon 7	Karitane to Palmerston	21.5
27	Tues 8	Palmerston to Hampden	24
28	Wed 9	Hampden to Maheno	20.5
29	Thurs 10	Maheno to Tokaraki	24
30	Fri 11	Tokaraki to Duntroon	23.5
31	Sat 12	Duntroon to Kurow	22.5
32	Sun 13	Palm Sunday event, Cathedral