Kiwi Boots

Twitting. The final (or at least most current) web fronteir.

2009-06-06T17:32:00.001-07:00

So I tweet now on twitter, god that sounds pathetic. Any way I through it up under my design name rather than my gamer tag or this. http://twitter.com/makipae

Out of the blue

2009-06-05T23:18:00.000-07:00

Yeah it seems that way when I havent updated this for so long. I'm still training. Trying to get into a rutine of jogging one a night now to and on a new diet of mostly tinned fish. Theres some good flavours out there like sealords terriaki tune.

Now we havent yet decided weather or not to tie our walk in with a charity but due to a recent devalopment in my life if we do I think I found the perfect one. Myalgic Encephalopathy or
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or more simply M.E. Its a rather horrible condition that is more common than people would think and it really needs better awearness. Heres the link for the NZ branch: www.anzmes.org.nz/. Please read up on it, and be understanding to those who have it.

Now I've never been good at keeping this updated but but I was thinking of starting a twitter, much easier to remember to do and a friend linked me to a desktop app to do it with out the need for browsers so always a bonus. Sure I'll still update this and the twitter will have mindless junk from the rest of my life to, but hey, at least it will be more fequent junk.

I'm off to Taranaki in two weeks, yay, get to see someone. Nothing training related (well shes that recent devalopment) but I just wanted to shear the good news of my short trip.

2009-01-30T15:48:00.000-08:00

Its been to long since my last update. I've started a new course in the hopes of getting more qualifications to get a job and its left me tired as hell. Still, I'm hoping to get a part time job as a stock boy nights and weekends to help pay for this trip. Training still going good but I have to glue my inner soles in place as they keep sliding back on me. I managed to track down Andrew McNeur on face book, hes agreed to over me advice and such so I will be emailing him soon. Should be good to talk to someone whos already done it.

Here in no particular order are some of the places we will be passing through:

This is the Wainuiomata round about where our trip will be starting, then up and over the hill, what a way to start.
http://maps.google.co.nz/maps/mpl?ie=UTF8&moduleurl=http:%2F%2Fmaps.google.co.nz%2Fintl%2Fen_nz%2Fhelp%2Fmaps%2Fholidays%2Fmapplet.html&mapclient=google&ll=-41.254597,174.929842&spn=0,359.996567&z=18&layer=c&cbll=-41.254654,174.929918&panoid=IUI-0ly-jDxVyXXbWfeF_Q&cbp=12,303.3669322131958,,0,-1.9605965262126614

These is a view of the mountian ranges in the middle of the island we will be passing by.
http://maps.google.co.nz/maps/mpl?ie=UTF8&moduleurl=http:%2F%2Fmaps.google.co.nz%2Fintl%2Fen_nz%2Fhelp%2Fmaps%2Fholidays%2Fmapplet.html&mapclient=google&ll=-39.183304,175.429688&spn=0,359.121094&z=10&layer=c&cbll=-39.17901,175.456283&panoid=5u1EvSXl1Nuw6C99_nGIjw&cbp=12,161.30225965439843,,0,2.834481080733838

This is the strech of road that runs from Miranda to Cleverdon, near Auckland and the part I'm looking forward to most, well other than a brief visit to Waihiki after all I've heard of it.
http://maps.google.co.nz/maps/mpl?ie=UTF8&moduleurl=http:%2F%2Fmaps.google.co.nz%2Fintl%2Fen_nz%2Fhelp%2Fmaps%2Fholidays%2Fmapplet.html&mapclient=google&ll=-37.033255,175.280685&spn=0,359.299622&z=11&layer=c&cbll=-37.008881,175.290266&panoid=Cl_tcP8TtY4BUv5knVpHew&cbp=12,94.2137469855237,,0,4.89464518157828

Cape Reinga, the final road.
http://maps.google.co.nz/maps/mpl?ie=UTF8&moduleurl=http:%2F%2Fmaps.google.co.nz%2Fintl%2Fen_nz%2Fhelp%2Fmaps%2Fholidays%2Fmapplet.html&mapclient=google&ll=-34.4411,172.698425&spn=0,357.198486&z=9&layer=c&cbll=-34.4411,172.698425&panoid=WBh-mxF3Y157KfV7lDwfkw&cbp=12,299.97429281612795,,0,10.162386102664205

A small, near unmapped strech of country road.
http://maps.google.co.nz/maps/mpl?ie=UTF8&moduleurl=http:%2F%2Fmaps.google.co.nz%2Fintl%2Fen_nz%2Fhelp%2Fmaps%2Fholidays%2Fmapplet.html&mapclient=google&ll=-39.602327,175.157128&spn=0,359.649811&z=12&layer=c&cbll=-39.602327,175.157128&panoid=y4BGxJK7JP8bcXLqsavssQ&cbp=12,284.5899038735693,,0,1.6286458105050056

This here is the only strech, or that we can help anyway, of state highway one that we will be traveling down.
http://maps.google.co.nz/maps/mpl?ie=UTF8&moduleurl=http:%2F%2Fmaps.google.co.nz%2Fintl%2Fen_nz%2Fhelp%2Fmaps%2Fholidays%2Fmapplet.html&mapclient=google&ll=-40.704977,175.220604&spn=0,359.824905&z=13&layer=c&cbll=-40.705079,175.220561&panoid=phOk2C-SPMAnGhvqP7Vi4w&cbp=12,47.22549796943753,,0,12.585546926363724

Not much to put in posts really so my one a week thing will most likly slow down, and with course even less so.

Still in training and new shoes

2009-01-11T17:23:00.000-08:00

Sorry for missing last weeks post, got tied up. And this week will be just a brief one as I'm not in the mood for much writing.

I was going to add in those google street links but that can wait till next week insted.

I got new shoes, dynlop evolutions or such, $50 from number one shoe wharehouse. Went in to get new steelcaps and walked out with these to.

Training is going well, been walking between waterloo, naenae and lower hutt a lot but that may be changing soon, not sure.

Anyway thats all this week sorry. Hope to do better next time.

Pathways and those who came before

2008-12-28T13:59:00.000-08:00

It should be noted first off that in planning this I'm using a three piece map of New Zealand from Jason's Travel Media (http://www.jasons.com/) Although helpful not very detailed. (I had some google street map links below but I screwed them up so I'll edit them in in a day or two.)

- Our Journey begins in the Hutt Vally in a small hill surrounded hole called Waiuniomata. From here we will pass over the hill, through the Vally and spend our first night in Upper Hutt.
- Day two will be spent souly on the windy (as curvy not to blow a gale) road of the Akatara Vally nestling us in Waikanae.
- The next four to five days will be spent mostly along the west coast darting inland every so often as we make our way to Wanganui.
- Its planed at the moment from here we will travel along the Wanganui River through such "towns" as Koriniti and Jerusalem.
- As we proceed north through the center of the island we will be taken the western roads past the mountains and Lake Taupo. Better to see the road less traveled and all that.
- The route from here becomes somewhat unknown. Off to Hamilton then north to walk the stretch between Miranda and Cleverdon. Then for now nothing is known between there and Cape Reinga.

I know we are not the first, and by no means the last people to tread the trails laid to us by the pioneers of this country. And in recognition of this I thought it would be nice to give mention of a few who have ventured this path.

- One worth noting is Andrew Mcnuer who walked both islands for Arthritis New Zealand.(http://www.dailypost.co.nz/localnews/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3742228&thesection=localnews&thesubsection=&thesecondsubsection=)
(http://www.arthritis.org.nz/)
- I just learnt of Emma Daken while writing this and trying to find the links I had the other day. Seems shes just finishing up doing the long hall and is the youngest person in New Zealand to have done it. (http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2008/11/emma_daken.html)
- Chris Cairns the cricketer (?) done a walk for railway safety or such recently. (http://www.chriscairnsfoundation.co.nz/news.asp?NewsID=68)
- And there was a bunch of Chinese that traveled from Auckland to Wellington to see Halen Clark for another awareness run but I cant seem to find the link again.

As you'll see a few changes have been made to the site. On the right you will see a working list of the inventory for the marathon. By working I mean that I'm still working on it. Below this there is a map of New Zealand that when I mention a town you can type it in and see where its located. Another thing of worth while note is the timer at the bottom of the page. This is counting down to the time and date of the Kiwi Boots Tour. And lastly you'll notice some ads scattered about. please feel free to click on one every so often to show your support to our little endeavour. Now all I need is a new layout template and to finish designing the logo.

I finaly manage to get Nic around to do a small blog entry that he dictated out to me while removing a fish tank from the confines of my living room.

"After stuffing my face all Christmas I have come to the realisation that I could not walk continuously for 6 hours let alone for 20 days. I have decided to commit myself to to a rigourous training regime and practice the art of self control to keep my hands away from pies, lollies and other such junk food."

The endevour of the shoes

2008-12-21T13:25:00.000-08:00

Well most of this week was spent in the search of shoes. I began by going to the Shoe Clinic (http://www.shoeclinic.co.nz/) to be fitted, the guy there (didn't get a name) was at first most perplexed by my circumstances unsure of just what to do. I have genetic problems that cause a lot of hassle with my feet so he tried many things but in the end decided it best to consult with their podiatrist. So I had an appointment the next day with him but he never showed. Oh well, they filmed my on the treadmill for him to look at but I don't feel I hear back all to soon, so I'll most likely end up at Rebel Sports (http://www.rebelsport.co.nz/intro.asp) using some advice from the Shoe Clinic people and buying a pair during the sale that day.

The Shoe Clinic guy also told us about a guy who walked around New Zealand for arthritis and got all his shoes for free by going through head office. We've thought about using a charity like stated in an earlier post but as yet haven't gone fully into it. If we did I'd like it to be something more like fund raising for community rec centers as most of their funds come from donations and more towns need them to keep youth entertained and stop them seeking gangs and other bad lanes. I know I could have used a rec center in my town growing up but the only one I knew of was through a church and you had to be a member of the congregation to go there.

Before going to the store I looked up shoe advice online. I was surprised by one thing I saw online was the lack of tie-up-able shoe laces, most had Velcro or laces that were like a loop and elastic. It seemed to me that all the time we spend trying to teach kids how to tie shoes was wasted. Maybe its just Americans that have trouble with laces because all the sports shoes in the Shoe Clinic had more traditional laces. Who knows.

The other thing I wanted to put in here was an entry from Nic. I only asked him for 50-100 words but this it seems is to hard for him to muster in four days. I push him this week to knock out something, an update, and introduction, a story about a nice sandwich he had, anything. So keep your fingers crossed that he can do it for next week.

A view from the streets

2008-12-14T12:44:00.000-08:00

Well our route is now planned up to Clevedon, this is about 60-70% of the journey I think. Just have the area above Auckland to plan out and we have our map. And thanks now to Google Streets we can view most of the course, sadly not all of New Zealand is covered by Google Streets but most is and its a big help for a task like this. Must find out who to thank for that.

Its the 15Th of December now, one week till Christmas in which I'm being given money for walking shoes which I intend on grabbing during the Boxing Day sales. Should be good. And they'll make my training better to. I've been enjoying walking most of the way to Naenae to visit Natalie and back. Its a good walk and only the Wainui Hill is being missed out on right now. I did this walk a few days ago and decided to stop in at Mitchel Park. Found out that night when I got a phone call from a friend to really seen that she was in the park less than one hundred meters from where I sat and neither of us knew it, would have been nice to have seen her that day.

Biology and the lessons we learn

2008-12-07T11:33:00.000-08:00

Training has been going well this week despite issues in other parts of my life trying to play havok on my mind. During it all I have noticed some odd ocurances to do with my body and things happening to it.

Firstly theres the four day walk bug, if you wait till the forth day to do a good solid walk again, your leg mussels (more spacificly the back of the shin) start to contract and ache a bit. It happened twice now, one this week and once a month ago. So I have to make sure I walk on third day at the latest, even if its two am before I get out the door.

The next thing I noticed is toe nails. EWWW they say, now comes the gross stuff. Well its all stuff I'm going to have to learn and deal with over the next year. It would seem that I asume is due to extra sweat than my body is used to (or it could be the extra stress) that my toe nails are growing at an alarming rate. Well maybe not alarming but quick all the same forcing me to cut them at dubble the amount of time I used to. I could always post a video blog once I get a cam up and running showing but that might be to gross for this blog.

The third thing I've noticed is a loss of apitie for drinks. I always loss my ap[itie for food when I'm stressed and live of yogurt for months at a time but latly I cant seem to drink anything that has a flavour. Even milk my normal favorite distastes upon my toung. So I now have bottles upon bottles of water that get chilled with lots of ice and refilled at the artisian spring. Even putting lemon in the water seems to much for my toung.

It would seem I'm not the only one doing training, Nic has takled a challange this week also. Now I'm sure hes only gone out walking once thus far but it was a good one. Mid last week the got dropped at work by his mother rather than taking his car and walk from there home. Now his work is in the center on Lower Hutt and he walked from there over the Wainuiomata Hill and home. It took him 64 minutes to get to my place this side of the hill for a break. I'll have to find out what else hes been up to for the next post.

Oh and always wear your sunscreen.

Training or the lack there of!

2008-11-30T15:46:00.000-08:00

Well this last week has been mighty slow and would have been a total waste had I friend not hung out with me in the Hutt. Her and I managed to walk a fair bit on Sunday which was about all the training I managed to muster. It was a busy day and crowded to with Westfield being full of people running back and forth doing Christmas shopping. And the parade in the afternoon which signaled our departure as masses of people came walking in the opposite direction to amass a wall blocking off streets and detouring our bus home. I've also not done any daily exercises this week, seems I need to find a greater inspiration to push myself into action.

Origins

2008-11-23T17:07:00.000-08:00

This would be where I introduce myself. I'm Mark Stevenson, I live in that small Pacific dwelling country of New Zealand and I like to walk. I like to walk so much in fact that I intend on walking across the northern part of my country, a journey that shall cover the better part of 1200 kilometers. This shall commence starting from the first of January 2010. This gives me and my traveling companion Nic Bolton about fourteen months in which to train, prepare, pack, and plan for this argumentive task.

It started over what was thought to be a small joke between friends, something that soon escalated to a challenge then onto the event that stands before us now. We heard of a Charity event in Auckland where firemen scale the stairs of the Sky Tower, this sounded like something Nic wanted to tackle but alas hes no fireman and thus void of entry. So what does do suggest? "Fine then, I'll just walk to Auckland and scale the stairs myself anyway."
This was dismissed by me at first but I soon called his bluff on the idea, we talked about what would happen and now the walk is across the whole island from our small town of Wainuiomata in the capitol of Wellington going to the northern most point of Cape Reinga. Many towns will be walked through (of which a list will be posted here as planing goes on) and a rough estimate of forty kilometers covered each day.

Now neither of us are very fit which is why we've giving ourselves a year to train for it. This also gives plenty of time to work out what we need as we've never tried anything so large as this task. I shall be keeping a weekly blog leading up to the journey documenting our training, and when we slip. And during the trip itself I will be keeping a daily blog (thinking about a blackberry 8310?) and recording video footage for a mini doco-diary and the odd video entry for here.

Right now my training is going well doing (or at least trying) to walk a solid hour every two days (Tuesday and Thursday) and more on the weekends, alas I'm in some old steel cap boots and need to buy some new walking shoes soon to cut back on the blisters that are piling up. I'm not sure how much good shoes cost but I'm guessing a trip to the Shoe Clinic in Lower Hutt will set me back more than my weekly expenses. And soon I'll have to start some hill training as well as the flatland.

Well it shall be an interesting year.