Gear: the good, the bagged and the rubbishy
Travelling the length of the North Island on a raft put my gear through the wringer. Here's what came out above expectations and what turned out to be bad.
Let's get straight on with it, we all know what this is. Swamp porridge, that's coming up later. First, I'll start with the worst stuff from The Waka & Waewae Journey.
Soft plastic water bottle, by 360° Degrees (I’ve no idea why it’s degrees twice!)
How bad can a plastic bottle be, right? Well, pretty bad is the answer. This one couldn't quite go the distance with me. It joined me at Point Chevalier in Auckland and formed a hole around its neck somewhere around Whanganui. And what’s a bottle with a hole in it? Not-a-bottle, that’s what; a nottle.
If you’re thinking of getting one of these, I'd recommend doing the unthinkable and buying a plastic bottle of water. Get the size you need and reuse that until it breaks! Or buy a dish washing liquid refill pack and use that (once empty, of course!).
Salomon II XA Pro 3D trail shoes
I wanted to love these, I really did. However, the right bottom lace loop broke within 300km. Every lace loop, aside the one that broke, is reinforced against the kevlar laces, making this look like a design flaw. Fair play to Salomon, they gave me a second pair on warranty. Unfortunately, the right hand shoe already has a hole by my little toe and I'm picking the laces will be bung within the next few hikes.
GoPro Hero 4 action camera
My old faithful from The Big Loop. Fantastic on paper, but sadly, since mine is getting on a bit, seems to have fallen victim to firmware obsolescence. Before this journey, I invested heavily in a “Pro” smartphone, wanting something waterproof that could go the distance. However, after an Android update hit this new phone, the GoPro app decided it couldn't connect to the camera via WiFi any more. GoPro's ‘solution’? “Please use a different device”. Obviously. My solution was to buy a USB adaptor that allowed me to plug the camera into the phone. The card-reading software on Android is fraught with issues, so I ended up shooting lots of GoPro stuff and never using or sharing it!
Now, for the goodies. The gear that exceeded all expectations and is still going strong.
First up, the raft: Koaro with spray deck!
Craftsmanship at its finest. That thing has given me fewer worries than the tent, my ageing sleeping bag, my pack and my shoes combined! It’s always been there for me, inflate it and away we go. It's crossed all those Northland harbours, cruised the length of the Kaipara, cut up a good chunk of the Waikato, plodded round Taupō and voyaged most of the Whanganui River, all without complaint. And when I needed to go bush, it was right there behind me, getting dragged through the native scrub and pressed against sharp branches; rugged as the terrain it came face-to-face with. Until the Ruamahanga River, it never shed any air. The most dependable sidekick for an Aotearoa adventure and made in New Zealand, no less.

Decathlon MH550 convertible hiking pant-shorts
These are the single best zip-off pant shorts I have ever owned. Actually, they're probably the best lower-half wear I've ever owned. I have a motto for Decathlon gear: never buy the cheapest, always buy the second cheapest. However, options were limited during Decathlon's brief foray into the NZ market (online-only), so I bought the cheapest. $24.99 well spent! They've gone 99% of the time in shorts mode, so the trouser segments are a good indicator of how much they’ve been worn. They've been snagged on branches and never split; the pockets have been charged with carrying my mahoosive cellphone and the zips have never buckled; and they dry in just moments. The only wound on them is a gash in the right pocket, where I caught them with a craft knife at work on an orchard. Oh, and the built-in belt self-disintegrated just outside Cambridge. 11/10.
Grayl Ultralight water purifier
Every time I filter some water with this, I think to myself “how oh how oh how did I cycle-circumnavigate Aotearoa without one of these?”. The amount of times I ran out of water and had to ask a passerby or knock on somebody's front door; the amount of gas I set fire to just to sterilise a litre to get me going. The manufacturers claim their “Electroadsorption” system removes most nasties, including viruses (99.99% of viruses, 99.9999% of bacteria, 99.9% of protozoan cysts). I've been using my Grayl for five years now and have never been sick and I even made porridge from a swamp once!
The filter cartridges last for approximately 300 presses, or 150 litres, and cost about $60. The plunger action does tend to stiffen up after a few presses, as well. I've found using a flat-handled wooden spoon between your hands and the bottle rim to be an effective way of not ripping your hands to shreds. Or you could try the new Geopress, which is probably kinder on the hands.
Palm locking river knife
Being able to instantly cut a line is a must on any water journey. Even with the minimal ropes in action on my vessel, you still never know when you might need to cut yourself loose. So, I asked my family for a knife for Christmas 2021, and my brother came up with this from Palm.
Now, I've never needed to cut myself loose in an emergency situation, so I can't vouch for that job, but as a knife it's fantastic. Day after day, it's sat in my PFD pocket, not stabbing me. It's mostly rust-free. Plus, on the occasion when I was given vegetables or needed to cut something up for dinner, it did the job and cut it up.
Sunscreen by āma
Full disclosure: āma is the only company good enough to support my work through product gifting and I am an ambassador for the Kiwi-owned and operated skin and haircare company. When I heard they were launching a new sunscreen product, I asked if I could please get some. The products launched aren't 100% vegan, but the boss made a special white label run just for me!
Mineral-based and safe for the skin, āma's sunscreen is rated SPF 30. I find it protects my skin from burns in the harsh NZ. It doesn't tend to wash off easily, but I just think that makes it perfect for watersports and water-based adventures.
Right, there we have my winners and losers from this round of The Waka & Waewae Journey. Hope you found it useful. Let me know if there's a specific piece of gear you've seen me with and want to know more!