Epilogue, part 1: Painting the trail

Grandma’s guest post

Kia ora e te whānau,

It’s been a good few solid weeks now since finishing the trail. The hip bruises have faded and I’m settling back into post-trail Wellington life, taking it easy and trying not to cry at every smell, sight or sound reminding me of the trail. Unsurprisingly, it’s taking some time to let everything sink in and for me to collect my thoughts and emotions on the whole thing. While I let that happen (and there will be a post-trail post about that in good time, I promise), I’d like to take this opportunity to showcase the artwork of my Grandma, Barbara, and her wonderful knack of capturing some of the finest TA moments on canvas.

As I was busy walking Te Araroa, Grandma (trail angel and personal documentarian extraordinaire) had her paintbrush in hand, ready to translate each landscape that I sent her way onto her fresh canvases. If you’ve been following the Scroggin Chronicles, you may recognise some of these images. In total, she produced 42 (maybe even more!) individual paintings.

Though my Grandma shared many of her artistic impressions via our family’s group message throughout the 4.5 months, I saw the paintings in real life for the first time last weekend. The textures of wispy skies and etched lines of tussock brought this trail to life once more in a unique way. For some pictures, my Grandma used her artistic licence to imagine or change some details. I’ll let you guess what’s what.

It’s amazing how each snapshot took me immediately back to that very moment; I could tell you how I was feeling, how heavy my pack was, what I’d just eaten, the moment I pressed my phone camera’s shutter. Grandma, thank you for enjoying the trail in this way with me. I’m not sure how many of the roughly 10,000 people who have walked Te Araroa can say their grandparent has artistically documented their experience!

I’ll now let the paintings, which are listed here in chronological order, speak for themselves.