Every Effing Inch: Fear and Loathing on Aotearoa New Zealand's Long Trail - the 3012km Te Araroa

When an elderly trio decided to tackle Aotearoa New Zealand’s Te Araroa Trail from Cape Reinga to Bluff, they were asked if they were going to do EFI. What’s that?, they asked. Every F…ing Inch, was the response. Many Te Araroa walkers skip road sections or gnarly mountains or inconvenient rivers or estuaries but Tim Pankhurst, his wife Sue and former Wellington mayor Dame Kerry Prendergast decided that if they were going to take up the challenge, they needed to be true to the entire Trail. Over 141 days across two summers, Tim and the two dames (one upper case) did cover every inch but not without injuries, fears of drowning and falls and endurance tested to the limit. Every Effing Inch, written by former newspaper editor Tim Pankhurst (The Dominion Post, The Press, The Evening Post, Waikato Times), is an entertaining journey through our cities, towns, rivers, mountains and back country and its characters and history. It is summed up as an epic read of an epic deed.