Once you arrive at the Kerikeri Sports Complex car park, please promptly check-in at our desk located at the luggage truck. The Check-In Desk is open between 7:00 – 7.30 am. There we will complete registration, allocate you to your chapter transport and provide you with tags for your luggage. All pilgrims must check-in prior to boarding the coaches. Coaches depart at 8.00am sharp.

Make sure you have your daypack with you after dropping off your luggage and everything that you require for the day. You will not have access to your luggage again until you reach base camp at the end of the day.

Coaches will transport you to the Pilgrimage start point in Opua, where we will have mass at about 8.50am. Once mass concludes, gather with your bag at the start point for a blessing (follow the direction of event staff). The 1st pilgrimage chapter will depart immediately following the blessing, with the second chapter departing 10 minutes later.

Walking to Ohaewae through the Opua Forest, down SH10 for a short distance then Te Ahuahu Road to just outside Ohaewae where bus transport will take us to the first base camp.

33km total

Stay overnight at Ohaewae Rugby Club

An admin table will be set up to provide you with relevant information, such as timings, weather conditions and recommendations for the next day. The admin location will be set up each night stop to provide assistance and information.

All going well, a short 1st Aid Blister Clinic will be held that evening, for those that wish to learn more about tending to their feet and general physical wellbeing during the walk.

Please note that all pilgrims are camping outside at this basecamp. There are kitchen facilites and showers inside the rugby club. Catering will be provided.

Wake-up call on Sunday will be at 6:00am.

You will need to quickly pack-up your belongings and put them on the luggage transport truck. Make sure your luggage is all labelled with your details, and the correctly coloured tag. There won’t be much time after mass before we depart, so make sure you’re ready to walk before you go to Mass.

Mass will commence at 7:00am. Breakfast will be served immediately after Mass at the field kitchen area. Breakfast will be continental; cereals, fruits, milk, tea and coffee.

Once you’ve had breakfast, gather with your bag at the start point for the blessing. The 1st pilgrimage chapter will depart immediately following the blessing, with the second chapter departing 10 minutes later.

The first leg of the pilgrimage is an easy 10.1km walk out of Ohaeawai and along Lake Omapere, to the first rest stop and lunch break at about 12:00 pm.

After a 30-minute break and light lunch, we’ll walk for around 9km to Okaihau. 

From Okaihau a bus will transport us to Mangamuka Junction.

We should arrive here around 2.40pm for a 30-minute break. We will then walk along Mangamuka Road to our 3rd and last rest stop, approx. 7.6km away.

After this, we have our final leg of the day, 6.8km to Te Karae Marae and the location of St John the Baptist Church. Here we will be welcomed onto the Marae and accommodated for the night. Saint John the Baptist Church will be open 24hrs during our stay for prayer. 

There will be showers available here, but due to our numbers these will be kept to 2 min durations, i.e. a basic soap up and rinse off. As there are only two shower cubicles in each block (male and female) you will need to be patient. 

All pilgrims will be camping, catering will be provided in the Marae.

Wake-up call will be at 6:00am.

You will pack-up your belongings and put them on the luggage transport truck. From there breakfast will be served between 6.30 – 7.30am, cereals, fruit, tea & coffee.

Our morning destination is Totara Point, 3.2km away. Totara Point is a special place for the catholic faith, as the first NZ Mass was conducted here by Bishop Pompallier in 1838. Mass will commence upon the Pilgrim’s arrival at about 9.10am. The Mass will be celebrated in the same location as the first Mass. Following Mass, we will have lunch before commencing the next part of our journey.

The afternoon commences with a 10.2km walk into Kohukohu, arriving at about 2.10pm. We’ll take a 20-minute break and then it is back on the road for the last leg of the day. 

The final leg is about 5.2km in length and takes us to Motukaraka Marae, and the home of Our Lady of Assumption Church. Here we will be welcomed onto the Marae, where we will be accommodated for the night. Dinner will be served at 6.00pm.

A limited amount of space is available for those that wish to sleep inside that night, female pilgrims and boys under the age of 12 only. Male pilgrims over the age of 12 will camp in tents.

Wake-up call will be at 6:00am.

Quickly pack up your gear and get this to the waiting luggage truck.

Mass will be held in Our Lady of Assumption Church at the top of the hill, at 6.45am. After mass head over for breakfast at the Marae 7:30 – 8.00am. Once you’ve had breakfast, the 1st Chapter will depart at 8.10am, with the next 10 minutes later.

Prepare yourself: this day is the shortest yet toughest of the pilgrimage. At only 17.3km, we saved the best till last. This final penitential walk will see us slowly negotiate 3 terrain features, each one bigger than the last. So, make sure you rest up and take on as much fluid as you can the night before.

The first leg takes us on two short hill ascends, with our first stop being 8.5 km at the top of our second hill. A 15-minute break and we’re off again, heading down hill and to our final ascent, where we then turn off to our destination after 6.8km, Motuti Church, the resting place of Bishop Pompallier.

Arriving at about 12:45am, we will then celebrate Mass at about 1.10pm.

The Coaches back to Kerikeri will depart Motuti Church at 2:35pm – make sure you’ve packed your tent and sleeping gear onto the coaches. Also grab your lunch prior to departing. From here you will be transported back to the car parking area.