Shipping times – When to order?

We want to enable you to be able to order food parcels while walking the Te Araroa as easily as possible. To save you the hassel of shopping on zero days. Our shipping times and rates are the cheapest and quickest in the market, utilising a program that assesses all delivery services in New Zealand and provides the cheapest and most efficient option for your parcels (based on weight and delivery address).

Shipping times

The usual shipping time is 2-3 days.

However, parcels delivered to rural or remote places will take one or two more days. We aim to be as quick as possible but will not be held liable for delays beyond our control. We therefore recommend ordering 2 weeks in advance if you are doing the TA, to be sure your parcel is ready to be collected when you reach the parcel drop point. 

Please keep in mind, if you order a TA resupply box, your parcel will only be sent once the invoice for your supplies has been paid. Therefore, to be sure you get your parcel delivered on time, factor one day between the TA box being ordered and you being able to pay the cost of supplies invoice. 

Please always add your (estimated time of arrival) ETA and phone number in the order notes at the checkout. We will write your ETA, name and contact details on your parcel. Most parcel holders in the drop point expect this. Furthermore, it will help us know when best to send your resupply box.

You can send your parcels anywhere in New Zealand. Parcels can be delivered to your home address or to someone you know will hold it for you. If you want to deliver your parcel to a home, accommodation or business but have not are not sure they will hold it for you, get in touch with us: we can check if they offer this and try work out a solution for you. 

While we continuously work on extending our network of drop points, you can order to any address in New Zealand or reach out to us to organize a suitable location for your needs. 

If you walk the Te Araroa, there are some remote places towns in the South Island (St Arnaud, Boyle River and Arthurs Pass) where you must send  food resupply boxes to keep going without hitchhiking a long away from the trail. Please check out our Drop Points for detailed information about this.

For any additional information about trail notes, maps, accommodations, etc. please visit the official website of the Te Araroa Trust.

We use a program (Go Sweetspot) that compares your order with all the possible delivery providers rates (based on weight and location) and then gives the most efficient and cheapest option available.  

This allows us to ensure our delivery rates are the best on the market.

Delivery prices are calculated based on weight and delivery address. The heavier, more rural and further away from our office in Christchurch, the more expensive the delivery fee will be. However, our use of Go Sweetspot will ensure that our rates are the best available on the market for your order. 

In the drop points page we have provided an estimated cost of delivery for parcels going to the listed drop points. This is just an estimate to help give you an idea of what the rates may be.

You can find the estimated delivery rates under under the drip points HERE.