After completing the 3000km Te Araroa Trail and a South Island coast-to-coast trek \u201cfor fun\u201d, Murphy said a friend suggested he make the next one count.<\/p>\n
He chose to walk for Rotorua\u2019s Plunket, The Salvation Army and Hospice – organisations that he said supported people at the beginning, middle and end of life.<\/p>\n
The money was split evenly and presented to representatives on March 30 at a Rotorua Rotary Club meeting, of which Murphy is a member.<\/p>\n
The retiree\u2019s journey was unpredictable.<\/p>\n
There were \u201cboulder-strewn\u201d streams, \u201cwashed away\u201d tracks and 30m bluffs where the path had disappeared. <\/p>\n
Terrain in Taranaki forced a change of course, adding an extra 17km.<\/p>\n
He moved through the dark Moki and Kiwi Road tunnels in a high-vis hat, where he and a passing driver each \u201chugged the wall\u201d as the car squeezed by.<\/p>\n
There were long, quiet stretches through places like Waitaanga, Ahuahu and Matiere – communities with little traffic, abandoned houses and closed schools, with the feel of near \u201cghost towns\u201d.<\/p>\n
Murphy was joined by friend Peter Beets on the Timber Trail through the Pureora Forest, a nearly 80km route following historic logging tracks. They camped and stayed in a hut with \u201cresident rats in the walls\u201d.<\/p>\n
Murphy spent five days pushing on through farmland to the edge of Kaingaroa Forest, timing his crossing for a Sunday to avoid logging trucks.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the hills on the eastern side of the Rangit\u0101iki River, I listened to the sounds of k\u0101k\u0101 \u2026 and k\u014dkako calling,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A herd of wild horses stopped him in his tracks – mares, foals and a protective stallion blocking the road from Minginui to State Highway 38. With thick gorse on either side, he edged past carefully.<\/p>\n
That night he stayed in an abandoned house.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe back wall and the back half of the floor of the house were missing \u2026 It took me a bit of time to tidy it up \u2026 sheep had been camping in it.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the ranges west of Lake Waikaremoana, Murphy was \u201csoaked within minutes\u201d as rain turned to hail, covering the road like \u201cthick snow\u201d. There was \u201cbooming\u201d thunder and \u201clarge cracks\u201d of lightning.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a scary experience, to say the least,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
With nowhere to shelter, he kept walking for more than 10 hours until he reached a campsite where hunters invited him to sit by the fire and share a cup of tea.<\/p>\n
Beets rejoined him for the Lake Waikaremoana Great Walk before Murphy continued solo towards Wairoa.<\/p>\n
Glen Murphy speaks at a Rotorua Rotary Club meeting about his 707km North Island walk and the funds raised for local charities. Photo \/ Annabel Reid<\/p>\n
Temperatures climbed above 30C and planned water sources like the Waiau River were too muddy to drink. Murphy relied on locals, \u201cknocking on doors\u201d and asking them to refill his bottles.<\/p>\n
He followed State Highway 2 to reach M\u0101hia Peninsula after a total of 37 nights away. <\/p>\n
Murphy said the highlight was the \u201cinteresting and incredibly generous people\u201d he met along the way. <\/p>\n
He was given free ice creams and drinks, meals including butter chicken and naan, and cooked breakfast. <\/p>\n
Others handed over chocolate or a book when he ran out of reading material. <\/p>\n
\u201cI had people stop in their cars to offer me food, water, or a place to stay for the night,\u201d Murphy said.<\/p>\n
Funding to support locals at every stage of life<\/p>\n
Murphy said the Rotorua Rotary Club played a key role in raising funds for the charities.<\/p>\n
Rotorua Plunket clinical leader Cheryl Clark said the funding would support newly introduced local immunisation services, including equipment to make vaccinations less stressful for children.<\/p>\n
This included a vibrating \u201cBuzzy Bee\u201d device with a cold pack to distract children during injections.<\/p>\n
Clark said the funding would also strengthen before-school checks, giving nurses more consistent tools and helping better prepare children for school.<\/p>\n
Glen Murphy (right) with representatives from Rotorua charities – Plunket, the Salvation Army and Hospice – after presenting funds from his 707km walk. Photo \/ Annabel Reid<\/p>\n
Darnielle Hoods, Rotorua Salvation Army community ministries manager, said its share would go towards its community \u201cchoice model\u201d supermarket<\/a>, helping provide food to families in need. <\/p>\n She said limited resources meant demand was high with hundreds of families already seeking support this year. Many had to be turned away.<\/p>\n Most were not homeless, she said, but working families, solo parents and grandparents raising children, often turning to the Salvation Army as a last resort as living costs continued to rise.<\/p>\n Jess Meade, Rotorua Hospice fundraising and marketing manager, said its share would go into the Rotary Rotorua Hospice Fund, where it would be invested to support ongoing care.<\/p>\n Returns from the fund help cover operating costs, including keeping nurses on the road and available 24\/7 to support patients and families.<\/p>\n She said the service remained vital, ensuring people could receive care and die with dignity, with support available whenever it was needed.<\/p>\n