Dozens of kilometers walk, unexpected encounters and music by Daniël Lohues and Belle Perez. It was the ingredients of the renowned TV Drenthe program De Treektocht. Marijn van den Berg from Appelscha uses the same ingredients for his own trek. Only difference: he does not run through Drenthe, but through New Zealand.
“You have to do something for it,” says Marijn (31). He tells how he took a night walk at Lake Wanaka. “It is the first time I made a trek in the middle of the night. I saw the mountain path, nothing else. The path was nicely lit by the moon.” He stops at a height of 1,284 meters. “Seeing the sun coming from behind the mountains at seven in the morning, that’s what you do it for.”
Marijn shares his experiences via Voice Memos. At the beginning of January he took the plane to New Zealand and explored the Noordereiland. “By nature I am quite of planning and organizing. But I needed more flexibility.” And so he rented a van with which he takes all the highlights of the Zuidereiland. This way he can decide where and when he takes walking tours.
Volcanoes, beaches and primeval forests pass by in his photos. In a video, Marijn can be seen on an abandoned mountain path near Moke Lake near Queenstown. The silence is broken by a known trek number. “Laot I just walk, Laot me Mar Gaon,” it sounds. “When I listen to the song, I immediately get a smile on the face.”
It is pure nostalgia. It brings the thirties back to his younger years in Appelscha. “In my room I had a TV, an old -fashioned image tube. I only had access to the Netherlands 1, 2 and 3, Omrop Fryslan and RTV Drenthe. The offer was limited. In the summer I mainly looked at the trek, I always looked forward to that. Appelscha is a borderline, but I have always managed to appreciate it very much.”
What he does not yet know in that boys’ room is that a seed is being planted for what later becomes the greatest adventure of his life. The experiences of the presenters of the hike remain in the head of Marijn. “It’s just a very nice series to watch,” he says. “Don’t know what the day brings, nature there, nice weather. That inspired me. When I go into nature, I am also open to meetings with strangers.”
And so in New Zealand a Dutchman is enjoying the Spanish lyrics of the Belgian singer Belle Pérez. ‘Chiquitan, Chiquitan, Chiquititantan. Que Viva La Vida ‘. It is thinking back to the overall picture that brings the smile to his face. “The pleasure that everyone has, both those who walk the trek and those who stand by the side. It was a whole happening. Then travel again by horse, then cross by Porsche and then a river. The music just finish it.”