The Heaphy Track

The Heaphy Track is one of NZ's Great Walks so well maintained, marked and quite busy. However I seemed to be walking the opposite way to most people and though I passed a few others it seemed fairly quiet. The first day was mainly along the shore with views like this:


And this:


Quite a few river crossings, but kept my feet dry:



An incredible amount of driftwood, washed down the rivers and into the sea by the several metres of rain on the West Coast, is heaped on the beaches:


Some lovely stones too:


Looks like this one has been replanted:


The Heaphy Hut, reached after about 5 hours walking. A lovely spot with a nice wide river estuary to swim in and escape the sandflies. Hut was full with a wide range of nationalities from Sweden, Germany, NZ, Italy and Israel:


A lovely beach to walk on. If you keep moving the flies don't seem to find you. The bites however itch for days! A fantastic sunset:


The next morning the path followed the Heaphy River, through areas of limestone and in the shade of palms:


In the afternoon the track began a long, gentle uphill. Along the way some track art:


That night I was alone at Mackay Hut:

From the terrace great views, all the way down to the beach and river mouth (just visible towards the right of the picture). That night clear skies and an incredibly starry sky.


Me and my shadow. Set off in the sunshine again along a mostly level but very hardpacked track which left my feet aching.


Occasional views on the first part of the day through the trees to the hills:


Some colour along the way:


One of the reasons for the original track was to access pastures for a possible sheep station. In the end it wasn't considered suitable, but the area is known as Gouland Downs:


The creeks and streams along the way had interesting names like Deception, Monument and Blue Shirt - makes you wonder what happened there. Did someone find/lose the shirt or was it worn on the day of discovery? Looks like by the time they got to this river they had run out of ideas:


Where old boots go to die:

The last hut was at Perry Saddle, busy once again with people beginning the tramp including a guided trip.

With little cloud I headed up nearby Mt Perry (1238m) despite 7 hours of walking already that day. It was worth the steep 45 minute climb for the views at the top:

After that I took a plunge in the freezy pool of a nearby river, very refreshing! Heard kiwis that night but didn't see any. Thought I was doing well but met an Aussie couple who had walked 40km that day (the track is only about 60km in total!), the hut was full so they hiked another 10k down to the hut at the end of the track that evening.

The next day left with the dawn to head downhill for 4 hours to meet the bus. We stopped at this famous old store for a drink. Like a living museum complete with post office:


Got back to Nelson in the afternoon.