Heaphy Great Walk Day 1

our glorious shuttle with the classic kiwi trailer

dense forest & river crossing

if this isn't sexy i don't know what is

really adds to the views, eh?

his daily swim

these birds are Wekas but we call them tweekers- it is quite obvious they live in a country where there are no guns

just before sundown

The Heaphy Great Walk is the trek that Kyle most wanted to do while in New Zealand. It is the longest of the Great Walks at 82 km (over 50 miles), and takes 4 days and 3 nights to complete (usually 5 days but who has the patience for that?). It covers four distinct types of environment. You begin with a climb through an alpine forest, then cross high altitude grasslands, descend into a rain forest, before finally following the coastline to the end of the track. The hike cuts across the entirety of the Kahurangi National Park and is located in the Northwestern part of the South Island. It was a true trek and seemed to keep getting better as we walked along.

Before I get to far ahead of myself let me just begin with what happened on Day 1. The Heaphy is fairly secluded and it was not possible for us to drive ourselves to the track, the road was not compatible for Ace, and it would have been very difficult to get transport back to the beginning of the track had we left Ace there. We caught a van early in the morning from Nelson, which took us two and a half hours to the start of the track. Our cheerful driver Rory gave us some background on the track. He also skillfully navigated the rugged dirt road leading to the start of the track, which required driving across 3 separate rivers. He said his goodbyes and promised to pick us up in 3 days time at the end of the trek.

We began by climbing 800 meters (2400 feet), through an alpine forest. At the top of the hill we found Perry Saddle Hut waiting for us. The hike took about 4 hours and was not too difficult. It was also the least inspiring of the scenery we trekked through and we were a little disappointed. The fact that a brand new hut was being made next door and that construction was still going did not help to raise our spirits. Despite that, all in all it was a good days hike and we were excited for what lay ahead.

A little about some of the characters we encountered on this hike: First of all there was a group of older couples that we shared the hut with every night. They were nice enough, except for the fact that the men seemed to compete to see who could snore louder. No joke we heard some of the loudest and oddest snores we have ever heard during our nights on Heaphy. There was also a much older couple who was being led by a guide. The couple turned out to be rude, ungrateful, and disliked by everyone but the guide was awesome. His name was Steven and we became good friends with him throughout the trek.