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There are so many walks and tramps in New Zealand on my listing that I haven’t had an opportunity to take a look at. And regardless of how a lot I get out and sort out them, the listing solely grows longer. Funny how that occurs.
But there may be one monitor I’ve been eager to do perpetually, the Heaphy Track. New Zealand has ten Great Walks, together with the Heaphy, and I’ve principally achieved all of them, some even a couple of instances. Great Walks have higher infrastructure than our regular backcountry tramps – additionally they include larger value tags and e-book out quick. Bigger, fancier huts with wardens. Some even have flushing bogs (!!!). Wide and better-maintained trails, and for a few of them, you’ll be able to select guided choices.
While kiwis satisfaction themselves on being robust and low-cost in relation to tramping (no arguing), there’s something nice about simpler tracks. I’ve achieved my fair proportion of slogging by means of frigid rivers, climbing tree roots and scrambling up dodgy rocks, and even strolling in knee-deep mud (f*ck that). I’m fairly certain the motto right here is, “Why build a nice switchback trail when you can just climb straight up the mountain?”
But I’m gonna be sincere: I like an opportunity NOT to make use of my arms when tramping, hanging on for expensive life, and praying to no matter god is on the market that torture ends quickly. I actually don’t care about being hardcore.
While you gained’t see many kiwis on the favored Great Walks, it was all locals once I did the Heaphy Track in May this yr. From May 1st, our autumn, the monitor opens to mountain bikers. At an 84-kilometer tramp, it’s the longest Great Walk (minus canoeing the Whanganui River), and I’ll argue it’s the most effective.
So why did I put it off for thus lengthy? Because the beginning and end of the monitor are a seven-hour drive aside. I couldn’t determine the logistics, particularly as I favor to tramp alone. The begin on the West Coast is a ten-hour drive from Wānaka, too. It’s fairly a dedication, and it could be practically $500 to relocate my automotive, on prime of gasoline: it at present prices me $175 to replenish my little automotive right here. NOPE.
But then I discussed to a good friend that I used to be eager to sort out the Heaphy this yr, they usually instructed me about Golden Bay Air as the most effective logistics choice. Looks left to proper, how did I not find out about this? You can fly in between the beginning and end, they usually do numerous shuttles. They have streamlined the method of organizing the tramp, and it’s inexpensive. It’ll prevent 450 kilometers of driving. Count. Me. In.
How I organized my logistics with Golden Bay Air:
- I drove from Wanaka to Westport in a day and stayed in a motel that night time
- The subsequent morning, I drove north, and I dropped a bag of fresh garments and toiletries on the tiny airport in Karamea
- Then I drove quarter-hour to the beginning of the monitor on the West Coast aspect
- I parked my automotive on the Kōhaihai campsite, which is the place the monitor begins
- Over the following 4 days, I walked the Heaphy Track
- I stayed in these huts so as:
- Day 1 – Heaphy Hut
- Day 2 – James Mackay Hut
- Day 3 – Perry Saddle Hut
- I met the Golden Bay Air automotive shuttle pick-up on the finish of the monitor at Brown Hut to go to Takaka airport
- I grabbed my rent automotive and my different bag from the Takaka airport
- I stayed in Takaka for 3 nights to discover Golden Bay
- I returned to the Takaka airport to return the rent automotive and catch my quick flight again to the Karamea airport
- Then, the shuttle introduced us again to the beginning of the monitor at Kōhaihai, the place I left my automotive
- Then drove again to Wanaka
**This seems to be like quite a bit, however principally, if you e-book with Golden Bay Air, they cowl all of those companies, so the method is streamlined, and the timings all line up, so that you don’t have to attend round. And for these of you studying from abroad, the Karamea and Takaka airports are tiny, the scale of a room; they’re extra like an airstrip, not for bigger industrial jets. There’s no queuing or something.
I made a decision to stroll the Heaphy Track from the Karamea/West Coast aspect north to Takaka. Most individuals do it the opposite approach, but it surely doesn’t matter. I don’t suppose it’s tougher in both path. Karamea is simply nearer to me to drive to than Takaka.
My GPS instructed me that the monitor was 84 kilometers lengthy, and it was principally evenly cut up over the 4 days, normally 16-25 kilometers per day. For me, it actually wasn’t that arduous. I believed the times could be for much longer than I believed – every day took me round 4 to 5 hours. The better part, although, is the monitor feels flat. If you have a look at DOC’s elevation profile, it seems to be daunting. You’re climbing to 1,000 meters however over 20 kilometers. It’s so gradual you don’t discover the incline a lot.
I seen my again was a little bit extra sore than regular as a result of I had a heavier pack, bringing my digital camera and extra meals than on shorter tramps. So don’t be postpone by the 20-kilometer days—they have been straightforward, the monitor appears flat, there are not any steps besides onto bridges (keep in mind individuals bike it), and it’s nicely maintained. You may also make it longer by staying at among the smaller huts.
You can drink the water alongside the monitor too – it’s stained brown from tannins from leaf matter. It’s completely high-quality to drink and tastes higher than my faucet water.
I made a decision to sort out the Heaphy Track within the autumn. It doesn’t have the avalanche hazard that the extra mountainous Great Walks have, making it a monitor you would sort out all yr lengthy. Though I think about it might be disagreeable and chilly in winter, I reckon you’d most likely have the monitor all to your self!
Also, I’m conscious that many individuals suppose it’s bizarre that I like tramping alone and that I discover the concept of being the one one on the monitor AMAZING. I’m an introvert. I typically hate individuals. I can’t assist it.
I’ll use this chance to emphasise simply how essential it’s to put together accordingly and carry a Personal Locator Beacon (PLB), which you’ll be able to hire in the event you don’t personal one. This is what you set off when you have a life-threatening harm or are in peril of great harm or lack of life. Trust me, Search and Rescue would slightly come and discover you along with your GPS location from the PLB than have to start out trying to find our bodies.
There can also be the danger of flooding, which suggests you might need to remain longer on the monitor. There are many huts and several other emergency shelters. Bring further meals. I at all times deliver further meals.
The biodiversity struck me as the most effective a part of the Heaphy Track. It’s unimaginable, and I’d even say it’s among the finest I’ve seen tramping. The landscapes are unimaginable and assorted. The West Coast is inexperienced and humid, the path meandering alongside the rugged shoreline shrouded in nikau palms. Then you head by means of some unimaginable forest earlier than climbing up into purple tussock nation. It was colourful. It was lovely.
I noticed kiwi, tūī, bellbirds, a fernbird (!!), whio, weka, kererū, robins, riflemen and so many extra. You can inform there was a lot predator management within the space to guard it; the birdlife was wonderful. It’s additionally the place you will discover the biggest carnivorous snails—Powelliphanta snails. What the heck? I vaguely knew this, however name me intrigued. I looked for them so arduous, however I solely discovered three shells. One of the DOC rangers instructed me it’s arduous to seek out them alive.
And the queen of birds to see alongside the Heaphy Track: the takahē. And I didn’t see one; cue tears. It wasn’t like I didn’t attempt guys. Takahē can poo as much as 9 meters per day. You wager your ass I adopted these poo trails all by means of the bush across the monitor for ages. But nada. Other individuals did see them, which makes me pleased. While I used to be there, some have been hanging round Saxon Hut at sundown.
I’ve been privileged to have seen takahē many instances in ecosanctuaries and at their breeding facility, however by no means within the wild. I assume that simply means I’ve to return.
Takahē are a badass, massive, hefty blue chicken that was as soon as declared extinct for 50 years. Not many creatures can boast about getting back from the useless.
Geoffrey Orbell, a doctor, discovered a wild inhabitants of takahē within the Murchison Mountains by Te Anau in 1948. Nowadays, with a whole lot of arduous work in conservation, there are about 500 takahē in New Zealand. Many are in predator-free ecosanctuaries and islands (listing right here). There nonetheless is a inhabitants within the Murchisons, but it surely’s not likely accessible to the general public. I’ve been making an attempt to weasel my approach up there for years unsuccessfully, pun supposed. I do know it ruins a joke to clarify it, however weasels are mustelids, like stoats, that are one of many worst launched predators in New Zealand. In reality, in 2007, stoats managed to kill half the takahē there. Furry monsters.
But what made Kahurangi National Park notably particular was the discharge of the second wild inhabitants of takahē in 2018. This large milestone brings us one step nearer to restoring our land, birds, and different creatures to what it as soon as was like.
Many because of Golden Bay Air for organizing all the logistics to make this doable. As at all times, I’m preserving it actual—all opinions are my very own, as in the event you may anticipate much less from me.