There are such a lot of 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. Humorous how that occurs.
However there’s one monitor I’ve been desirous to do ceaselessly, the Heaphy Monitor. New Zealand has ten Nice Walks, together with the Heaphy, and I’ve mainly achieved all of them, some even just a few occasions. Nice Walks have higher infrastructure than our regular backcountry tramps – additionally they include greater worth tags and e-book out quick. Larger, fancier huts with wardens. Some even have flushing bogs (!!!). Extensive and better-maintained trails, and for a few of them, you may select guided choices.
Whereas kiwis delight themselves on being powerful and low-cost on the subject of tramping (no arguing), there’s something nice about simpler tracks. I’ve achieved my fair proportion of slogging by way 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 construct a pleasant switchback path when you may simply climb straight up the mountain?”
However I’m gonna be trustworthy: I like an opportunity NOT to make use of my fingers 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.
Whilst you gained’t see many kiwis on the favored Nice Walks, it was all locals once I did the Heaphy Monitor in Could this yr. From Could 1st, our autumn, the monitor opens to mountain bikers. At an 84-kilometer tramp, it’s the longest Nice Stroll (minus canoeing the Whanganui River), and I’ll argue it’s the perfect.
So why did I put it off for thus lengthy? As a result of the beginning and end of the monitor are a seven-hour drive aside. I couldn’t work out the logistics, particularly as I favor to tramp alone. The beginning on the West Coast is a ten-hour drive from Wānaka, too. It’s fairly a dedication, and it might be almost $500 to relocate my automotive, on high of gas: it at the moment prices me $175 to replenish my little automotive right here. NOPE.
However then I discussed to a buddy that I used to be eager to sort out the Heaphy this yr, and so they informed me about Golden Bay Air as the perfect logistics possibility. Seems to be left to proper, how did I not find out about this? You may fly in between the beginning and end, and so they do numerous shuttles. They’ve streamlined the method of organizing the tramp, and it’s inexpensive. It’ll prevent 450 kilometers of driving. Depend. 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 following morning, I drove north, and I dropped a bag of unpolluted 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 subsequent 4 days, I walked the Heaphy Monitor
- 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 appears like loads, however mainly, whenever you e-book with Golden Bay Air, they cowl all of those providers, 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 dimensions 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 Monitor from the Karamea/West Coast aspect north to Takaka. Most individuals do it the opposite means, but it surely doesn’t matter. I don’t assume it’s more durable in both route. Karamea is simply nearer to me to drive to than Takaka.
My GPS informed me that the monitor was 84 kilometers lengthy, and it was principally evenly cut up over the 4 days, often 16-25 kilometers per day. For me, it actually wasn’t that onerous. I believed the times can be for much longer than I believed – every day took me round 4 to 5 hours. The perfect half, although, is the monitor feels flat. For those who take a look at DOC’s elevation profile, it appears 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 observed my again was a little bit extra sore than regular as a result of I had a heavier pack, bringing my digicam and extra meals than on shorter tramps. So don’t be delay by the 20-kilometer days—they had been straightforward, the monitor appears flat, there are not any steps besides onto bridges (bear in mind folks bike it), and it’s properly maintained. You may as well make it longer by staying at a few of the smaller huts.
You may drink the water alongside the monitor too – it’s stained brown from tannins from leaf matter. It’s completely tremendous to drink and tastes higher than my faucet water.
I made a decision to sort out the Heaphy Monitor within the autumn. It doesn’t have the avalanche hazard that the extra mountainous Nice Walks have, making it a monitor you can sort out all yr lengthy. Although I think about it could possibly be disagreeable and chilly in winter, I reckon you’d most likely have the monitor all to your self!
Additionally, I’m conscious that many individuals assume it’s bizarre that I like tramping alone and that I discover the thought of being the one one on the monitor AMAZING. I’m an introvert. I typically hate folks. I can’t assist it.
I’ll use this chance to emphasise simply how necessary it’s to put together accordingly and carry a Private Locator Beacon (PLB), which you’ll be able to hire in case you don’t personal one. That is what you set off when you’ve got a life-threatening harm or are in peril of great harm or lack of life. Belief me, Search and Rescue would moderately come and discover you together with your GPS location from the PLB than have to begin looking for our bodies.
There may be additionally the danger of flooding, which suggests you might need to remain longer on the monitor. There are numerous huts and a number of other emergency shelters. Convey additional meals. I all the time deliver additional meals.
The biodiversity struck me as the perfect a part of the Heaphy Monitor. It’s unimaginable, and I’d even say it’s a few of the finest I’ve seen tramping. The landscapes are unimaginable and diverse. The West Coast is inexperienced and humid, the path meandering alongside the rugged shoreline shrouded in nikau palms. You then head by way of some unimaginable forest earlier than climbing up into crimson tussock nation. It was colourful. It was stunning.
I noticed kiwi, tūī, bellbirds, a fernbird (!!), whio, weka, kererū, robins, riflemen and so many extra. You may inform there was a lot predator management within the space to guard it; the birdlife was wonderful. It’s additionally the place yow will discover the biggest carnivorous snails—Powelliphanta snails. What the heck? I vaguely knew this, however name me intrigued. I looked for them so onerous, however I solely discovered three shells. One of many DOC rangers informed me it’s onerous to search out them alive.
And the queen of birds to see alongside the Heaphy Monitor: the takahē. And I didn’t see one; cue tears. It wasn’t like I didn’t strive guys. Takahē can poo as much as 9 meters per day. You wager your ass I adopted these poo trails all by way of the bush across the monitor for ages. However nada. Different folks did see them, which makes me completely satisfied. Whereas I used to be there, some had been hanging round Saxon Hut at sundown.
I’ve been privileged to have seen takahē many occasions in ecosanctuaries and at their breeding facility, however by no means within the wild. I suppose that simply means I’ve to return.
Takahē are a badass, massive, hefty blue fowl 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. These days, with a variety of onerous 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 attempting to weasel my means up there for years unsuccessfully, pun meant. I do know it ruins a joke to elucidate 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.
However what made Kahurangi Nationwide 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 due to Golden Bay Air for organizing the entire logistics to make this attainable. As all the time, I’m holding it actual—all opinions are my very own, as in case you may anticipate much less from me.