Heaphy Track

The Heaphy Track was my last of the 9 great walks - which I left til the end, precisely because it was so long (just under 80kms). I wanted to do it in 5days unfortunately a big group had nabbed the middle hut so I was stuck with cramming it into 4 days (one of which at 24kms was a killer) even though the tracks were quite gradual up and down and not too bad. The sandflies were ghastly though.

I was really happy to start even though I was going by myself but I made friends with a group of three on the ride there who said they would look out for me. I had a few people keeping an eye on me which made me feel quite good. I also had a cute little fantail that followed me and twittered to me non stop at one point.

Day one was several hours uphill but it wasn't steep so it was doable. Also I met a couple of campers, a guy from Ireland and a girl from Spain (not together) they were both really lovely and we had some nice chats on the way.

Some awesome views on Day One:

On the second day we got to see the giant snails that this part of NZ is known for, but alas I did not manage to see the elusive albino giant snail that they were talking about at the DOC office for the Heaphy Track.

I also got to see the massive shoe tree I had heard about - though why anyone would want to carry their shoes all the way there just to dump them on the second day I don't know. And I also got to see my first whio (blue duck) in the river just before this tiny old fashioned hut we passed.

Day 3 was when we descended from up in the heights down to the river and followed along to where it reached the sea at Heaphy Hut which was by far the best (and newest) hut on the track. Sunset there was something spectacular, despite all the biting bugs.

And finally Day 4 where I got to leave the hut early to walk along the beach and try to make sure I avoided high tide (apparently some people did die a long time ago when they tried to cross at high tide and got sucked out to sea - the waves here are quite dangerous though the lagoon near the Heaphy hut was a great place to swim) of course the problem with that was I arrived really early and had to wait hours for our van, which had broken down somewhere and they had to send us out another one. It was really good to stop in civilisation (Karamea) to eat on our way back to Nelson. A few more assorted pics from the trip, including a lovely walking group from Melbourne who I shared the van home with - they were crack up characters.

Great Walks Album

Heres some pages from my Great Walks photo album:

Queen Charlotte Track

I had great hopes of completing the Queen Charlotte track over the last few days, but sadly the 2nd day proved too much for my legs and I was forced to beg rescue from the water taxi coming to collect my bag (and as it turned out, me!) I just knew I wouldn't cope with walking another 20km when I could barely stand up straight. I started very well at Ship Cove where Captain Cook stayed a few times to fix his ship, it began steeply uphill the down the other side to Resolution Bay, then up again for ages and around (finally) to Furneaux Lodge, a beautiful place I'd heard about from this couple who had gotten married there. I arrived 5 minutes before the boat picking me up was due to depart at 3pm then they nicely deposited me across the way at Camp Bay, where I stayed with a lovely and inspiring 83yr old lady who has been visiting all corners of the world over the last 17 years, but not the normal places you would think an old lady would go, no she went to Burma, Cuba, Mexico, Kenya, Mongolia, Bali, the Trans Siberian Railway, and Croatia among others. She is so gutsy, I was very impressed. Having a hot shower at her place was even more amazing - all the tramping I've done I'd never had the good fortune of a hot warming shower at the end of the day, it made such a difference to my achy muscles. The next morning I got up early, dropped my bag off at the wharf for the water taxi to collect, and headed off for a gruelling day walking along the ridge line of some mountains. It was sunny and warm, blue skies and beautiful. I managed the first 12km in good time, to the first campsite, stopped for lunch and headed off again. The second 12km was super hard - slippery, muddy, full of rockslides waiting to happen and steep up and downhill. I did take a half hour detour up a steep hill to Eatwell Lookout which was amazing!! Stunning 180 degree views of the sounds all around me, green blue water and lovely hills rising up everywhere around me in the distance. I got quite drained the further along I went not knowing where I was, it took about 3hrs to get to the 2nd campsite, where I only stopped briefly as the sun was rapidly descending and I didn't want to get caught out in the dark. It was another 2hrs from the 2nd campsite going up and down - I was so dejected to see the 6km to go sign, ages later I saw a 1km to go sign, which made me very happy, I was freezing cold by that stage, it was about 6pm. I got to the hostel not long after that - really nice family home, the man showed me where I was staying, my bag was waiting in the room for me, and urged me to go get warmed & freshened up before sorting out payment (so nice!). I felt quite sad that it had taken me so much longer than the "estimated time" to get to the end, I was feeling very sore, especially my shoulders, ankles, and all up and down my legs. I went and asked the hostel owner if he could call the water taxi for me to come get me, he said he'd check on me in the morning & see if I still wanted to do that. In the morning I was feeling better, but I knew I wouldn't manage 20km, especially after listening to the other backpackers stories about how steep and long it was. I got dropped off at Torea Bay Wharf where there was a nice shelter for 3hrs of sunbathing, journal writing, pondering, singing & photography & snacks before the boat came & collected me (I was very relieved to see him). Back to Picton and off to the hostel to check in and have a rest for the afternoon, before my ferry ride across to Wellington and flight home the next day. It was a great experience, and I was surprised to learn that the rest of the country was experiencing gale force winds and storms, while I was enjoying sunshine and blue skies. But I definately want to go back when I'm fitter and finish the parts that I didn't do. But I would not do the section from Camp Bay to Torea Bay ever again (despite how beautiful it was) once was enough for a lifetime I think.

9 Great Walks

Can't believe I finished the 9 Great Walks 6 months ago and never got around to celebrating my achievement on here! Will have to come back later with posts (and photos) of each of the great walks. I didn't complete the full distance for all of them, but I did a significant amount of each one. The ones I pretty much walked in full were the Routeburn track, the Milford Track, the Heaphy Track, Lake Waikaremoana Track (not including the bit between the boat pickup and the road end) and the Tongariro Northern Circuit (which I later regretted, the part between Whakapapa and the start of the Tongariro crossing was hideous, long, slippery and tired me out before the hardest part - the Devils staircase and uphill section leading to the Red Crater). Also the Rakiura track we did the whole part from Lee Bay around back into town. It was brilliant. I made a whole 80 page photobook from my journal entries and photos of all the walks, maybe I could just include some of those pages in here - they might not be very readable though.