12-18 May 2024

Leader: Matt Freeland, Yingjune Shelton

Ten of us travelled by a few different flights (some delayed) and met up at the Tāhuna Holiday Park. Some of us had a chance to explore the park at Tāhunanui, the cool little town, while waiting for the rest of the group. We had a group dinner at Smugglers Pub which we enjoyed. Our conversation was about Jacqui’s cheesecake, which she has promised to bring on the next club outing (am I right, Jacqui?)

Day 1: Brown Hut to Perry Saddle Hut. We walked almost 5 hours, 17.5 km on our first fabulous day. We were picked up by fantastic Jennifer, our shuttle driver. After surviving Takaka Hill (Matt felt a bit sick, Nisa was car sick), we had a stop at Takaka for a much needed breakfast/morning tea. Our Heaphy journey started from Brown Hut at 11.30am. The well-maintained track climbs gradually. We crossed the Brown River, walked into the bush and stopped at Aorere Shelter. There was a viewpoint at Flanagan's Corner which is the highest point on the track at 915 m, not far from our first night's destination, Perry Saddle Hut. There were only two other bird hunters and our group in the hut that night. Someone was in a tent outside the hut too. After dinner, we enjoyed our card games where Matt earned his club’s name “high score” - ask one of us if you want to know why.

Day 2: Perry Saddle Hut to James Mackay Hut - longest day of the walk at 24.4km. We walked through a tussock clearing and beech forest with a small climb, past a famous old boots pole, several limestone arches and a nice little waterfall to Gouland Downs Hut (7km, 2 hrs). From there, we walked through the tussock to Saxon Hut (5.4km, 1.5hrs) where we stopped for lunch and enjoyed watching hungry and fearless wekas.

Saxon Hut to James Mackay Hut (11.8km, 3 hrs). The track drops and then climbs gently up to Mackay Downs. This section is a flood prone area. We crossed several small streams and creeks and all of us noticed the sparkles on the ground. We shared James Mackay Hut with 3 ladies. This afternoon, a few of us tried Nisa’s Thai spa session with homemade Thai herbal muscle rub, Thai sniffle (which we shared all along the trip), yoga poses before dinner. This was followed by more card and dice games at night!

Day 3: James Mackay Hut to Heaphy Hut via Lewis Shelter - 20.5 kms 6 hrs. The track gradually descended through beech forest at first but this slowly changed to nikau palms and we later starting to hear the west coast waves. We crossed the 101 m long swing bridge soon after a break at Lewis Shelter.

The track continued along the left bank to the river mouth through a forest and number of suspension and swing bridges. I lost count of how many we crossed. The group went to the little cave by the track, enjoyed seeing fish, starfish and giant wētās. Tonight, there was only our group in the Heaphy Hut. As we arrived quite early, all of us went for a walk by the coast, enjoyed the crazy waves and nikau palm scenery. June made movies, we took load of photos and again enjoyed our games after dinner. A ranger called us to look for a big male kiwi he had spotted nearby, after he heard a female kiwi calling. We went out walking for a while without any success. Oh well, next time then!

Day 4: Heaphy hut to Kohaihai River mouth. 16.2 km. We walked out along the coast the whole way - an easy walk in the beautiful forest with a bit of misty rain. We stopped here and there as there was no rush. Matt again had his morning sickness but luckily this was nothing serious. We met our driver who had dropped us off at the last resort in Karamea. We went and had dinner at the pub where we somehow got an extra steak meal and over-charged for cheesecakes! We played games and had a good night at the resort.

Next morning, Smurf drove the van (Thank you Smurf!) taking us to a café for fab breakies and to the Ōparara Basin Arches. This place was unbelievably magical. 35 million years old limestones arches and caves are not to be missed! It is a lost world - ancient forest and so many different fungis and mushrooms. A few of us screamed like crazy when we spotted them. We we saw them all - blue, purple, green, black, white, orange, red and brown. You name it, we’ve seen it all. I (Nisa) will never forget this place.

On the last day, we took a long drive of 6 hours from Karamea to Nelson with the “Tramping music list” as a background soundtrack. We dropped Rob off at his friend’s place and the rest of us took our flights home safely later in the day.

Another fantastic trip with Parawais, Heaphy was one of fantastic walk. Clearly it was an end of the season as we hardly saw other trampers or mountain bikers on the track. Thanks June for brilliantly organising everything, and Matt, our trip leader, for keeping everyone safe and happy. The trip was great, the company was superb. Another memory made. Well done team!.

Those on the trip were:

Matt Freeland, Clive Kayser, Jacqui Marshall, John Peterson, Lindsey Griffiths, Matt Freeland, Nisa Promchot, Paul Michl, Peter Davis, Rob Dey, Yingjun Shelton

Currently there is no photo album for this trip.