The Heapy Track - city chicks go hiking.....


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December 27th 2005
Published: February 28th 2006
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I'm still playing catch up with my blog entries.... here's what we got up to after xmas at Collingwood....

Day 1: 17km, 5 hrs Brown Hut - Perry Saddle

When I got up on the 27th December I was a little nervous. Today was the day we started a 4 day, 82km walk through the Kahurangi National Park. The Heaphy Track is one of New Zealands 'great walks'. I'd done a couple of great walks already but they weren't in quite the same league... first there was the Tongariro Crossing, but that's just a one day walk, then there was the Queen Charlotte track.... where a boat ferries your bags between hostels so all you carry with you is your lunch. This was a whole new experience for me - we were carrying all our food, clothes and sleeping bags for the 4 days. We'd opted to stay in huts rather than camp which reduced the load somewhat but I'd was still rather worried about walking with anything heavier than my lunch! We'd had fun the night before doing the grand weigh in of our rucksacks... eventually repacking the repacks as we deliberated over whether we really needed
In the begining....In the begining....In the begining....

L-R Helen, Sam, Caroline, Megan, Me and Aileen
that extra t shirt or pair of socks. Helen seemed to have a few bricks in her bag, weighing in at a mighty 12ishkg, but by the time we set of we were mostly around the 10kg mark.

By 10am we were up, breakfasted, had waved goodbye to Rachel and Pam who were off in the luxury of a car to continue their holiday, had met Caroline (newly arrived from spending Xmas in Hawkes Bay with her family) and set off in Chris's 4WD to the start of the Heaphy. We had a few stops on the way - firstly at the historic Bainham post office, (how did anyone ever get their mail!), and then at the Sawbridge Swingbridge.... little did we know that this would be the first of sooooo many swingbrides!! Several water crossings later and we waved farewell to Chris and Joy as they left us at Brown Hut, 28km from Collingwood and seemingly miles from anywhere.... what exactly had I signed up to??!

The first day of the Heaphy is uphill....continuously... for about 5 hours. Looking at the track profile in a leaflet we'd picked up I was a little concerned. OK, you might argue that this was the best day to do 5 hours of up... i.e. when you're 'fresh' and 'rested'... but the down side is your bags are at their heaviest..... As it turned out I was pleasantly surprised - it wasn't as steep as I expected and the track was really good - none of the scrambling over rocks or scree slopes that I remembered from the Tongariro experience. It was also fab to do it with a group of friends! We fell into walking in single file.... a formation and order we pretty much kept for the rest of the trip... much to the amusement of others that we were to meet over the next 4 days!! Caroline and Helen liked to lead, Sam and I were happy at the back where I could keep dropping behind to take photo's, and Ails and Megan were in the middle where they could keep up with the chat!! What was really great was that we all stuck together - there were various points over the 4 days where some could have gone faster whilst others might have gone slower, but rather than splitting up we stayed together as a group. We had regular water and snack breaks, where we traded scroggin, energy bar chocolate, apricots and cereal bars with each other and Caroline as chief time keeper (well, as the only one with a watch she had to be really) made sure we didn't stop for any longer than our allotted 5 mins ;0). Despite all the beautiful scenery, for me it was this and the opportunity that it gave to get to know everyone better that really made the trip. And of course it meant there was plenty of time for group karaoke!! Over the next few days we sang our way through the chorus (and sometimes a few verses!!) of almost every song we knew.... it certainly made the time pass faster but I'm not sure we'll be getting any record contracts!!!

As to the scenery - amazing! Almost all of the first day involved walking through forest - being a hot and sunny day it was actually good to walk in the shade and there were enough breaks in the trees that we got to see some beautiful views out across the national park. About 30mins before the end of the days walk we dumped our bags and took the short track up to Flanagans Corner, which at 915m is the highest point on the track. We'd got chatting to one of the wardens at a campsite a little way before the turn off and he'd recommended making the detour - and I have to say the views were well worth it.

After a long day we made it to the Perry Saddle Hut, home for the night. I'd not stayed in a hut before and I'm not quite sure what I expected.... but I don't think 15 plus people sleeping side by side in a small room was it. We were all in bunk beds, but only a few of them were one person bunk beds - mostly the bunks accommodated 5 people side by side. On this particular night there'd been a mess up with the booking so it was even more cosy than normal. After a days walking I really didn't care tho and was always going to sleep well!

This was a holiday of eating well.... it had started with Xmas and a seemingly endless supply of cheese, dips, fruit, crisps, bbqs etc and the hike, despite the fact we had to carry all the food, really wasn't going to be any different! OK so maybe we didn't have the range but thanks to some strategic shopping (think lightweight) we managed to have 3 course dinners for the first two nights! This was much to the envy of everyone else in the huts who sat watching us as they 'cooked' their prepackaged, dehydrated, boring looking camping meals - I'm sure they tasted OK... well maybe.. but I much preferred my soup, followed by cous cous salad and then toffee syrup pudding with custard!! Yum. This was also going to be a holiday of card games - again we'd started back at the hostel and it continued to be the evenings entertainment through the tramp and proved to be a good way of getting to know some of the other trampers.

Day 2: 27km, 6.5 hrs, Perry Saddle - James Mackay

The second day of our adventure started bright and early with a bowl of warming porridge. That was the other good thing about our group - things just seemed to happen without anyone feeling they were doing more or less than their share... the early birds put the porridge and tea on, then someone would wash up... the same happened each time we arrived at a hut - dinner would just 'happen' then the washing up would just get done. That's a big difference from other trips I've been on where there always seemed to be a definite divide between those that 'did' and those that watched. Back on the track the scenery was yet again beautiful but quite different from that on the first day. We were largely out of the forest, walking through river valleys, tussock and grassland. It was also the start of the suspension bridge crossings. I lost count of how many we did by the end of the trip there were that many. Megan was particularly enamoured with them - I'm sure she could have passed many happy hours bouncing and jumping her way across!! Then there was the 'boot tree' - a post that trampers tie their old boots.... to which you have to ask the question... why would you bring an old boot on a tramp just to tie to a tree??!?! For me this was the hardest day of walking - it wasn't that it was particularly hilly... it just seemed never ending

Home for the night was the James Mackay hut, from where we got our first glimpse of the Tasman Sea and Heaphy river mouth.... our destination for the next day. My shock at this hut was the flushing toilets!!! Really not what I expected to find - all of the toilets on the track so far had toilet paper which surprised me enough but this was a whole different level of luxury that I hadn't expected! This is where we also met the family from hell... loud, rude, obnoxious and the complete opposite of everyone else we met on the track who were all lovely. But more on them later....


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