Blogs from Heaphy, Nelson Region, South Island, New Zealand, Oceania

November 13, 2009 Today was another day that ended a long way from where it began. We began the day by being dropped off at the Wellington airport by Mark and Karen. After two flight delays and a very strange band concert/dance performance in the airport terminal, we boarded the flight to Westport. The plane was very small and we were two of only five passengers on the flight. Once in Westport, we went about trying to hitchhike the 60 miles to the start of the Heaphy Track. Having no luck and limited time to get there, we paid for a transport company to take us instead. The first section of the track followed the coast for about ten miles, and took us four hours to cover. It was nice walking, listening to the ocean waves ... read more

Day 3: 21.5km, 6 hours, James Mackay - Heaphy Hut Today was almost completely down hill. Heaven. We were back in the forest again but as we descended during the day towards the coast and mouth of the Heaphy River there was a noticeable change in the types of trees and vegetation that we saw, moving from predominately beech at the start of the day towards and increasing number of nikau palms at the end of the day. A few of the girls were starting to get some quite evil blistering and rashes but we still made steady progress. Poor Aileen took a wee tumble at one point which, with a few juicy embellishments, made for a good story later. We crossed lots more swingbridges, stopped for lunch at the Lewis Hut and eventually got ... read more

Nya Zeeland har en ganska stor vandringskultur. Bland annat finns ett antal vandringsleder som kallas Great Walks (vilket aven var paddling pa Whanganui var). Nu ska vi ut pa var forsta Great Walk och vi har valt Heaphy track som start. Vi anlander sent pa eftermiddagen till "Brown Hut" som markerar borjan pa vandringen och vid vilken vi planerar att spendera var forsta natt. Stugan ar redan ockuperad av 7 tjejer i 14-15-arsaldern och en av deras fader. Vi ar glada att vi spenderar natten utanfor stugan i vart talt. Dagen efter borjar vandringen och vi klattrar sakta uppat pa en mycket lattgangen promenadstig. Vaxtligheten och djurlivet ar naturligtvis helt annorlunda och under vandringen traskar vi genom regnskog, gar over hedar och langs palmkladda strander. Vi traffar weka, en ickeflygande, brun, lite honsliknande fagel som ar ... read more