Heaphy Track Day 4

December 14th, 2002 at 12:00am

Warm and dry, what a wonderful feeling! I’ve opted for a night in a hostel, the first night inside since I left Auckland, and I think it was well deserved after the last 4 days of rain. Didn’t even get to mention the sandflies either – last night they were the WORST at the Heaphy campsite – literally hundreds of them swarming me while cooking dinner. I didn’t have any DEET either, not knowing if I’d need it or not. Now I know I do! My feet are especially covered with bites. Had about 50 or so of the buggers inside my tent with me and spent a long time killing every last one before calling it a night.

Then the rains came again. Several downpours followed by high winds throughout the night. I wasn’t as exposed in this site as I was the night before and the rains weren’t nearly as bad, but the ground was so wet from the previous days of rain that I still had some water coming through the bottom of my tent. Ugh. So much for the successful drying out session of the afternoon. Dry. wet, wet, wet, dry, wet, but always wet in the end.

Packed up my tent in the rain this morning and headed out just before the father/son (Richard/Thomas) from Adelaide. 16.5 km from the campsite to the end of the Heaphy Track, and this last section is said to be’one of the most beautiful walks in the south island.’ The trail follows the coastline of the Tasman Sea south and it is really beautiful. Even in the rain! The pounding surf of the sea is quite loud as you walk and the trail itself goes through lush forest and nikau palms. Only ocean and mountains as far as you can see in both directions. Really nice! The track itself was puddles and mud and all the streams were swollen from the rain and gushing down the hills into the sea.

4.5 hours later and I was at the end of the Heaphy Track, at the carpark in Kohaihai, which is a great campsite right on the sea. There’s a phone there and I called ahead to reserve a place at the hostel. The father/son had a taxi coming already to pick them up and drive them to Westport, and they were nice enough to give me a ride into Karamea along the way. Thanks for that! Right to the door of the hostel, the Last Resort.

Had lunch and two beers straightaway. Ahhh. Life is good again even if I am cold and wet. Next put all clothes into the laundry. Then walked to the grocery to resupply my food. No small bottles of shampoo or conditioner though so no washing of the hair, yet. Oh well. Can’t have it all. Back to the hostel, HOT SHOWER! Then an afternoon nap in my room with the rain pelting outside. Not a better feeling in the world.

Tomorrow I must break away to start the Wangapeka Track. a 4-day (hopefully) 52 km track which is meant to be more challenging terrain than the Heaphy but still has great scenery. Hoping for some better weather please. And not too bad river crossings with all the rain. One thing I know for sure is that I will sleep warm and dry tomight. Oh yeah…

Views of the Tasman Sea,

water, and

Nikau palms

Entry Filed under: Heaphy,Hiking/Trekking,New Zealand