Over ANZAC weekend I walked the Heaphy Track with some friends and sister Meggles. It was four days of walking from near Takaka in Golden (ne Murderer's) Bay on the top left of the South Island, over some hills and down through rainforest to the rugged West Coast. The finish of the walk is at Kohaihai, North of Westport.
Commuting to and from the track took pretty much a day each way.
The cathedral in Nelson. Great day for the race. 
Team photo at Brown Hut, morning of day 1. Left to right Megan, Kurt, me, Macca, Summer and Jacinta
Nice view of the bush on the climb from Brown Hut to Perry Hut on the Perry Saddle.
Lunch break on day 1. I had some chocolate easter eggs which were in high demand, and a kilo of nuts and raisins, which were not.
Drinks break after leaving Perry Hut, early Day 2. There was a good bit of scrub etc like this because of the relatively high altitude.
"Enchanted Forest" near Gouland Hut, which was the lunch stop on Day 2.
There were some limestone caves and resident pixies in the enchanted forest.
Another pixie.
Some of the fording was a bit dodgy because there had been a bit of rain. But we were intrepid.
If you lived here you would have divided loyalties for the rugby.
There is a very similar pole on the Milford Track. This one is pretty much equidistant from the two ends of the track, so if you've left your boots here, you're in a bit of trouble.
Gouland Heights is a bleak scrubby plateau between Gouland Hut and MacKay Hut, where we stayed at the end of Day 2.
After Mackay Hut, the track descends through some ace West Coast rainforest.
It was raining a lot on Day 3. Luckily we were only walking for 3 hours due to hut bookings, and got to Lewis Hut early for drying out purposes.
There were several swing bridges over the Heaphy and Gunner Rivers at the start of Day 4.
This is the view of Lewis Hut and the 'confluence' of the rain-swollen Lewis (left) and Heaphy (right) rivers, taken from a swing bridge.
A biggish weta. Not a giant one though.
This is a big snail. A related (carniverous and endangered) snail is holding up mining down the road in Westport. The mining company are having to relocate snails at a cost of $10,000 per snail.
This looks like some kind of duck to me.
High-fashion brunch at Heaphy Hut, where the Heaphy river meets the West Coast.
Kathmandu catalogue shot of me and Meg on a rugged West Coast beach.
Kurt's hair behaves uncannily like the Nikau palms behind him. The Nikau is the world's Southernmost palm tree.
Self portrait on a swing bridge. It was grey and raining and all the streams were gushing.
This is a weka, which is a bit like a kiwi, but not so iconic nor endangered. We went kiwi hunting one night but couldn't find any, which is probably a good thing because Kurt was hungry. This fella/felless was hanging around Katipo Shelter, which was also notable for its sandflies.
There were lots of these shags hanging around. This one is a bit of a philosopher I reckon.
Near the end. Kurt actually went for a swim.
Tired and happy and in the end pretty wet at the end of day 4. Summer has been mercilessly evicted from the right edge of the photo by John, the nice man who came to pick us up.
The airport terminal at Westport. There were about 20 people on the (full) plane, one flight per day.
Commuting to and from the track took pretty much a day each way.
The cathedral in Nelson. Great day for the race. 
Team photo at Brown Hut, morning of day 1. Left to right Megan, Kurt, me, Macca, Summer and Jacinta
Nice view of the bush on the climb from Brown Hut to Perry Hut on the Perry Saddle.
Lunch break on day 1. I had some chocolate easter eggs which were in high demand, and a kilo of nuts and raisins, which were not.
Drinks break after leaving Perry Hut, early Day 2. There was a good bit of scrub etc like this because of the relatively high altitude.
"Enchanted Forest" near Gouland Hut, which was the lunch stop on Day 2.
There were some limestone caves and resident pixies in the enchanted forest.
Another pixie.
Some of the fording was a bit dodgy because there had been a bit of rain. But we were intrepid.
If you lived here you would have divided loyalties for the rugby.
There is a very similar pole on the Milford Track. This one is pretty much equidistant from the two ends of the track, so if you've left your boots here, you're in a bit of trouble.
Gouland Heights is a bleak scrubby plateau between Gouland Hut and MacKay Hut, where we stayed at the end of Day 2.
After Mackay Hut, the track descends through some ace West Coast rainforest.
It was raining a lot on Day 3. Luckily we were only walking for 3 hours due to hut bookings, and got to Lewis Hut early for drying out purposes.
There were several swing bridges over the Heaphy and Gunner Rivers at the start of Day 4.
This is the view of Lewis Hut and the 'confluence' of the rain-swollen Lewis (left) and Heaphy (right) rivers, taken from a swing bridge.
A biggish weta. Not a giant one though.
This is a big snail. A related (carniverous and endangered) snail is holding up mining down the road in Westport. The mining company are having to relocate snails at a cost of $10,000 per snail.
This looks like some kind of duck to me.
High-fashion brunch at Heaphy Hut, where the Heaphy river meets the West Coast.
Kathmandu catalogue shot of me and Meg on a rugged West Coast beach.
Kurt's hair behaves uncannily like the Nikau palms behind him. The Nikau is the world's Southernmost palm tree.
Self portrait on a swing bridge. It was grey and raining and all the streams were gushing.
This is a weka, which is a bit like a kiwi, but not so iconic nor endangered. We went kiwi hunting one night but couldn't find any, which is probably a good thing because Kurt was hungry. This fella/felless was hanging around Katipo Shelter, which was also notable for its sandflies.
There were lots of these shags hanging around. This one is a bit of a philosopher I reckon. 
Near the end. Kurt actually went for a swim.
Tired and happy and in the end pretty wet at the end of day 4. Summer has been mercilessly evicted from the right edge of the photo by John, the nice man who came to pick us up.
The airport terminal at Westport. There were about 20 people on the (full) plane, one flight per day.
posted by Geoff_W | 10:48 PM
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