New Zealand Heaphy Track

Collingwood · New Zealand

Moderate5 daysOceania~£400 est.

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Overview

New Zealand's longest Great Walk, 78.4 kilometres across Kahurangi National Park, is really five walks stitched together. You climb from the Aorere valley through beech forest to Perry Saddle, cross the strange golden tussock of the Gouland Downs (limestone arches, giant carnivorous snails, great spotted kiwi calling in the dark), then drop through moss-hung goblin forest to the Heaphy River. The finale is the part nobody forgets: the last day to Kohaihai threads between nikau palms and the Tasman Sea, with surf detonating on limestone reefs a few metres from the track. Huts must be booked through DOC months ahead for the December to February peak. The track is walkable year-round, but the West Coast end takes serious rain and the sandflies at Heaphy Hut are legendary, so treat repellent as safety kit. The awkward logistics are the real planning problem: the trailheads are a 460-kilometre drive apart, so book a shuttle or the light-plane hop from Karamea back to Takaka. Budget around £400 with hut fees and transport; November to March gives the best weather window, and from May to November the track also opens to mountain bikes.