Kiwis take a huge amount of pride in the natrual beauty of their country... duh... no brainer right? Especially when one considers tha fact that most of the country is really just that... astoundingly beautiful... even the ugly parts. The above photo was taken during a beach BBQ at the head of the track that I hiked out on a few days later.
When I finished up my Woofing stint on the farm in Karamea I decided to take a somewhat unique way out of town by hiking over the Arthur Mountain Range in Kahurangi National Park. The route is along the Heaphy Track, one of NZeds "great walks". The folks there are so into their hiking/treking that they've developed the best trails in the country via heavy maintenance and installation of a hut system... ~NZ$20 per night for a bunk, water, pit facilities, and usualy a gas stove... and not having to carry a tent and all that cooking gear... posh, posh. I was able to go out for four days, with food for five and a small emergency shelter, using only my day pack... hot damm says any of you serious hiker types out there... that is a very light load... the route is about 79km long with 1200m of gain. As it turned out I hiked in the opposite direction as compared to about 95% of the traffic for this track. Albeit hapenstance it turned out to be quite fortuitous as I had a hut to myself on two of the four nights that I was on the trail.
An opening shot at the start of the trail... I was in a great mood here and raring to go despite the rain but a bit sad too as my Woofing host Craig had just dropped me off... I had a great time living/working with him and his family and new that I would miss them... sniff, sniff ;-)
The start of the track from the southern end is freaking amazing... 16 flat Km along the rugged coast and through forest trail thick with Nikau plams, punga fern and karaka trees that run right along the base of the mountains.
I t was killing me not to have my surf board here... rumor has it the some of the heartier blokes from Karamea hike up the Heaphy on good days to ride out here.
These cable wire a link fence bridges are very stable depiste their spindly appreance... quite a bit of fun in the wind and rain too.
The tanins from the fallen forest flora turn even the faster running rivers in to amazing shades of tan, brown and this strange black/indigo.
I ran in to this young fellow from the UK at the first hut I stayed in. Adam is a carpenter/joiner who had been working in Christchurch via tha ability of citizens of the commonwealth to work abroad the way we can work from state to state... this kid was a real hoot... super funny and we had plenty to talk about via engineering and carpentry and the fact that his girlfriend is from the US. We also had a blast hanging out with the two gals from Vancouver, BC we shared the first hut with and the siblings (two cute sisters and their younger brother) from Wellington on the 2nd hut stay.
Adam took this and the following photos of me on my 3rd day of hiking. When we had arrived at the hut the night before we missed a horizontal snow storm by mere minutes. Pretty neat that... I didn't realize how good it would feel to miss heavy weather by that close of a margin to share a warm hut with plenty of food and good company... duh!
Some shots of the crosings and scenery on the trail's highest plateau...
Views looking out and in to the oldest hut on the track... it's fairly close to the 1st hut coming from the North so most folks mike it a lunch stop and don't stay for the night... as a result I had the place to myself...
Before the evening fire though I day hiked around a bit and found some... yes I have to say it... Lord of the Rings-esque scenery...
And some time journaling as all estute travelers should...
And a bit too much time alone with my camera...
Alas, the trail must end... and here I am at the end of it...
... but not really. I spent the next few days after I got off the track kayaking/hiking around Able Tasman National Park. Through a series of commedic errors and due to the willful nature of a kindergarten teacher from Germany... I ended up sharing this tandem kayak with her Ozzy military buddy... turned out that he gave me a ride back to Nelson but was a bit too much of a skirt chasing hell raiser for my liking ;-) I also ran in to an aquaintence from Karamea who took these shots... thanks mate (er um Gary ;-)!
One of the highlights of Nelson was the Episcipalian stone church on a high hill overlooking the town...
After Nelson is was a harrowinf lfight back to Aukland to spend a final day with Wade and Dacotah (see a previous post) and then on to Oz and the Famiglia!
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