Great Walk: Heaphy Track - Days 16 to 19

Today we finally started our second Great Walk, the Heaphy Track, which is the longest at 78km! After finishing the mountain bike tour on the Queen Charlotte Track, we were very excited to be able to 'just' go hiking again. But before we could start the 4-day hike, we still had the rest of the journey ahead of us: we left the Heaphy Haven, made a stop at the Langford Store in the middle of nowhere, and then drove another 12km on an unsealed road with a questionable wooden bridge, so that we finally started at 12 o'clock.

Now we had 5 hours of uphill hiking through the forest ahead of us! :) Our first highlight (besides the beautiful forest and the many birds): after about 3 hours we overtook a total of 18 people! Fit as a fiddle! :D

Our planned route was as follows: hiking between 5 and 6 1/2 hours per day with overnight stays in the Perry Saddle Hut, James Mackay Hut and Heaphy Hut. What is this Great Walk like? Absolutely fascinating! Very varied, on the first day with incredible bird song performances, on the second day with great clouds at 800m altitude (unfortunately also with rain), the third day with incredibly large rainforest trees and a great jungle atmosphere (the stretch between Lewis Hut and Heaphy Hut is the best!) and breathtaking suspension bridges! The fourth day gave us beach, rough sea and rock formations! The only downside: you need protection against the bloodthirsty sandflies!

What else did we see: we made a short stop at Flanagans Corner, the highest point of the track at 915 meters, and there we could see the clouds trying to come over the mountains.

On the second day we saw the Boot Pole, where hikers had hung their old shoes, on the third and fourth day we saw rivers with reddish water, which comes from the tannin of the beech trees.

On the fourth day there were several warning signs about the sea waves and possible falling rocks (No stopping!). And trees, trees, trees, ferns, tree ferns, palms, mushrooms, moss, moss, moss, lichens and lots of small and larger birds: Tui, Bellbird, Fantail, Rifleman, Grey Warbler, Tomtit, Robin, Pukeko, Wood Pigeon, Cormorants and of course once again plenty of cheeky Wekas! The hike on the Heaphy Track was amazing!!

On the last stretch we finally met the car relocation legend Derry Kingston (~70) with his daughter. We had parked our car at the starting point of the Brown Hut and hidden the key in the car. The next day, Derry picked up the car and drove about 500 kilometers around the Kahurangi National Park to the finishing point at Kohaihai. Normally, he would have walked the track within two days (!) to return the car key to the people and pick up the next car (he has already done this more than 500 times!). This time we met him because they were bringing cakes etc. to the Heaphy Hut. There, the 90th birthday of a lady was celebrated, who had also completed the Heaphy Walk. And to bring it back to the beginning of the text: the 18 people we passed on the first day were part of the party group and the birthday girl was also there! We are fit and fast on foot!!! :)))