The Heaphy Track is possibly the New Zealand Great Walk with the most variety along the way from mountains to beaches. Here is the ultimate guide to this wonderful great walk.
Wow! I have just come back from walking the Heaphy Track and I was blown away by it. The mountain views on this walk may not be as great as those on the Kepler Track or Routeburn Track, but overall the variety of landscape you pass through is astonishing. I think this is such a cool walk because you literally walk up over the mountains and down to the ocean on the other side in the remote north-west part of the South Island! This wonderful multi-day walk has a bit of everything – mountains, native forest, rivers, native birds, and wild beaches.
Heaphy Track – Highlights and Logistics
Highlights – Mountains, rivers, native forest, fungi, tussock downs, native birds, nikau palm groves, giant ratas, and wild beaches.
Location – North-west part of the South Island, cutting across Kahurangi National Park.
Length Of Walk – 78.4 kms (4 or 5 days to walk for most people)
Difficulty – Difficult (the trail itself is very well made and don’t present any problems, but this is a long walk and requires good fitness).
Season – Possible year round, but snow or frost may be present during winter months.
About The Heaphy Track
Most people walk the Heaphy from east to west (which is what we did), so that is the description that I’m writing about here. This walk starts after a drive from Nelson or Takaka to the trail head at Browns Hut.
The first day of the track is a 5 hour (17.5km) steady climb up through beautiful bush to Perry Saddle Hut. This is a very well made, wide track at a moderate grade that makes walking easy.
From the start of this walk we were overawed at the birdlife. Some of the birds we saw were South Island Robins, fantails (including the all black morph), weka, whio, tomtits, bellbirds, grey warblers, takahe, and tui. We didn’t see any, but there are great spotted kiwi too!
After 4 hours of steady walking the track arrives at Aorere shelter, just below the saddle. This is a nice resting point for a snack before tackling the final hour. Perry Saddle Hut is on the saddle and the high point of the walk. This is a very nice hut with spectacular views and the first point you may catch a glimpse of takahe.
The next stretch of the trail from Perry Saddle Hut to James MacKay Hut, passing by Gouland Downs and Saxon Huts, is lovely. Some people do this 6.5 hour (24.2 km) stretch in one day, but we did it in 2 days to take our time and really soak up this area. The downs are so cool, open tussock flats between the mountains as the track slowly winds down from Perry Saddle towards the west coast.
Just before Gouland Downs Hut the trail crosses over Cave Brook where you may see whio down below you. All of the streams flowing west are a brownish, tannin stained colour. Watch out for cheeky weka stealing your stuff at Gouland Downs Hut and from here to the end of the walk.
Then just after Gouland Downs Hut there are some super cool, small caves (limestone formations) that are interspersed in a bit of enchanted forest.
This area is home to takahe (which are regular visitors around Saxon Hut), and poweliphanta snails (giant snails).
The trail along from Perry Saddle to Saxon Hut is stunning and varies between the tussock and patches of beech forest.
James MacKay Hut has truly stunning views out towards the ocean to the west and if a 5 minute climb to some rocks above the hut has great views. For those wanting more of a view, a steep, 10 minute climb from there brings you to the peak overlooking the hut.
The trail descends for 3 and a half hours from James Mackay Hut to Lewis Hut (when you read this the hut may not be there as it is scheduled to be replaced by a day shelter). This stretch of track passes through Wild West coast native podocarp/broadleaf forest with some towering rimus, tree ferns, scattered neineis, and heaps of fungi in the moist environment.
Lewis Hut is located at the confluence of the Lewis River and Heaphy River. The stretch of trail from the Lewis Hut to Heaphy Hut (2 and a half hours, 8 km) is fantastic. It starts by crossing over the Heaphy River on the longest suspension bridge built by DOC. Then it wanders through strands of nikau forest, limestone outcrops with ratas growing off of them, and some massive ratas.
Heaphy Hut is situated in possibly the most stunning spot I’ve even seen, at the river mouth with views over the river and the ocean with a nice open grassy glade in front of it.
The final day from Heaphy Hut to Kohaihai River mouth (5 hours, 16.2km) is a long walk passing by breathtaking wild west coast beaches, nikau palm groves, and just rugged beauty.
After four hours of walking, Scotts Beach is a nice spot to take off your shoes and relax before completing the final hour of the walk and back to reality. This is a long beach with cool rocks to climb on. The ocean all along this area is wild and not recommended for swimming and don’t forget to watch out for weka!
My Insider’s Tips To The Heaphy Track
Affordable – This is a great walk and thus has a great walk season when you need to book all the huts in advance. However, as of 2021 the prices for staying in the huts was still reasonable, especially compared to the prices on some of the other great walks.
Mountain bikes – If you are a walker be warned that this track is open to mountain bikes in the off season. Mountain biking is permitted on the track from 1 May to 30 November. Just keep that in mind if you are walking at that time of year.
The huts – All huts along the track have heating, long drop toilets and water, but there are two very different standards of huts on this walk. There are three great walk huts (Perry Saddle, James MacKay, and Heaphy), which are big, modern, nice, and even have stoves and fuel. Then Gouland Downs Hut and Saxon Downs Hut are a bit older and smaller. Gouland Downs doesn’t have a stove or fuel, but Saxon Downs Hut does have a stove and fuel.
Camping – There are 9 campsites along the track. Similar to the huts, these must be booked in advance.
Transportation – Getting to and back from this track can be challenging and expensive because the start/finish points are so far apart. Some of the options are: book a flight from the end of the track to either Takaka or Nelson with Golden Bay Air (a 30-40 minute flight), or book a shuttle with Trek Express or another company to Nelson (about 5 hours), or if you have your own vehicle pay to get it moved to the end of the walk.