Kahurangi is New Zealand's second-largest national park — 452,000 hectares of the northwestern South Island, encompassing the Tasman Mountains, the Heaphy Track, and some of the most diverse ecosystems in the country. The park ranges from subalpine tussock and limestone karst plateaus down through beech forest to the wild West Coast. The botanical diversity is extraordinary: over half of New Zealand's native plant species grow in Kahurangi, including many found nowhere else.
The Heaphy Track is the signature experience — a 82-kilometre Great Walk from Golden Bay to the West Coast, crossing four distinct ecological zones over four to six days. It is one of the longer and more challenging Great Walks, with significant elevation gain and the wild West Coast section at the end sometimes battered by rain. The Wangapeka Track, less well known but equally rewarding, traverses the park from east to west via a different route. Day walkers can access the park's limestone features — the Harwoods Hole sinkhole is among the deepest in the southern hemisphere — from the road end above Takaka.