Heaphy Track

The Heaphy Track, one of New Zealand's nine Great Walks, starts near Karamea at the northern end of the Buller region and crosses the Kahurangi National Park to Golden Bay. The full walk is 82 kilometres and takes four to six days, passing through mountain tussock country, nikau palm forests (the southernmost palm forests in the world), and remote stretches of West Coast beach that are accessible no other way.

The Heaphy requires advance booking for hut accommodation during peak season (October to April). Independent trampers camp at designated sites. The track can also be cycled during winter months — it is one of the few Great Walks open to mountain bikes. The Karamea end of the track is the most dramatic, descending through the nikau forests to a beach that feels genuinely at the edge of the world.

things to do sight
A story
The Heaphy Track was surveyed in the 1840s by geologist Charles Heaphy, who was hoping it would provide a viable overland route between Nelson and the West Coast. It did not — the terrain was too rugged for practical use. The track is now beloved precisely because of that ruggedness: it remains one of the most remote walks in New Zealand, passing through landscapes that have changed very little since Heaphy first walked them.