Heaphy Track

Coming to the end of the road is undeniably satisfying. It's a journey completed – it's all done, it's all been seen, it's time to turn around. Not so at Kōhaihai. The road may end 16km north of Karamea, but for some, the adventure is just beginning. Kōhaihai is the southern end of the Heaphy Track, one of New Zealand's 10 Great Walks.

A 78.4km path separates Kōhaihai from Golden Bay in the north. The track takes between four to six days to complete and is considered one of the gentler Great Walks – a good way to ease into overnight tramping. The Heaphy Track was originally used by gold miners seeking their fortune in the 1860s, but near disappeared as they moved to richer pastures. It remained more or less unused until 1965 when the surrounding land became a national park (now Kahurangi National Park). This is a moody landscape with many personalities; gentle paddocks of tussock become heavy beech bush and cheerful nīkau forests watch over surly coastlines. Limestone arches, lookouts and river crossings keep the kilometres passing quickly, without too much watching of the pedometer.

There are nine huts and seven campsites along the route, all a similar distance apart. Both campsites and huts have toilet facilities but only some of the huts have basic cooking facilities. There's no rubbish collection here, so everything taken in must be taken out. Book in advance year-round at 0800 694 732, greatwalks.co.nz/heaphy

Given the 463km distance by road between the start and the finish of the track, and the popularity of the Heaphy, it's important to plan in advance. Both Golden Bay and Buller have plenty of businesses catering to the comfort of walkers (and riders – the track is open to mountain bikers from May to November). Karamea Helicharters service the Heaphy Track (helicharterkaramea.com), the Heaphy Bus Company has regularly scheduled services between Nelson, Kōhaihai and Golden Bay (theheaphybus. co.nz), or the Karamea Express provides shuttles and taxi services (karameaexpress.co.nz).