Heaphy Track - Day 4 Lewis Hut to Heaphy Hut 8km

A calm clear dawn.
A short walk with lots to discover.


Come walk with us

Or, take the motorcycle if you prefer...

Cross the Heaphy River over the new suspension bridge.

The water flow in the river is much lower than usual - some say it is the lowest in living memory.

Linking arms around a giant rata.

Tiny orchids

This rata is host to a multitude of epiphytes.

A Cordyceps fungus that has parasitized the pupae of an insect.

All is calm.
Reflections on the Heaphy river.

We are in lush fern and palm territory.

Down onto the shores of the Heaphy River...

with many hued granite boulders.

Back on track for a short while...

then we leave the track and find our way through supplejack lianes and nikau palms...

to the entry of a cave system.

Karst rock

Helmets on and down we go.

Back into daylight

Mother cormorant and her chick.

Nearly there..

Heaphy hut - a new DoC hut.