My trip to New Zealand

The Shambhala and the Heaphy Track

After the amazing time I had in the Queen Charlotte track, I went west again, to do the Heaphy track (I really zig-zagged that part, eh?). I had to wait about 4 days for the weather to clear - but I had a wonderful time. I stayed in a wonderful backpacker called the Shambhala, about 16Km north of Takaka (which is such a cute town!). The heaphy itself was quite nice. Mostly in the bush, but the last day, when you walk on the west coast is just stunning. Shame about the sandflys. (The last hut on the heaphy track was the worst place, sandfly wise) After the track I stayed in the Shambhala again for a few days (you know, to relax from the track...) before I continued to the west coast. I think the Golden-Bay (Where Shambhala & Takaka is) is probably one of my favorite places in NZ.

	Robert, Tomoe & Me in the Pupu springs, near Takaka.
	Tomoe & Robert in Clifton Grove. Clifton was a beautiful little place, with lot's of rock formations, and it's just near Takaka.
	The porch at the Shambhala backpackers.
	Robert demonstrating the main activity in the Shambhala.
	The Christmas parade at Takaka.
	Beginning the Heaphy track. This was the time I was still pretty excited by the bush in those tracks. After a short time you get used to it - and then it gets boring (and then you go climbing on mountains instead of doing flat tracks).
	Some summit you climb to in the first day of the Heaphy.
	The Gouland-Downs, second day of the track.
	A famous (?) pole, where trampers tie old boots.
	Rest of the weary. We had great weather on the track. Four hot, sunny days (quite lucky on the heaphy. That's what the DOC says, anyway)
	Well. The Heaphy is a great walk, and has these wooden walkways to walk over the muddy parts.
	One of the huts. I think it was James Mackay hut, but I'm not totally sure of that...
	Going down to the coast.
	Just before the Heaphy Hut, the last one of the track, at the mouth of the Heaphy River.
	The Heaphy hut from the inside. These are the nice school-kids that walked the track. All in all there were around 30 kids (I think they were 15,16 years old) - but they were really good kids!
	The west coast. The fourth (and last) day of the track is the most beautiful day, walking along the coast.
	See that small Possum over there? It's quite rare to see them in day light.
	Some more west coast type of scenery.
	The heaphy, beside a huge amount of sandflies, had also several big (and not so big...) swinging bridges. I don't have any good photos of the small ones, but here you can see me crossing one of the big bridges.
	The same bridge (I think so) from the side.
	Phew! At last we reached the end of the track. It was quite hard for me (first time I carried a really heavy bag). You can see Rudy, a great guy from Holland that walked most of the track with me.
	Because there are no roads on the Kahurangi National park (and that's good, really) - returning from the end of the Heaphy (a cute town called Karamea) to Takaka is quite a problem. Taking a bus takes two days, so I decided to take a flight. It was a tiny plane, just me & the pilot, who was busy talking to his cell phone (!) - but it was cool. He flew over the Heaphy track - I could see all the track from above, great!
	Back at the Shambhala. Here you can see Roee resting. Roee claim to fame is that he's an avid Hapoel Tel-Aviv supporter. Go reds!
	Limor, on the way to Wharariki beach. I kept meeting her on my trip, the girl named Limor (oh, please)
	Wharariki beach, a beautiful beach near the Farewell spit (North of Takaka). And here's Limor again.
	Same beach...
	Well, it WAS a nice beach, with cool rock formations, and some seals.
	Saying goodbye to the Shambhala. Roee & Limor traveled with me for a few days. The crazy japanese girl on the back is Sheema. She actually liked my playing (they have a piano at the Shambhala. But John, you need to tune it!). Anyway, I think that's the first picture of my poor little car, GodZilla (I didn't name her, don't blame me). May she rest in peace!

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