The Heaphy Track and the Old Ghost Road

A Maverick Traveller: The Podcasts of Mary Jane Walker

I have tramped the Heaphy Track, one of New Zealand’s Great Walks, three times now.

The walk stretches through the Kahurangi National Park at the top of the South Island, west of the famous Abel Tasman Track, and winds its way through native bush and tussock downs to the wild Tasman Sea on the West Coast, where some of the world's southernmost palm trees grow. The track can be walked in either direction, beginning at the eastern end at Brown Hut, or starting in Karamea on the West Coast by driving fifteen kilometres north to the Kohaihai River campsite.

Carrying on south, you get to the towns of Karamea, Granity and Westport. From Westport, you can go inland by road toward the Buller Gorge until you get to Lyell, and then hike or bike the Old Ghost Road, at 85 km in length New Zealand’s longest single track, up to the town of Seddonville.

The Old Ghost Road is quite a bit gnarlier than the Heaphy Track and is in fact the most difficult cycle trail in the official New Zealand Cycle Trail (NZCT) system. It’s recommended that every rider cycle it from Lyell north and not the other way, as there is a section that’s nearly impossible from north to south, and the trail also contains New Zealand’s longest section of ‘single track’, a very narrow section on an exposed hillside.

There are also some other famous tracks in this region, such as the Wangapeka Track and the Leslie-Karamea Track.

Original blog post: a-maverick.com/blog/heaphy-track-old-ghost-road