New Zealand 2023: Collingwood to Brown Hut; Heaphy Track Day 1

Although Collingwood is a town of a couple of hundred people in what seemed to be a not very populated area, there were farms and signs of civilization all along the half hour or so drive through the Aorere Valley to the start of the Heaphy Track, Brown hut. We were on the track at a very reasonable 10:30am with our destination being the Perry Saddle hut, some 17.5 kilometers away. We had not walked the Heaphy Track - one of the Great Walks - before and the only reason we were able to book huts on the track soon after we decided to go to New Zealand is that the bridge across the Heaphy River is out as a result of torrential rain in February 2022 so the 78km one way Great Walk cannot be walked in its entirety and therefore is not as popular with trampers as it usually is. The track is closed at the Heaphy River with an expensive helicopter shuttle being available to get across the river. It costs $1,200 to use the helicopter, i.e. $600 per person unless you can round up more people to share the helicopter with. As that seemed a bit steep, we had decided to walk in to the hut before Heaphy River and back, then drive around to the other end of the track and walk in and out to the hut before the Heaphy River at that end.

The first day was a gradual climb up through bush and forest, with the track winding its way up along the side of the hills/ mountains. We started at around 125m elevation, and passed the high point of the walk at 915m elevation at which point there was short side trail to a lookout point from which we had good views of the Aorere Valley. The weather was good: high cloud with a temperature of around 20C with the trees keeping the temperature pleasant for the long climb up. I had forgotten what it felt like to be walking with a heavy pack on my back and was very happy to be able to take it off when we arrive at the Perry Saddle hut late afternoon. There was one originally British couple staying that night, and a father with a son of about 12, which meant that each pair had one of three bunk rooms. Although the hut is only ten years old, and certainly a nice hut, surprisingly you had to leave the hut to use the toilets which were located about half a minute away from the hut. We had some good chats with the other people over food preparation and supper and went to bed soon after.