Good question.
The Queen Charlotte Walk has been on my ‘bucket list’ for years. I have ‘dipped’ in and out of the various walking tours and brochures many times but never actually DID anything about it.
So it became now or never.
The Heaphy Track I had heard of vaguely. The reason for doing this one was we were going to be in the area anyway AND we probably will not be back …
This one became our greatest concern in the months and weeks leading up as we both battled various injuries AND we knew we would have to carry more given the accommodation being public huts so we needed sleeping bags and anything/everything else we required as there would be no contact with our main luggage for 5 days.
This turned into a spending frenzy with Paddy Pallin, MacPac and other outdoor retailers as we sourced THE lightest sleeping bags and rain jackets in order to minimise weight.
In fact my smallish pack was the envy of several walkers (and our guides who queried me at the start as to what I had packed as they clearly doubted that I had what I needed …).
Ultimately, we DID manage to achieve our goal of walking both tracks. And it was the Queen Charlotte walk that was probably the harder physically (but obviously tempered by the higher level of accommodation and daily access to our luggage that was transported from point to point by boat). Nevertheless, despite the Heaphy walk being at a more challenging comfort level, we adjusted and appreciated the simplicity.
Surprisingly our bodies held up well; it was the feet that let us down: blisters, etc, despite all the money spent at podiatrists …
I think it will take a while for the success of our mission to sink in. I am just very grateful we didn’t have any falls and we didn’t have to be helicoptered out!!
Amazing really.
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