The Heaphy Experience - Mountain biking Trip
0 ½ weeks: Takaka to Takaka (THE)
The Heaphy Track is a unique, multi-day, remote, mountain bike ride that has no equal in New Zealand. 80 km of single-track starting in beautiful Golden Bay and traversing to the West Coast through diverse landscape and vegetation.We have created a 4-day fully supported and guided mountain biking trip which will allow you to enjoy everything the Heaphy has to offer without any hassle of organising the logistics! We’ll get you here, fuel your engine and tantalize your taste-buds, enrich you, exhaust you and send you home with a smile as wide as a West Coast beach.
INCLUDED IN YOUR 4-DAY TRIP:
START/FINISH: Takaka, Golden Bay.
TRANSPORT: Vehicle transport from Takaka to the start of the track and return by air from Karamea to Takaka. We have designed and built our own bike racks/trailer specifically with taking good care of your bike in mind.
GUIDING: Professional, qualified and knowledgeable local guides. Due to the remote and technical nature of the trip we stipulate high guide to client ratio.
FOOD: Your guides will transport and cater delicious and nutritious meals and snacks from lunch on Day-one to a restaurant lunch on Day-three.
ACCOMMODATION: One night in luxury coastal lodge, two nights in bunk style DoC Huts.
GROUP SIZE: 2-10 bikers. (Groups larger than six will need to ride separately).
WHAT IS THE BIKING LIKE?
80 km cross country single track riding in a back-country environment.
GRADE 3+ Suitable for riders with a minimum of intermediate mountain biking skills. The track is technical and rocky in parts with steep slopes, exposed sections and frequent creek crossings. Winter riding conditions can increase riding level to a Grade 4 when factoring distance and remoteness.
FITNESS: A good level of mountain biking fitness is required.
3 DAYS mountain biking - two half days and one full day. 16-45 km per day.
Accommodation
Coastal Lodge & Department of Conservation hiking huts. Shared accommodation with bunkrooms and outside toilets
Kitty Notes
$1950 per person
Bike Hire: $220 per person including Free-load rack and dry bag.
Itineraries
4 daysDAY 1 - We will meet at your accommodation in Golden Bay for a trip briefing and make a thorough check that you have all the gear you need. Enjoy a dinner with your guide(s) and others in your group.
DAY 2 - Following a hearty breakfast we head off to the Heaphy trailhead, picking up a coffee on the way. Then it’s on our bikes and gently uphill on benched tracks through ancient beech forests to Perry Saddle hut at 880m, stopping on the way for a picnic lunch to fuel our legs!! Relax and unwind by the fire while we prepare dinner! |17.5 kms | 3-5 hours
DAY 3 - Up early for the big day! After breakfast we head off across the open tussock country of Gouland Downs. A short climb and some lovely riding will build a healthy appetite for lunch at MacKay Hut. The afternoon begins with a 12 km fun downhill through West Coast subtropical forest and ultimately out to the sea and Heaphy Hut amidst massive nikau palms. Take a walk on the beach before dinner while the sun sinks into the Tasman Sea. |44.5 kms | 6-8 hours
DAY 4 - The last section of this spectacular ride snakes its way in and out of wild west coast beaches and ancient groves of nikau palms. We meet our transport at Kohaihai before heading to Karamea for a welcome hot shower and lunch. From Karamea we’ll fly by helicopter back to Golden Bay. In the rare case that it is not possible to fly - vehicle transport will be provided. | 16.2kms | 2-4 hours.
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