For someone who claims to come from Nelson I had not much to do with the Kahurangi area in my youth.
Put it down to a girlfriend who had a bach down at Torrent Bay in Abel Tasman, although when I think of it I did speed through the Heaphy quite a few times before hut charges were introduced and there was that almost strenuous few days battling monkey scrub, mating seals and the rising tide/shoreline cliff combination on a trackless, let’s-just-follow-the-coast, style trip from the Kahurangi lighthouse down to the Heaphy River.
Finally in April 2004 I wandered the Leslie-Karamea Track and realised what I’d been missing, the Karamea River is one of the great easy trails to amble alongside. There’s all the aspects needed for a decent tramp: adequate length, ie, at least seven days; good accommodation, tick that one now the old Venus hut has been replaced; not too many other people around at least in autumn months.
But why did I manage to do it a second time outside the fishing season, this river has some mighty trout, the count was beyond 30 legal sized specimens in the clear water before the river discoloured after rain.
Here’s my impressions of the Leslie-Karamea this time around …
