Heaphy Day 2: 8 Feb 2018

Today was my day for doing everything! I started in the morning for a quick trek up to the summit of Mount Perry, after exhortations about the views by others who had topped it the previous day. At roughly 2 hours return, the un-waymarked route is more or less easy to follow, with cairns built by previous travellers to guide the way. The scrubby start is somewhat overgrown and gives one an adventurous sense of being a tracker, keeping eyes peeled for signs of previous foot traffic.

View of Perry Saddle Hut from slopes of Mount Perry

Unfortunately as I neared the "false summit" visible from Perry Saddle Hut, morning cloud started pouring over the ridge and gathering around the peak. I took this as my cue to beat a careful but hasty retreat, not wanting to risk loss of visibility on the precipitous rocky face. Of course as I reached the main track again the summit appeared to clear - I keep telling myself the view would still have been obscured.

Uh oh!

 Resaddling myself with pack I set off towards Saxon Hut, with the famous Gouland Downs to cross. This is where the landscape finally had a dramatic shift - the great flat Downs appear at a distance to be dry alpine terrain but is actually more of a vast rolling bogland, with tussock, moss and hidden tarns. This expanse is cut with beech-lined gullies in which streams could be heard more often than seen as the track winds along the tops.
On the approach to Gouland Hut, midway to Saxon, the track finally descended into one of the gullies, to cross the Cave Brook over an arched bridge. Steeply angled limestone rocks line this deep stream, and right under the bridge is a fantastic tannin-tinted swimming hole. This stretch is also home to a pair of the elusive Whio, Blue Duck, who I espied on my return for a swim.

The Gouland Downs

Cave Brook - best swim on the track!

Leaving packs at the Gouland Downs Hut a small group of hikers (from both directions) gathered to follow roving Hut Warden Toni on an impromptu guided tour of the nearby limestone caves. This whole region is built on a limestone base, and water has channeled out a warren of interconnected tunnels and tomos (sinkholes) to trap the unwary traveller. Nearest to the hut was a wide, arched cave entrance, with a few stalactites growing into columns. Clambering up a slope into a narrowing passage took us to a haven of the native Cave Weta - discovered when Toni told us to look up at the low ceiling we were all crammed beneath - an experience both uncomfortable and exhilarating. There are many species of weta in New Zealand and these large insects are mostly harmless, but I'm not great with any insects and these were very big, and very close.

Cave Weta

The next side track was partway through the "Enchanted Forest" a stand of ancient beech trees hung with green moss and frozen time. A small cairn of stones marked a point to drop of the main walkway, and then crossed underneath the track through a limestone tunnel. Following a faint trail through the leaf carpeted forest led us to an overhang impressed with the fossils of shells, and another entry to the underworld - this one effectively guarded by dewy spiderwebs, discouraging thoughts of deeper exploration.
The final cave is marked by a much larger stone cairn, on the other side of the Enchanted Forest. Turning away from the bush we curved around on a muddy track and came to a large opening in the rock face, from which dropped a sheet of waterfall. Picture perfect, apart from the mud!

The track continues across the Downs, rising slightly to skirt around the edge of the surrounding mountains. At a high point on the track there is a well placed seat which boasts a sweeping panorama of this strange terrain, including the cliff and cave of the waterfall, by now very distant.

Birds seen today include a large number of rifleman on the Perry Saddle, a few pipits, several very bold weka, and possibly a brown creeper.
Saxon Hut also sports a token swim spot, but I wasn't bold enough to try it this afternoon as the cloud and wind picked up, and the temperature dropped.

Weka - the bird, as opposed to Weta - the creepy-crawlies

Cave formations

Moss on a tree