Consider joining one of our currently planned trips.
In addition to the standard trips listed below, we are happy to arrange custom trips. Contact us to plan a trip which will accommodate your special interests and circumstances.
Click photos to enlarge and close.
Use arrow keys for next or previous image.
Use arrow keys for next or previous image.
Flora and fungi
of Kahurangi National Park
Flora
Like New Zealand's bird life, the flora is a result of millions of years of isolation. When the first botanists arrived in this country, they weren't amazed at the variety of flora so much as the number of endemic species never seen before. Kahurangi Park has by far the largest variety. The reasons are that Kahurangi is situated in the centre of New Zealand on a latitude where many species find their southern or northern limits. From an alpine perspective, Kahurangi escaped most of the ice sheets during the last ice age, and may well have been a refuge for alpine plant life. Hence its huge amount (80%), of all New Zealand's alpine species.
Fungi
Beech and podocarp-beech forests are also home to an array of colourful native fungi. May-June is the best time to see them.
Type of flora and zone |
Where to explore |
| Coastal shrub Sand dunes Nikau palms |
Kahurangi Coast Heaphy Coast |
| Coastal forest Broadleaf Podocarp Nikau palms |
Kahurangi Coast Heaphy Coast |
| Streams, riverside and lakes | Leslie Karamea Valley Cobb Valley Diamond Lakes Wangapeka Track |
| Podocarp and beech forest | Leslie Karamea Valley Heaphy Track |
| Beech forest | Mount Arthur Cobb Valley Wangapeka |
| Sub-alpine Alpine scrub |
Arthur Tablelands Upper Cobb Valley Heaphy Track Matiri Tops |
| Herb and fellfields | Mount Arthur Mount Owen Plateau Matiri Tops Heaphy Track |
| Tussock grasslands | Mount Owen Plateau Tablelands Heaphy Track Matiri Plateau |
| Scree and rock | Mount Owen Mount Peel Mount Arthur Upper Cobb |