went missing on the climb up from Brown Hut in poor weather when she became separated from her tramping companion. Despite extensive searches, no trace of her was found. In April 1973, a member of a party from the University of Canterbury Tramping Club was swept away while attempting to cross the flooded Cave Creek. His body was never found. In the report from the subsequent Coroner's enquiry, the Coroner said: "Only fit and well-equipped people should attempt to walk the Heaphy Track". Controversies in the 1970s about the proposal for a road through Heaphy Track led to increased interest in the track and a large increase in the number of trampers. On one night, there were 82 staying overnight at the Gouland Downs Hut. Around the same time, four people had to be rescued from the track over a period of only two days: one girl with asthma, another girl with glandular fever, a young girl with exposure and a boy with a broken bone in his foot. There had been continual rain for three days with around in one 24 hour period, and the huts had become overcrowded. In March 1976, a tramper was swept away while attempting to cross the flooded Weka Creek on the Gouland Downs. Her body was never found. An unusual incident with a happy ending began on 19 January 1980, when a tramper from Palmerston North became disoriented on the descent from Perry Saddle Hut to the end of the track in poor weather and went missing for almost 30 days. His abandoned campsite at Shakespeare Flat on the upper Aorere River was discovered by searchers but he was not found until 18 February – the final day of planned searches. He had travelled upstream when searchers had been expecting he would have moved downstream. He was flown to hospital, and made a good recovery, being discharged in five days. Only a few weeks later, on 17 March 1980 three young trampers from Auckland died when they were swept off rocks at Crayfish Point, just from the end of the track at Kōhaihai. In March 1982, a solo tramper from Canterbury went missing on the track. He had wandered off the path and become lost after leaving Perry Saddle Hut on the way south. He was eventually found by search parties after he had spent nine days lost in the bush. There was