We arrived in Queenstown on May 5th. And our long-awaited adventure begins!
Queenstown is stunning. We splurged on an luxurious hotel room for our first night, bought a bottle of wine, and soaked in views of the sun setting over Lake Wakatipu and The Remarkables. Remarkable indeed.
New Zealand is known for its nine spectacular Great Walks. We wanted to link three in the Fiordland National Park on the South Island: Kepler, Milford, and Routeburn. The latter two are frequently cited as among the ten top treks on the planet.
We awoke the next morning to a downpour–the first of several days of weather remarkably wet even for this land of rainforests and waterfalls. Undeterred, we decided to start with the Kepler track, the driest of the Fjordland triumvirate. One of the great advantages of trekking in New Zealand in the shoulder season is much greater flexibility to navigate the volatile weather. In high season, many of the Great Walks must be reserved many months in advance, locking in exact dates rain or shine. Off season, you can time your walks for the best weather and vistas, then cozy up in the hut on rainy days.
We took advantage of a short reprieve in the rain on May 8 to climb to the Luxmore Hut, the first stop on the Kepler Track. New Zealand’s Department of Conservation maintains an incredible hut system. Even off season, these huts offer a common room to cook your meals, basic bunks, gorgeous picture windows, and a woodburning stove that warms the well-insulated common rooms. The popular Luxmore Hut even had flush toilets, solar lights, and firewood flown in by helicopter. Above tree line, Luxmore Hut looks out across the south fiord of Lake Te Anau to the Murchison Mountains on the far side.
From Luxmore Hut, the next stretch of trail was an exposed ridge walk, often narrow with the land falling sharply away on either side. Gale winds turned back our fellow hikers that tried to cross on May 9, so we snuggled up in our sleeping bags with our kindles and never-ending mugs of hot tea and instant soup. In the midst of the storm, we were startled by a crew of crazy kiwi trail runners sprinting into the hut mid-day, having run up the mountain as part of a 36 mile training run. But, the winds on the ridge were too much even for these masochists; like the hikers, they too returned down to Te Anau.
After two nights at Luxmore, the weather broke and we headed across the ridge to Iris Burn Hut. It was overcast, but with dramatic, mysterious views partially emerging through the clouds by early afternoon. Once back under tree cover, the woods were a lush, vibrant green. Every log, branch, rock, and patch of earth was covered in moss, ferns, and other textures that made the forest feel animate, even Tolkien-esque.
After another quiet rainy day at Iris Burn Hut, we combined the final two days of the Kepler – two long flat stretches of trail through rainforest along Lake Manpouri and the Waiau river – for a big 25 mile walk back to Te Anau. We shared the final stretch with an inspiring Belgian-Norwegian couple that had just walked the Te Araroa, a hiking trail that crosses New Zealand from its northern most tip to the far south (check out their incredible stories on their award-winning blog). Together, we arrived back to Te Anau just as the sun was setting over the lake.
Now we rest up for a day and get ready for the next stage of our journey.
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