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Routeburn Track
We wanted to do a multi-day hike in the Fjordland. Unfortunately, Milford Track was fully booked within two days and we were too late. Some research pointed us to the Routeburn Track which is a bit shorter but just as beautiful.
From Queenstown we drove to the Northern end of the track at the Routeburn Shelter. Since this track ends in a different place, we hired Trackhopper to take our car to the finishing point while we were walking. This was a great decision, it saved us a lot of time as we had plans to visit Milford Sound which was very close to the end of the track, but about 4.5 hours from Queenstown.
We started off with beautiful weather and the path led through a dense forest.hill.
After a while, we reached the Routeburn Flats, which is a long flat valley which looks like they had filmed part of Lord of the Rings here.
Then came the most strenuous part of the day, one-hour steep uphill brought us to the Routeburn Falls, where our first hut was located.
Since we arrived quite early, we had time to get settled, relax for a bit and then take another walk to a lookout. The climb was way steeper than imagined, but without the heavy backpacks it was manageable and at the top we had a beautiful moor landscape and terrific views of the Routeburn Flats.
The weather forecast for the next day wasn’t too good. Showers in the morning turning to rain in the afternoon, so we decided to get an early start. After a steep climb we reached Harris Saddle, the highest point of the walk. From there it was a long and easy walk along the side of the mountains with beautiful views into Hollyford Valley and all the way to the ocean at Martins Bay. So far the weather was very kind with us, cloudy but dry.
After getting a first glimpse of Lake Mackenzie and our destination for the day, we considered a lunch break, but since it started to drizzle, we continued for the last hour of steep descent.
Close to the hut we had to add a detour as Lake Mackanzie was so full, that it had flooded the path we wanted to take!
After a long lunch break and a nap, the weather was still dry and so we added another short walk to the impressive Split Rock.
The weather forecast for the last day was simple: rain. However, after the good luck on the day before we were optimistic until we got up in the morning and saw the rain.
No worries, we were prepared for this and got all our rain gear out. And again, the weather was much better than the forecast, because the rain stopped after half an hour and apart from some very fine drizzle didn’t start again for the rest of the day.
Our walk led us through a beautiful forest full of moss-overgrown trees. With the rain and fog it was even more impressive. At one point we saw a Kea, the only mountain parrot in the world, flying over us and stopping for a rest in a tree above the path (too far away for pictures).
Around lunchtime we reached Lake Howden and since the sun started shining, we stopped for lunch. We had great fun with a South Island Robin and a female Chaffinch. Which were staying very close to us, probably hoping for crumbs.
Since the weather had further improved, we added a detour to Key Summit, a hill with stunning views and beautiful moorland.
The highlight, however, was the Kea that was digging up roots and wasn’t bothered by our presence at all.
One and a half hours later we were at The Divide, the end of the track where our car waited for us.
We had a great time on the Routburn Track and can highly recommend doing it.
P.S. As Fe protested, that there are no Waterfalls featured in the text (and we encountered quite a lot due to the rain), here a picture of her most favorite one: Earland Falls with 174m height.
Labels: hiking, new zealand, pictures, traveling
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