Days 143-147: Side trip to the Routeburn & Milford

Our long-planned side trip with Karen to the Routeburn Track & Milford Sound came off without a hitch! It was great to see a friend from Boston, and despite somewhat uncooperative weather, we had an awesome time.


On day 143, we had an early wake up to catch a shuttle from Queenstown to the start of the Routeburn Track. The Routeburn is one of 9 "Great Walks" in NZ. The Great Walks are designed to be backcountry trips that are accessible to everyone, even if they don't have much outdoor experience. As a result, the tracks are generally very easy, the sights are spectacular, and the amenities along the way are to a pretty high standard. On the downside, they are a bit expensive, and are always crowded. But it was perfect for a trip with Karen, who didn't want to cart a ton of outdoor gear on the plane.

After the shuttle dropped us off, we had a nice easy walk to Routeburn Flats hut for a lunch stop at a very scenic picnic table. From there we climbed a bit to reach Routeburn Falls hut, our destination for the day. We arrived pretty early, and had our pick of bunks - not that it mattered much though, they were all identical, and a bit cramped. The views from the porch of the hut were spectacular though, and we had a nice relaxing afternoon & evening hanging out in the kitchen/common area.

Where was this sign for the rest of our trip?

The riverbed was carved into an interesting shape here

Waterfalls, combining forces

Friends!

Approaching Routeburn Flats

Climbing above the flats

Routeburn Falls hut - the bunks weren't exactly spacious, but the hut overall was crazy nice

The next morning, we were awoken nice and early, at 5:15 am, by another group in our bunkroom. They clearly weren't familiar with hut etiquette, and did not use their inside voices, despite being in a small room with 20 other sleeping people. From our sleeping bags, we followed, with great interest, their search for their "billy" (pot) and salami and cheese. Eventually we decided that going back to sleep was a lost cause, and got up. I'm sure that no hut stay on a Great Walk is complete without this kind of experience, considering they pack 50 people with widely varying outdoor experience levels into a smallish common space.

Nice sunrise to make up for the 5:15 wakeup

We got on our way, hoping that the weather would hold off for our trip over Harris Saddle, which is supposedly the most spectacular part of the walk. Unfortunately, the partly cloudy skies gave way to a grey wall of rainy clouds as we climbed. It could have been much worse though - the weather was the remnants of tropical cyclone Lusi, and we were far enough south to dodge the brunt of it. On our way up to the saddle, we did get some great early morning views of Routeburn Falls, and back over the flats.

We saw the sun briefly

A solitary sunbeam, our last glimpse of sunshine for the day

We arrived, early again, at Lake Mackenzie hut. The rain wasn't too heavy, but it was enough to get us wet, and we were happy to find a nice fire already going in the wood stove. We warmed up, chatted with other people as they arrived, and had another relaxing afternoon and evening hanging out in the hut.

The next morning, everyone was amazingly quiet, and we slept in until 7! The weather forecast didn't look so great, but it wasn't raining when we left, and we held out hope for a nice day. We started with a quick side trip to Split Rock. The hut warden claimed that "if this rock was near a road, I'm convinced it would be a major tourist attraction." The rock was pretty neat - it was huge, and the split down the middle was large enough to allow you to squeeze all the way through the two halves - but the highlight of the side trip for me was the lakeside walk with the morning mist and sun.

Lake Mackenzie, reflecting

Split Rock

More reflections

More friends!

We got back on the main trail and headed out for The Divide, where the trail ends. On the way, the clouds cleared up enough that we decided the side trip to Key Summit was worth it. We finally got to see the Hollyford River valley that we had been walking next to for a day and a half! It was incredibly lush. This makes sense - we were officially in Fjordland, and the area gets 4m of rain per year. Not quite as much as the 9m that Milford Sound gets, but still quite a bit.

Hollyford River valley - glad the weather cleared up!

More from Key Summit - the pesky clouds kept hanging around these peaks, so we never got a great look at them

Our shuttle picked us up at The Divide, then we had a spectacular ride down the Milford "highway," (not wide enough for 2 cars in some places) through the Milford Tunnel, and on to Milford Sound. We checked into our room at the lodge, apologized to the random 4th person in our room about the awful smells emanating from our wet shoes, and headed over for some dinner.

The following day was another pre-sunrise wakeup, for our "Morning Glory" kayak trip on the Milford Sound. It didn't feel glorious when the alarm went off at 5:45. It was pitch black, kind of cold, and raining - boy was it hard to get out from under the covers. Luckily we managed to drag ourselves up. The kayaking was hard work, but it was a great trip. We paddled the length of the sound, saw tons of waterfalls (the benefit of a rainy day), and even got a few glimpses of all the dramatic mountains surrounding the sound when the clouds briefly parted. Our guide, Adam, from Rosco's Milford Kayak, was awesome, and really made the trip for us.

Milford Sound, in a rare moment of sunshine

That afternoon, we took a bus back to Te Anau, and are hanging out here for a day. Karen heads back to Queenstown tonight for her flight home tomorrow. We'll be sorry to see her go, after trying unsuccessfully to convince her to just stay and finish the trail with us. From here, we'll get back on the trail for our last 9-10 days to Bluff. No more excuses, we have to finish this trail soon whether we want to or not!