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Published: March 20th 2009
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16th March 2009 - A 20 MILE WALK..........WILL MY LEGS EVER FORGIVE ME?!!!
I woke at around 3am and that was me for the day. The girl in the bed below me kept shaking the bed as she moved around a lot in her sleep. I could normally sleep anywhere and won’t wake up but not on this trip it seems….I was wide awake from that point on and had no luck when trying to get back to sleep. I kept checking the time and made myself wait until 6.30am before allowing myself to get out of bed! Still too early to be up! I had to brave the cold shower this morning as my hair was beginning to rival Elvis’s slicked back look! It took 10 minutes to get warm and by the time it did I looked like a chicken with all the goose pimples and was in danger of poking someone’s eye out! Not the best start to the day.
Once dressed and warmed through I headed down to have breakfast and make my packed lunch for the day….excited as we had bought some lettuce to go in our sandwiches. Luxury eh? Can’t wait to get home
and be able to have more that one salad ingredient in my sandwich…little things that you miss! Once we had both got everything sorted we headed onto the shuttle bus which took us to The Control Gates which was the place we would start our walk from.
We were going to attempt to walk the first part of the Kepler Track. Loads of 3 and 4 day walks in New Zealand for people to do and some, such as the Kepler, are highly recommended and as famous as a walk can get I suppose. We didn’t have time to do the whole thing so we decided to take on the first day which would take us past Dock Bay, on to Brod Bay up to the Limestone Bluffs and on to Luxmore Hut where most people would stay for the night before walking on the next day. We couldn’t stay there though and had to walk all the way back down covering around 20 miles in total….it was going to be a long day!!
We were the only 2 on the bus and it looked like we would have to walk on our own. We had hoped for
a group like at the Tongorario Crossing but no such luck. Nat would have to put up with my chat all day…poor girl!! It was pretty foggy and cloudy when we set off but the forecast was good and we soon warmed up and de-layered once we got walking. The first part of the walk took us by the edge of the lake and was pretty flat…just the way I like it and a shame that part only lasted for an hour.
Once we got to Brod bay we had a little walk out onto the sand but couldn’t see much because of the fog so continued on our way. The path began to go up through the trees. It went up and up and up some more! If this part of the walk had a soundtrack it should definitely should have been “The only way is up, baby….for you and me now!!” Typical of New Zealand the path did not level off at all and it was tough on the legs at times. There were no real openings and all we could see was tree. We passed a few people along the way who were doing the whole
trek. I didn’t envy them carrying big backpacks up at all! We kept climbing stopping only once for a water and fruit break before eventually, after about 2 hours, we caught a glimpse of life beyond the trees. We had been walking uphill for so long we had gone above cloud level. So cool….no wonder the legs were starting to feel the burn!
We continued up after that into more trees and past the limestone bluffs. After around 3 hours of going uphill we eventually came out the top and into the opening and saw the best sign ever…only 45 minutes to Luxmore Hut!! Wooo…..nearly there! The views at the top were stunning and well worth the hike up through the trees. You could see right out over lake Te-Anau and South Fiord. Mount Luxmore was impressive too as were the Kackson Peaks in the distance. Every which way we turned the view was awesome and the 45 minute walk to Luxmore Hut was a pleasure. The sun was shining and the views were amazing…New Zealand wins again!!
We reached the hut just before 12.30pm….just in time for lunch. We sat and had lunch whilst watching others arrive
and settle into their bunks. Wish we had booked to stay there…we had to walk all the way back! After lunch at around 1.15pm we set off on the walk back down. We strolled over the tops for 45 minutes stopping to take in the views and take photos before heading back into the trees for the descent. Tough on the knees. I tried to stay springy and lean back - looked like a cross between Mr Soft and Liam Gallagher. Funny!! The walk down seemed to take forever. Once we reached Brod Bay we stopped there for 10 minutes for a play in the sand and photos. We ended up getting eaten alive by the sand flies….the repellant seemed to attract rather than deter them. I felt like I was in some kind of warped lynx advert!!
Once we could bear the san flies no more we continued on our way back to the control gates where we started. No bus to take us back though and we had to walk for another hour around the lake to the hostel. We saw some mushrooms along the way and for a second I thought I was in a fairytale.
It was a proper fairytale mushroom...I really didn't think they existed in real life!! Wow!! It was a nice walk but my feet we glad to get back to the hostel!! My legs and bottom were aching a wee bit but after 20 miles wouldn’t yours be?!
Neither of us were hungry surprisingly so we had tea and toast for dinner. Felt like a treat…how weird is that! We then spent an hour on the net before heading to our room for some relaxation in the form of reading. My legs had started to ache big time now as had Nats. I think we both came to fully understand the term “it’s a deep burn”!!
We had another early start the following day and so after packing up we got a relatively early night. I hoped I would sleep better and that Doubtful Sound would be as good as the last 2 days!!
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