Kepler Track

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A scaled-down version of the Kepler Track. The Kepler is a loop hike, but because of my knee, I'll only be doing the last part of the loop. There's a forty-five minute walk from town to the start of the trail, then I'll be hiking through the bush along the course of the Waiau River for about three hours before finally cutting across to Motorau Hut (another two hours).

It was a rainy day. Yes, it rained for pretty much the entire walk in, but as I was mostly in the bush, the trees kept the worst of the rain off and it was really quite pleasant. For the most part the trail was well groomed and not terribly rocky (almost what you might find in a city park). Oh, and the Waiau River is big and it's fast; no rapids that I saw, but there was a tremendous volume of water going down it.

At the hut I met a couple (Stu - from New Zealand and Roz - from England) who were living in Wales. They actually met several years ago while hiking one of New Zealand's great walks. We spent a good chunk of the evening talking about travelling (surprise).

Thankfully, the rain had stopped by the next morning and I had a pleasant walk to Rainbow Reach (only two hours) and a shuttle back to Te Anau. It was a good little test for my knee and I think I passed.

When I got back to the backpackers I found out that we were going to have a pot luck. It was a wonderful evening with Rosie and Alistar, Malcom's family from Perth, Hans from Munich, and three or four others.

Tomorrow I head to Doubtful Sound for a four-and-a-half hour cruise. It should be fun.

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