Kepler Track

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We arrived in Te Anau in the Fiordland on the 17th and next day set off on the Kepler Track - our 2nd "Great Walk". NZ is very good at marketing its scenery, but so far it has all lived up to the hype. The Kepler Track is no exception.

Day 1 was a steady climb from Lake Te Anau up through pristine beech forest. The beech trees here are evergreen and flower only every 5 - 7 years. This year they flowered which causes an explosion in the mice, rat & stoat population so we were glad to be staying in an alpine hut rather than camping in the forest.

Once Stevie and I reached the treeline, spectacular views of Mount Luxmore and all the surrounding mountain ranges emerged and there they stayed for three days. The whole of the second day was spend wandering along these ridges until we dropped steeply down to the Iris Burn Hut for a swim by a nearby waterfall. The third day was a pleasant and easy walk along the Iris Burn (river) to meet our shuttle at Rainbow Reach.

On our arrival at the Luxmore Hut (our first), we saw a couple getting married there. They had only told their friends on the walk up to the hut that it was to be their wedding day and and the civil celebrant flew in by helicopter. It was a superb location and we were all grateful for the generous and unexpected availability of champagne, steak and wedding cake. As there were only eight people in their party and there was no hype, the peaceful ambiance of the place was preserved and the walk was very special for all.

From the Luxmore Hut, we climbed Mount Luxmore for even more spectactular views, but also explored a nearby limestone cave system. The cave passages are enormous (much larger than the similarly formed Giants cave in Derbyshire) and were great fun exploring. In the caves, Stevie & I met four young Danish girls who provided much amusement to all for the next few days by giggling their way through starvation over the next three days: it was their first ever such walk and they had assumed that a packet of dried mashed potato saying "serves four" would make a sufficient dinner. Fortunately, other more gluttonous walkers spotted the opportunity to avoid carrying all their excess food.

Amongst other really interesting people, we met a guy called Tim who is a mountaineer for the British Antarctic Survey which is giving me ideas for my next trip! Also a cool English girl, Ros who is an environmental consultant in Richmond (London) and like the improbably large number of environmental consultants I've met out here, seems to be getting her traveling in before recommending that we're all issued with an individual carbon-cap.

The Kepler track was indeed a "great" few days.

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Photos

Stevie & Me on the Kepler Track
Stevie & Daniel near the Luxmore Hut on the Kepler Track