Routeburn Track- To the Divide

---

Last day trekking the Routeburn track. The bunkhouse was up at 7amish again. It's amazing how everyone, even outside our group, just naturally goes to bed and gets up with the sun all around the same time.

After ibuprofen, coffee and breakfast, we set out on our final day. Immediately we climbed up, which we decided was unfair because the topography map provided by the DOC made it seem like it was all virtually downhill from here on out. Boy were we disappointed. It atleast made sense, though. We had to get out of that valley somehow. We passed a lot more of the faerie glen terrain (as Clive called it), with tree roots covering boulders the size of cars again. It was so pretty and so unlike what I've seen back home on my hikes. It was very old.

Once we hit the ridgeline the environment felt like we were hiking in South America or Africa again. Laura and I had been laughing about how the terrain kept changing throughout this trek, and we were never quite sure which continent we'd find ourselves on. She and I trekked again together for the first hour or so.

Eventually we headed inwards and found Earland Falls across the valley. The toilet there had a great view of it. Hahaha. After hiking along the trail, we finally found ourselves at the falls itself. It was nice and cool. Lots of people seemed to pick this as a picnic spot but we just kept going. I think we were tired and just wanted to be done as soon as possible. We had at least a couple more hours at this point, depending on how long we stopped at Howden Hut.

Some time later we had a view of the valley we were heading towards, and what I suspected was The Divide far in the distance. Our destination was finally visible!

We pushed onwards to Howden Hut where we took a good 30min rest. It was much warmer today. I'm not sure if it just had to do with our location, the weather or both. Laura took a quick power nap by the lake. I envy this girl's ability to pass out anywhere, anytime.

After Howden Hut we ascended the trail out of our last little valley to the final ridge towards the Divide. The trail was much busier here with day hikers now. I had originally wanted to check out Key Summit if we had time. I was so tired and it was so warm that I just didn't care anymore. No one else did either. I convinced myself that nothing could beat the views from Conical Hill the day before, and we just kept going forwards to the Divide, passing the junction. Our group had managed to spread out again. Tony and Chris powering some ways in front; Billy, me and Laura spread out ten minutes or so behind them; and then Linna and Nathan a good hour behind us.

But finally, FINALLY, we made that last set of switchbacks to the end. We found ourselves in a giant dirt parking lot with tourists and cars. Lots of people milling around. Porter potty toilets. I couldn't believe it... the trek I had been waiting and practicing a year for was already over. Absolutely worth it. Especially that second gorgeous day going over the Saddle.

While waiting for Linna and Nathan, we checked out the rental van to make sure it had actually arrived as expected. It did. Thank god, that was one big worry I had. I haven't really heard about people using a car transfer service back in the United States, so this was a whole new concept to me... letting a stranger pick up and move your rental car for you. As promised, the car was in the lot when we arrived with our lockbox stuck underneath it via magnet. Billy found it, pulled out our keys and we all set about wiping off the smelliest parts of ourselves and changing into clean clothes. It felt glorious. After about an hour, we were all together again.

We loaded up in the van and set out for Milford Sound. We were staying at Milford Sound Lodge that night and kayaking the next day. The road there was stunning. We drove by large glacier-carved cliffs topped with snow, waterfalls EVERYWHERE. The only other place I'd been like this was Yosemite. I loved it.

Right before the Homer Tunnel, we spied a coffee van, called The Coffee Cat. Literally a van that sells basic brewed coffee (hot unfortunately since it was an unusually warm day). On one side of the tunnel was a cliff with literally a dozen or so waterfalls cascading off it. On the other side was a neat rock feature (I'm unsure if it was carved by glacier or humans) that reminded me of a "wall", with a waterfall running down it. It was just such an odd looking geological feature. While wandering around taking pictures, we came across a dozen more kea fighting over food. These guys are everywhere in this region.

After the tunnel we found EVEN MORE waterfalls. I made Chris pull over so I could take more pictures. =) After that, I calmed down as we got closer to the Sound. You'd think I'd be over waterfalls by now but I wasn't.

Milford Sound Lodge was surrounded by loud cicadas. I'd never heard this noise before. You couldn't actually see them but damn they made themselves known. Unfortunately the Lodge didn't have air conditioning, something I was really longing for by the end of the day. You can't blame them, though- it normally rains/snows most of the year there. Chris and I started a load of laundry, enjoyed celebratory beers and snacks at their Pio Pio Cafe, and then wandered down to the river behind the lodge. We had to scramble down some boulders first (a bit of a challenge in my dress, flip flops and carrying a tote bag) and then dipped our feet in the water. We were once again being eaten alive by sandflies since we hadn't gotten used to applying our repellent yet. I was going to regret that later. The river was ice cold and the scenery just beautiful.

We finished our laundry and folded it all back in our room. We saw some of the others drinking outside, so we headed out there, too, to help them with their beer. =D We had an hour or so to kill before our dinner reservation (yeah, i know, a reservation at a tiny place like this) and decided to just walk down the highway towards the Sound to see what there was to see. We found a landing strip for planes, a handful of small buildings, like zero people and a swarm of relentless sandflies. Eventually we all retreated back to the Lodge to wait for dinner.

I have to hand it to the lodge's cafe, their food was delicious. I also had my first New Zealand wine, crisp and fruity. For dinner, I ordered fish soup. God, it was amazing. Unfortunately, the service wasn't as good as the food. I'm not sure what happened but the waitress disappeared and no one showed up for our dessert order. We didn't know we had to order by a certain time and the kitchen closed without warning. So we were a little disappointed. The food was amazing, though.

After that, we all crashed in our beds for some hard sleep. We had to be up early in the morning again for the sunrise kayaking tour.

---

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

The joy of waterfalls
Nice one