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what is this blue stuff above my head? And why am I not wet?
Okay, I cannot complain about NZ weather any more (well, okay, I can and I will, but):
We did, indeed, have stellar weather for our Kepler Track hike, and the views from the alpine ridge were excellent. We caught the Tracknet shuttle to the start of the hike - actually, the shuttle neglected to stop at the visitor's center, where we were waiting, but we asked the driver of another Tracknet shuttle and he phoned the office and got a car dispatched to take us at the shuttle price, hooray. I have to say that 99% of the people involved in tourism in NZ are as friendly and helpful as can be imagined, and seem genuinely excited about what they do even though they do it day in, day out. The day was quite cold and even after the trail started heading uphill we were bundled up against the chill wind, partly because the trail is so very nicely graded. The Kepler Track was built in 1988 specifically to take the load off the Routeburn and Milford Tracks nearby, so it's a smooth and well-engineered trail. (Of course, within a few years it became nearly as popular and they had to institute advance bookings on it as well...)
We chose bunks and dropped our things at the Luxmore Hut, which is just above treeline, and then headed out to the Luxmore Cave - one attraction that the other Great Walks are a little short on. (Summits, waterfalls, sure - but no caves!) There is a well-marked path and a stairway in, but after that it's entirely you and your headlamp. After 50 yards or so there is a squeeze, and since there is a stream down the middle it's a potentially wet squeeze, and so most people seem to head back at that point, satisfied they have seen the cave - but Britt and I (of course) continued through several more squeezes, and explored the cave for what seemed like hours. (Then we headed back, and it took us only 15 minutes to get to the entrance; this is a good lesson in the relative amounts of time it takes to explore vs. retrace!)
The next day dawned with blue sky (!) but the clouds filled in through the valley, which made for interesting views as we hiked the alpine ridge. But by the time we got to the spur track Luxmore Peak, the clouds had started to dissipate, and as it was warm and sunny and overall quite beautiful, we decided to haul our packs up to the peak, inflate our camp chairs, and have a relaxed and long snack break - mmmm!
We were the slowest hikers in the world during the rest of the day, as we took long breaks everywhere there was a view, which was, basically, everywhere along the long ridge. Then we hiked down endless switchbacks, back into the bush, where we camped at Iris Burn campsite, which was alas filled with the requisite NZ sandflies. (To the extent that we woke up thinking it was raining - no, just the sandflies flying against the tent!)
The next day was a forest walk to the shoreline of Lake Manapouri, where we took lots of beach breaks before arriving at the Moturau hut. This is a really pretty lake; the day before our backpack started, we took a boat trip across it to the Manapouri underground power station, where water from the lake (177m elevation) goes down huge pipes to run turbines just above sea level, where it then runs 10km out to Deep Cove at the head of Doubtful Sound. The power could run all the South Island, but most of it goes to an aluminum smelter on the south coast. It was a nifty trip, and as we had time left over, the driver who had taken us down to the power station (the boat meets a bus for the trip, but the road there doesn't connect to anything) drove us up to Wilmot Pass so we could see Doubtful Sound - beautiful!
And then yesterday we hiked out along theAnduin Waiau River to Te Anau, where we showered and did laundry and ate non-backpacking food, and in another half hour we board a bus for our Milford Sound overnight. The weather is looking fabulous, still (here they are muttering about drought and watering their gardens - you're right, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jeddy83!) so we are very excited!
Okay, running out of time again.I will be uploading lots more photos when we get back [ETA: have uploaded 15 photos total to Flickr] - I just wanted to spice this boring narrative up with a little illustration, and besides, BLUE SKY! I had to share!
We did, indeed, have stellar weather for our Kepler Track hike, and the views from the alpine ridge were excellent. We caught the Tracknet shuttle to the start of the hike - actually, the shuttle neglected to stop at the visitor's center, where we were waiting, but we asked the driver of another Tracknet shuttle and he phoned the office and got a car dispatched to take us at the shuttle price, hooray. I have to say that 99% of the people involved in tourism in NZ are as friendly and helpful as can be imagined, and seem genuinely excited about what they do even though they do it day in, day out. The day was quite cold and even after the trail started heading uphill we were bundled up against the chill wind, partly because the trail is so very nicely graded. The Kepler Track was built in 1988 specifically to take the load off the Routeburn and Milford Tracks nearby, so it's a smooth and well-engineered trail. (Of course, within a few years it became nearly as popular and they had to institute advance bookings on it as well...)
We chose bunks and dropped our things at the Luxmore Hut, which is just above treeline, and then headed out to the Luxmore Cave - one attraction that the other Great Walks are a little short on. (Summits, waterfalls, sure - but no caves!) There is a well-marked path and a stairway in, but after that it's entirely you and your headlamp. After 50 yards or so there is a squeeze, and since there is a stream down the middle it's a potentially wet squeeze, and so most people seem to head back at that point, satisfied they have seen the cave - but Britt and I (of course) continued through several more squeezes, and explored the cave for what seemed like hours. (Then we headed back, and it took us only 15 minutes to get to the entrance; this is a good lesson in the relative amounts of time it takes to explore vs. retrace!)
The next day dawned with blue sky (!) but the clouds filled in through the valley, which made for interesting views as we hiked the alpine ridge. But by the time we got to the spur track Luxmore Peak, the clouds had started to dissipate, and as it was warm and sunny and overall quite beautiful, we decided to haul our packs up to the peak, inflate our camp chairs, and have a relaxed and long snack break - mmmm!
We were the slowest hikers in the world during the rest of the day, as we took long breaks everywhere there was a view, which was, basically, everywhere along the long ridge. Then we hiked down endless switchbacks, back into the bush, where we camped at Iris Burn campsite, which was alas filled with the requisite NZ sandflies. (To the extent that we woke up thinking it was raining - no, just the sandflies flying against the tent!)
The next day was a forest walk to the shoreline of Lake Manapouri, where we took lots of beach breaks before arriving at the Moturau hut. This is a really pretty lake; the day before our backpack started, we took a boat trip across it to the Manapouri underground power station, where water from the lake (177m elevation) goes down huge pipes to run turbines just above sea level, where it then runs 10km out to Deep Cove at the head of Doubtful Sound. The power could run all the South Island, but most of it goes to an aluminum smelter on the south coast. It was a nifty trip, and as we had time left over, the driver who had taken us down to the power station (the boat meets a bus for the trip, but the road there doesn't connect to anything) drove us up to Wilmot Pass so we could see Doubtful Sound - beautiful!
And then yesterday we hiked out along the
jeddy83!) so we are very excited!Okay, running out of time again.
Blue Sky! Yay!!
May your luck continue with the fair weather.
Re: Blue Sky! Yay!!
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Me: still awed!
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