NZ Two-Hike Day (Thur, Feb 11)
The day started with breakfast and some early morning pictures from the parking lot of our accommodations on the shore of Lake Manapouri. It really does seem to be more true than not that all you have to do is point your camera and you’ll get a great picture of something beautiful, and the first couple of pictures today are proof of that.
When we got on the bus, it was–surprise!–decorated for Scott’s birthday, which was today. Party hats, balloons, streamers, and Happy Birthday music blaring from the speakers. It was a nice “extra” provided by our Active Adventures guides, Katie and Kirsten. It got the day off to a nice start!
First hike was a portion of the Kepler Track. What a beautiful walk! It’s not really a hike, but rather a walk through the woods on a wonderful trail, superbly maintained. Nothing really strenuous with ups and downs, so it was a good way to start the day. It started with a great suspension bridge that swayed a bit as we walked over it. Hard right after the bridge and we’re in the woods. You can see from the pictures what the trail looked like. At the half-way point we almost came out to the river we’d been walking beside. Fabulous colors.
It was a pretty long walk, though. The sign that starts with “Rainbow Reach” was where we came out. It’s pointing back to where we started and says the walk is 3 hrs 30 minutes. We finished in a bit under 3 hours. Well, I did. Everyone else got there before me, as usual!
We then took to the bus again and headed for our next hike. On the way, we pulled into an inspection spot where they check for licensing, car worthiness, and all kinds of things, apparently. They discovered that there was an issue with a bearing on our trailer, so we made a slight detour in our schedule to head back to the town of Te Anau. Here we had lunch and a bit of walking around while our guides dropped the trailer off to be fixed. It would be ready for us to pick up the next day as we came back through town. No worries.
Then we went past the inspection point again and to our next destination. This was the Routeburn Track hike. This one I really would call a hike. While it didn’t have the steps we had on the first day, it was about an hour and a half of all uphill climbing. I didn’t get a picture of the trail on this one. While it was very well maintained, it was a rocky surface. In some places it was actually just rocks, which means you really have to watch your balance and be sure you don’t slip! Climbing poles certainly help.
It was a steady uphill, but I found this climb easier than the “step” one, and while most everyone made it up before me, this time I wasn’t dead last. 🙂
As we neared the top, the wind picked up and it started to drizzle. I was really warm going up because of the effort to climb, but I was glad to have my rain jacket to put on as soon as I got to the top of Key Summit, which was 919 meters, or 3,015 feet. Since we started not too far above sea level, the elevation gain on this hike was pretty significant.
I cooled off pretty quickly, and I was ready to head down after snapping a few shots. The trip down was very nice, though drizzly in spots. And then it was back onto Bruce the bus–a welcome site!
So two long walks today for a total of about 6 hours of hiking. I know we’re building up to our 3-day camping hike at the end of next week in Nelson Lakes National Park, and I’m glad to have this opportunity to get some soreness out of the way.
And then it was off to Milford Sound. The most interesting parts of this portion of the bus trip were the waterfalls we passed periodically that just appeared in several places. Here’s where the advantage of the rainy weather came in, as these waterfalls only happen when it’s raining. If we’d had sun, we wouldn’t have seen them. Cool!
And the other thing was going through Homer Tunnel. The story behind this is that it was carved out through the mountain as a Depression-era (1930s) employment project, but it actually took 25 years to complete. It’s 1.2 kilometer length (3/4 of a mile) was all done by hand and finished in the early 1950s. Wow. It’s a one-way tunnel but the only highway to use to get into the area.
Our accommodations this evening were at the Milford Lodge at Milford Sound. It has a shared bathroom setup. While we all shared a bathroom at Braemer Station, that was shared just between our whole group. At Milford Lodge, there were separate male-female bathrooms, but we shared with all the other guests at the lodge. It worked out really well, actually, and there was no shortage of hot water, which was much appreciated after this long and active day!
Once we got cleaned up, we had a great dinner that turned into relatively rowdy birthday well wishing (singing and such) for Scott. So thanks, Scott, for giving this group a reason to celebrate, though it seems to be hardly needed!
Off to bed! Looking forward to kayaking tomorrow!
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