The Great Walks

Queenstown is the high adrenaline sport capital of New Zealand – from bungee jumping, sky-diving, hang-gliding, or jet-packing. We did none of these things; we walked around, ate ice cream and watched other people pay lots of money to risk their lives. We also shopped for more warm clothing as a cold rainy weather system was predicted to come ashore while we planned to start our first Great Walk. (Great deal on wool sweaters at the Salvation Army).

There are ten officially designated Great Walks in New Zealand. These are the most popular hikes in the country and are well laid out and meticulously maintained trails with mountain huts spaced a day’s walk apart along the way. You must book huts and campsites months in advance to do an over-night trip.

Our first outing was to the Routeburn Track which is located just across the valley from the famous Milford Track. There is a whole system of buses to connect hikers to the various trailheads, so it is possible to easily coordinate a one-way hike. This worked great for the Routeburn because the two ends of the trail are located six hours apart by bus. For this hike we opted to carry our tent and not stay in the huts. The huts are convenient and you have less to carry, but you are forced to sleep in bunk rooms, sometimes with as many as 30 other dirty, smelly, and potentially snoring hikers.

We spent two nights on the track and the scenery, of course, was breath-taking. The first night we slept near a glacial lake perched high above the valley. The next day the weather started to deteriorate – misty and foggy with some light rain. This was unfortunate because most of the hike was above tree-line and normally would have offered outstanding views of the high Southern Alps. Despite the weather, it was a wonderful hike – totally surreal hiking in and out of the clouds. It’s cliché, but it really did seem like Middle Earth.

We had a few extra days between the Routeburn Track and our next hike, so we decided to squeeze in a boat trip through the Milford Sound. This is probably the most iconic feature in all of New Zealand, which of course makes it the most visited. Literally hundreds of tour buses make the excursion every day. We hesitated going, but considering we were so close, we had to see it. We chose the earliest and cheapest boat we could find, and actually that worked out great. Milford Sound is the third rainiest place on the planet… so we were not surprised to have it raining on the morning of our cruise. The view of the soaring cliffs and mountains was a bit cut off due to the low clouds, but with all the rain there were waterfalls everywhere. After seeing the sound, it is easy to understand why it is so popular and we were glad we made the effort to get there.

After that we went on our second Great Walk – this time to the Kepler Track. This is a relatively new route that was developed to disperse some of the hiking pressure off of the Milford and Routeburn tracks. Some hikers say the scenery is also more spectacular than either of the other tracks. It is very well laid out, actually in a loop that can be started and ended from the town of Te Anau. Again, it was a two night trip, but this time we reserved space in the huts, just to get the full New Zealand tramping experience.

The trail climbs to its first hut located just above tree line. From there you can look back to Te Anau and the huge lake it is situated next to. From the hut, it is a 90 minute hike to the top of Mt. Luxmore. The weather on our first day was perfect – sunny, warm, and calm, so we took advantage of it and climbed to the peak. The views were unbelievable. The next day the weather again started to cloud up, so we were glad we did the extra climb the day before. This second day will rank up there with the most outstanding hikes we have ever done. The trail follows a steep twisting ridge line for nearly the whole day, offering views in all directions the whole time. You end the hike by dropping back to another valley and following a river back to the lakes. The last day turned to showers, but it was appropriate for walking through this amazing temperate rainforest.

We wrapped up our South Island portion of the trip by driving the southern coastal route and then up the east coast back to Christchurch. Unfortunately, the weather stayed rainy and cold, greatly limiting the sight-seeing and putting a damper on our excitement for camping. We spent an evening waiting in a blind for the very rare Yellow-eyed Penguins to return to the beach after their day feeding at sea… they never showed up, but we did have wine and crackers while waiting, so it was okay. We also went to the only breeding colony located on a mainland for the Royal Albatross, which we did see.

Miraculously, Oma Tui survived the trip, although she did present us with a flat tire the day before we returned her….Yes, we had grown fond of her, but we can’t say we were sad to have her safely returned to her nest.

Next, we are off to the North Island, so stay tuned.