Easter South Island Tramping Adventure Part I

So, undaunted by our previous tramping experience in Pirongia...O.K., so we were a bit daunted but we had made a lot of reservations already that were non-refundable...we pressed on to our highly anticipated South Island tramping vacation. We flew into Queenstown on Sunday April 17th which was a short 2 hour flight from Auckland and had a bit of excitement as the plane touched down between the mountains. As we deplaned we noted that it was COLD! Bitter in fact, so after waiting in line for approximately 45 minutes to pick up our Juicy camper van (not a single other rental agency of the 8 or so in the airport had even one customer, FYI) we headed into downtown Queenstown to not only buy groceries, but also some hats!

A bit scary landing in the mountains.

Autumn colours in Queenstown.

We still did not go on the famous gondola due to it being $25 per person.

We spent the night at a holiday park (i.e. campground) that had a community kitchen and lounge with a lovely fireplace and unfortunately a television. We took our gear into the common room and began to sort supplies out and pack our packs for the first tramp of our vacation, the Greenstone Caples track. Fortunately we finished most of our packing before the common room got quite crowded with families and rowdy Europeans. As we settled into the freezing cold camper for the night I had to keep reminding myself that the huts on the tramp would be heated.
In the morning we discovered that it had snowed overnight! Not much, but enough to make me sniffle a bit. We did not have much time to worry about the snow because we needed to drive about 2 hours to get to the trail head, so off we drove into the snowy sunrise. The first day actually turned out to be quite sunny, but stayed crisp. After traversing the dirt road with some small lakes across it we arrived at the parking lot which was quite full. After last minute preparations, we were off!
Snow on the camper van the first morning at the campground in the South Island.


The first bit of trail in any track is always nice and wide and flat, so we started off at a good clip. After about 25 minutes or so I had my first official face-plant when I tripped over an exposed root, but it was because I was distracted by a helicopter overhead...really... Anyways, this first part of the track followed along the Greenstone River valley over sheep and cow grazing lands in between some mountains and was generally flat although there were a few clambers over rock areas and one stream crossing where I wussed out and went over the emergency bridge about a quarter mile out of the way. This leg was quite lovely and despite it being our first attempt after the brutal Pirongia experience, we actually made it to the Greenstone Hut (12km/7.5miles) in around 4.5 hours (well within the 3-5 hour reported time frame).

The beginning of the Greenstone Caples track.


These are paradise ducks that oddly seemed to follow us throughout both tramps.

Slip Flat.

Gorge we crossed to get to Greenstone Hut.


We were quite excited to get to the hut in such good time and had a lovely, relaxed time making ourselves at home and meeting "Mo" from Germany. Mo was actually tenting it outside the hut to save a bit of money and the only food he had brought with him on the tramp was a loaf of bread and a block of cheese! We played several games of Fluxx and laughed when 3 bedraggled Swedish girls wandered out of the bush just at dusk. As it turns out they had been given some terrible advice about a little side trip at the beginning of the leg (Lake Rere) that they were told was beautiful and would only take them an hour out of their way (despite the reported time frame of 2-3 hours). Well, long story short (too late) it had taken them around 2 hours extra to get to the hut and two of them had fallen into a river at a crossing and were soaked. Fortunately, some fellow hut mates (there were about 10 people altogether) had started and tended a nice fire so the hut was quite toasty and everyone dired out. Also the brand new flush toilet facilities were a luxury (since most huts have pit toilets), so everyone had a nice night at the hut including a flock of sheep who also decided it was a good place to spend the night.Greenstone Hut.

Sheep just outside the hut.

"Mo" from Germany.

The full moon above the mountains early in the morning.

The next morning we set off just a bit after sunrise (around 8:40a.m.) and were fairly confident that we could keep up our good pace and reach McKellar Hut well within the 4.5-6.5 hour reported time frame. We also wanted to get a quick start because we knew it was supposed to rain in the afternoon. After around three and a half hours we were having a bit of a snack and rest and passed a party heading the opposite direction. We asked them how long it was to McKellar Hut and they said about an hour and a half to two hours. That was not spectacular news, but acceptable and still put us within the time frame, so I was in good spirits.
Purple shrooms!

Very long suspension bridge with a one person weight limit.


And then it started to rain, and then two hours went by, and then three hours, then three and a half hours...by this time my spirits were something closer to blinding rage as nothing irks me more than reported times that are way off the mark unless you do not have a pack and are running.

All said, we reached McKellar Hut after about 7.5 hours of tramping (18km/11.2mi), three of which were in the rain. I was exhausted, hungry, wet, cold, angry, and our woes were just beginning. As we approached the hut we noticed a group preparing to set out. Now at this point it was around 4:30p.m., getting dark, and raining, so naturally we asked them what the heck they were doing! They replied that the hut was full already and that since there was ten of them, they had decided to move on to Greenstone Hut. Having just tramped 7.5 hours from there we were gobsmacked, but wished them luck as we entered the crowded hut. We were greeted by a chorus of "There aren't any bunks left!" which I completely ignored and sat down at the table by the fire. At this point it was not an option of going back or pressing on (the next hut was 5-8 hours away over steep and rough terrain), it was more along the lines of where on the floor would I like to sleep. We recognized the three fire starters from Greenstone Hut and discovered that Wanda, Kasper, and Humphrey were also actually down from Auckland on vacation and that while Wanda had secured the last bunk, the boys had called dibs on under the table we were sitting at. We also made friends with a single tramper named Kate who had come down to this hut from the north from another track called the Routeburn Track. She had secured a cushioned bench for the night. Sadly, we noted that the Swedish girls had not yet arrived and would be crowding the hut even more, and about that time 5 more trampers showed up. Things looked a bit grim, but it turned out the the 5 new arrivals had tents, so after the 3 Swedish girls arrived, it was only the 9 of us sleeping on the floor that night. We actually had a reasonable time at McKellar Hut despite the 27 people in a 12 bunk hut. There were a couple of hunters there that shared some fresh venison with us and everyone did their best to handle the crowded conditions and the single pit toilet up a rocky, muddy slope. I actually ended up on a bench and slept quite well that night.

McKellar Hut.

The interior of McKellar Hut was a bit cozy and chaotic.

Unfortunately, the morning proved quite chaotic and we did not manage to leave McKellar Hut as early as we wanted to leave. We were still treated to a lovely sunrise over Lake McKellar, but we did not want to waste too much time because we knew this was our hardest day yet. After traversing a very boggy field where they we blasting to make a new track route, we found that the first part of the track in the woods had become a series of rather deep streams and ponds due to yesterday's rain. After getting about knee deep in cold water to cross a few of these, we came to one that would have been up to my waist and spent around 15 minutes finding a more shallow place to cross. This, however, was not the tough part of today's hike. The tough part was the straight up that followed and continued for about 2ish hours until we reach McKellar saddle above the treeline. This was pretty brutal and by the time we reached the saddle Wanda, Kasper, and Humphrey (all siblings FYI) had caught up with us.

Lake McKellar.

We all had a nice lunch just on the ridge above the treeline (summer sausage, parmesan cheese chunks, beef jerky, and dried apples for Scott and me), and met some folks heading down the way we had just come up. They informed us that it was around 4 hours to the next hut which was within our 8 hour expectation for this leg of the tramp. Wanda and her brothers were planning on carrying on to the next hut (another 1.5-2 hours further), so we bid them farewell and let them go on ahead (as I would only slow them down).

Wanda, Humphrey, and Kasper.

Rock cairn just past the treeline at the top of the steep section before the McKellar Saddle.

The McKellar Saddle was gorgeous! Our second alpine tramping experience next to Mt. Taranaki and we were in much better shape to appreciate it...also no scree here, yay! After the saddle we started what we knew would be about 3 hours of downhill to get to the next hut on the Caples River valley floor. Fortunately, it was a pretty gentle grade for the most part so we were a bit tuckered out, but not in too much pain when we finally reached Upper Caples Hut (13km/8.1mi).

The McKellar Saddle.

One of my favorite photos!

Cool alpine plant.

Upper Caples Hut turned out to be a stark contrast to McKellar Hut as there were only 4 of us there that night (Scott, me, Rebecca from Germany, and Neil from Belgium). Good news, we had the hut to ourselves, bad news, not as much body heat and we neglected the fire a bit so not only was it chilly, but a lot of our clothing did not get dry overnight. This was particularly bad for me since I had decided to take advantage of the uncrowded conditions to do a little clothes washing and important things like my socks and hat were soaking wet. Another complication arose when Scott looked for our toiletries bag containing his asthma medication. Turned out I had left it at McKellar Hut. Again, there was not an option of going back for it, so Neil and Rebecca suggested that we talk to the ranger at the next hut (no rangers at McKellar or Upper Caples) and see what he recommended. So not the best night all in all although we did have nice conversations with Neil and Rebecca and Neil claimed that the Kepler Track (our next tramping destination) was a "highway" which cheered us considerably.

Interior of Upper Caples Hut. Stark contrast from McKellar Hut.

Upper Caples Hut.

Rebecca from Germany and Neil from Belgium.

The next morning we stoked up the fire and then I placed some socks and my wool hat directly onto the top of the pot-bellied stove to try to dry them. This partially worked but I had to be careful not to melt or burn them! The original plan had been for us to hike the easy 1.5-2.5hrs to Mid Caples Hut (7km/4.3mi) and spend the night and then have another easy 2-3hr (9km/5.6mi) walk out the next day, however, Scott was now in need of his medication, so we were going to have to walk all the way out and drive back to Queenstown before 5p.m. so that he could go to the doctor's and get a new prescription.





















We practically ran to Mid Caples Hut and made it there in 1.5 hrs (woohoo!). When we reached Mid Caples Hut, we found that it was a neat little hut with an absolutely beautiful view of the river valley. I was so mad at myself that we would not be staying there that night! We spoke to the ranger and it turned out that the Greenstone Hut ranger was actually going to be at McKellar Hut that morning and could check to see if our bag was still there. Sadly, after radioing the other ranger we discovered that Scott's meds were not at McKellar Hut. The Mid Caples ranger told us to check with the DOC office once we reached Queenstown because someone may have turned it in, but to not hold our breath. We thanked him for his efforts on our behalf and took off again at a breakneck tramping pace for the carpark.

Mid Caples Hut.

We lost a little time at the sheep crossing.

We ended up running through a break in the line, but the sheep began running ahead of us, so we had to run faster to get them to go behind us again!

We made it to the carpark in close to 2.5 hrs and jumped in the camper van for Queenstown.

A bit of water over the road here.

Queenstown just ahead.

After tearing back down the dirt road, we did make it back to Queenstown just after 4p.m, and Scott headed to the medical centre while I headed to the DOC to see if they had Scott's other meds. I told the DOC lady that I had left something at McKellar Hut and she immediately perked up and said, "Oh yes, I have a note about that!" I was so excited as she pulled out a little notebook and read - medication found at McKellar Hut, taken out to DOC Te Anau. So crisis semi-averted since we were on our way to Te Anau in a few days anyway. So with a big sigh of relief I headed over to meet Scott and buy some toothpaste (which was also in the lost bag). Since we had planned to spend the night on the trail, we then had to find some lodging in Queenstown. We decided against the campground and to splurge on a double room in a hostel so we could have a semi-private shower and bathroom indoors. The hostel was called Southern Laughter and was decorated with FarSide cartoons and photographs from NZ history. We celebrated a mostly successful tramp with fish and chips and beer and discussed what we would do with our extra day in Queenstown the next day.

Our "Southern Laughter" hostel room.