South Island Tramping Finale

The Kepler Track is one of New Zealand's Great Walks. These are tramping tracks that are extremely popular and see thousands of trampers each year. The tracks are therefore well maintained and the 40-60 bunk huts have unusual amenities such as flush toilets, warm water taps, lights, and gas burners. They also have rangers who live at (but not in) the huts to maintain the huts and the track and to make sure that everyone pays the $51/night fee. Bookings must be made in advance as these huts generally fill during the peak tramping season. Scott and I were tramping deliberately at the tail end of the season to avoid paying the fee at the last hut (and to use our hut passes instead), so there were only about 20-30 people at each hut.


Now the Kepler has several different start points. Starting at a place called Rainbow Reach will shave about an hour and a half off the track. Starting at the Control Gates will also shave off about an hour and a half (45 minutes both ways) off the track. Starting at the Te Anau DOC like Scott and I did...that will add about an hour and a half to the track. Oooops. Oh well, I like to think that all those other people were cheaters. Anyways, we parked the Juicy van and started off along Lake Te Anau on a bright and crisp Tuesday morning. This leg of the journey was reported to take 5-6 hours (14km/8.7mi) not including the initial 45 minutes from Te Anau, so Scott and I were prepared for a fairly long day. In addition, the first leg of the Kepler includes several hours of switchbacks taking you from the forest along the lake to Luxmore Hut which is above the treeline. These switchbacks had been described to us with varying degrees of vulgarity and for the most part our sources were not lying.

Starting out along Lake Te Anau.

The Control Gates are part of a hydroelectric system.

You are now entering the Kiwi Zone...doo doo doo dooooo, doo doo doo dooooo...

Before the uphill section there is a lovely stopping point called Brod Bay with a picnic shelter and a bathroom. The sandflies are especially fond of it.

The sign at Brod Bay claimed that trampers who were physically fit would be able to make better time than the 4 hour estimate during good weather. I really hoped that Scott and I were fit! Turns out that we were and actually reached the treeline in about 2.5 hours after slogging ever upwards through the forest. At least the trail was nice and wide and rarely muddy.

We were ecstatic to be above the trees and the alpine views were incredible right from the get go. Again, the triangular peak just above the rest is Mt. Luxmore proper.

I am actually in the middle of telling Scott off here.

Civilization was so close here, yet so far away! (Te Anau and Manapouri)

I took a picture of a little patch of snow, but that was before I knew that there was lots more of that to come.

Luxmore Hut.

They were in the middle of some construction, but I'm not sure if they are adding more bunks or expanding the common/dining room.

The common room of Luxmore Hut was quite toasty despite the wee pot-bellied stove. It did get a lot of sunlight, so I think that helped a great deal. Now I did not get any pictures, but the bathroom with flush toilets (did I mention the flush toilets?) and the two bunk rooms were upstairs. Now, since the hallway leading to these rooms is connected to the outdoors via a big hole in one of the doors to a balcony, it is basically outside and therefore very cold! The bunk rooms do not have any source of heat and certainly do not receive any heat from the common room below, so after first grabbing some bunks in the large bunk room (50ish bunks) we decided to switch to the small bunk room (10ish bunks) because there were not that many people there and we thought that the small bunk room would concentrate the body heat better (it was around 15 degrees Celsius/60 degrees Fahrenheit during the day but much chillier once the sun went down). Once we had grabbed bunks, we decided to take the optional 10 minute walk (without our packs) to the Luxmore cave.

Cave entrance.

The cave was really neat and had some very cool limestone formations, but Scott and I did not go in too far because it started to get a bit wet and claustrophobic.

Kinda missed sunset.

But I made sure to get sunrise.

Spot the moon at the top.

The hut ended up being relatively crowded that night with several different groups including one group of high school kids with one chaperon and a group of fathers and sons. We also met a really nice Kiwi guy named Shaun who played Fluxx with us. Turns out he had done some crazy stuff, like mountain biked totally OFF ROAD across the width of the South Island for charity! The ranger gave a little talk just after it got dark and had a really dry sense of humor that was great. He told us to clean up after ourselves and to not do silly things like try to flush men's underwear down the toilets (apparently this is a very common occurrence, ewww!) or relieve ourselves in the drainage ditches next to the trail (which he is charged with digging out). The evening was lovely, but the night was BITTER! We did not have too many people in our bunk room to begin with (I think 5), so not much in the way of body heat, and then some of those dragged their mattresses downstairs in front of the fire in the middle of the night and left the door open to the hallway (i.e. to the outside)!!! Grumble!!! I managed to survive because I have an awesome sleeping bag that is made for below zero temperatures. I have waxed poetic about it on numerous occasions, but let me just tell you that I would have frozen without it. It is of the "mummy" variety, so I just squitched down inside and had a tiny breathing hole to let the fresh air in while most of the warm exhaled breath stayed inside the bag. Scott was not so lucky. He had a miserable night because his sleeping bag is not a winter bag and is too short, so would not fit over his head. :(

We were eager to get on our way the next morning since we had another 5-6 hours (14.6km/9.1mi) to get to the next hut, not including a 10 minute side trip to the peak of Mt. Luxmore.

Another fantastic day! We were incredibly lucky with the weather.
Goodbye Luxmore Hut!

These are photos of crazy ice crystal formations that were everywhere we looked. They were like mushrooms of ice?

There was some really neat alpine plant life.

"On top of Mt. Luuuuuuxmoooooore, partially covered with snooooooow! I almost lost my poor baaaalaance, when the alpine wind did blooooooow!"

Please note that some of the Kiwi youths are wearing SHORTS!!! Trust me it was near freezing and blustery at the summit.

The last two photos are of Scott where most of the previous photos are the group of fathers and sons who passed us at this point.

They were a super nice bunch and offered to take our picture.

Going up to the peak was somewhat amusing because the actual trail is not too clear and we actually went up on the wrong side which was really snowy and difficult to get up. I was really nervous about going back down that way, but fortunately we followed others down the correct way.

Scott getting ready to put his pack back on after the peak detour.

It was just a little while after the summit side trip that the trail got a little less fun for me. Up until this point it had been fairly wide and dry, but it now became rather narrow and turned into mud ice. I have poor balance on the driest and flattest of ground, so I definitely slowed us up. The wind was also a force to be reckoned with although this was a notably calm day comparatively. The threat of the wind blowing young children right off the trail is so serious that parents are severely cautioned against taking them on the track between Mt. Luxmore Hut and Iris Burn Hut.

There are 2 emergency shelters with bathrooms along this stretch of the trail. They are well used in bad weather.

This was the only source of fresh water along this part of the track. I do not know if you can see the icicles in the grass.

There were stretches similar to this one where I had to fight to stay upright in the wind.

I quick break to readjust our packs, boots, and poles.

We stopped for a small lunch of Swiss cheese, beef jerky, and dried apple rings at the second shelter. As it turned out one of the sons (of the previously mentioned group) had stepped into the drainage ditch next to the trail and twisted his ankle. He refused to go back, so they wrapped it up and the others took turns carrying his pack. One of the oldest (18yrs) boys had just carried both his pack and the other boy's pack up a really steep hill and made it up before all the rest with just one pack! We were amazed. We said, "Did you just carry all that weight and beat all of them up the hill?!" He said, "Yeah. But it wasn't fun."

Was not sure I wanted to use that toilet. Looked a bit precarious.

I am not going to lie. The last bit of the alpine section of the Kepler was not fun at all. There was a ton of icy mud and some icy stairs to go down...a lot of icy stairs. It was a bit nerve racking and as excited as we were to enter the alpine area the previous day, we were more excited to leave it.

Iris Burn Hut.

The waterfall 20 minutes from Iris Burn Hut.

I forced Scott to come with me even though his feet were really sore from the downhill switchbacks that made up the hour before with reached Iris Burn Hut. I am a jerk sometimes.

A guy at the hut was trying to help us figure out my camera settings so that we could take a picture of all the stars!

We met up with our friend Shaun again at Iris Burn and played more Fluxx. He and Scott also went on a late night Kiwi hunt, but I stayed in the hut because I could not seem to get warm at Iris Burn Hut. It is in a valley, so does not get nearly as much sun as Luxmore and also has three doors into the common room from the outside instead of one which I am sure also causes a lot of heat loss. I did poke my head outside a few times to look up at the stars which were amazing. We were in the half full larger bunk room upstairs this time with lots of bodies but unfortunately it also had slanted windows that dripped condensation down on us, so still not the greatest night's sleep ever.

In my opinion, the highlight of this hut was the warden. His talk was over an hour long, but I think he just wanted to make it really special since it was the last night of the tramping season and he would be leaving the next day. He had no problem yelling at some of the trampers who had left the gas stoves a mess, and was quite threatening when he told people not to hide garbage in the hut or throw it in the woods. He also told stories of rescuing people in the alpine section during bad weather, and of unprepared and interesting trampers that he had encountered. One of my favorite stories was of a guy who did not have a tent and wanted to "camp out" under a picnic shelter about an hour towards the next hut. The ranger said that he did not recommend it, but would allow it. The ranger said that he went to check on the camper early the next morning to find him huddled in his sleeping bag on a picnic table next to a small pile of rocks. On a nearby table were three Keas who were eying the man hungrily. Every few minutes the man (who had his back to the birds) would grab a rock and chuck it over his shoulder at the birds who would deftly dodge out of the way. The man obviously had not gotten much sleep that night!
After the warden's talk the hilarity continued as one of the trampers approached him and asked where the sheets and blankets were. The warden looked at the guy a moment (to assess whether he was serious or not I am guessing) and then said, "Sorry we don't have any sheets or blankets just bunks with matresses. Didn't you bring a sleeping bag?" When the man answered in the negative, the warden replied, "Well, I guess you'll be sleeping in your clothes then!"

Sunrise at Iris Burn.

The next day on the way to Moturau Hut (5-6hr, 16.2km/10mi), we went through a valley called The Big Slip which was formed during heavy rains in 1984. Today, it was a winter wonderland.

This is the notorious shelter from the ranger's story.

And this is Lake what?...Ha! Got you! This is actually Lake Manapouri, not Lake Te Anau.

Moturau Hut is on Lake Manapouri. We practically ran here from Iris Burn Hut because my pack was making my shoulder hurt very badly and I could not figure out how to fix it.

Bird.

We chatted with the rangers a bit as they were locking up all but one toilet and getting ready to leave. We asked about firewood and they said that there was plenty of driftwood down by the lake. Then the helicopter came to take them away for the winter.

Quite funny. It landed right next to the hut pretty much without warning.

They also airlifted out garbage and the gas cookers.

There also were some logs and an axe in back of the hut. Here is my manly mountain man in mid-swing. We would have been happy to start and be in charge of the fire, but one of the younger guys from another group got it into his head that he wanted to start the fire. Even with tinder and kindling he was having a hard time starting it by holding a lighter up to some big sticks! I suggested he try lighting some used matchsticks and other bits of tinder first, but the group adult chaperon then suggested that plastic burned well, so he should try burning some rubbish. It was about this time the kid had his head directly in the stove and was inhaling the toxic fumes, so Scott and I had to leave the hut for a while. As we were vacating, I did mention that the fumes were toxic, but did not get a response from the pair. Anyways, they got the fire going eventually, but fortunately got bored when there was no more garbage to burn at which point Scott and I happily took over burning driftwood. Sheesh!

The water was not actually that cold and felt good on my sore feet.
Scott thought it was funny that I was wading with a hat, gloves and jacket on.

Very clear water.

Sunset.

So at this particular hut, as I mentioned before, there were no rangers in attendance and there was a large group of high school age kids and an all female school group present. Some of the kids not involved in the school group had actually hiked to the nearest exit point (Rainbow Reach) and driven to the nearest store for some...provisions...and had then hiked back in to the hut. Needless to say, there was quite the party on the beach that night and several amusing scenes. Fortunately, Scott and I had a bunk room on the main floor all to ourselves while the kids chose the one upstairs.

This is a photo of the stars! My camera is actually cool enough to do this. :)

The kids actually started a huge bonfire on the beach and burned most of the spare driftwood. Scott took this photo of the stars over the lake and the bonfire on the beach. Pretty neat, huh?

My camera can also do black and white photos.
So debonair!

Black and white makes everything so much more dramatic.

Despite the festivities, Scott and I were actually pretty beat from a poor night sleep the night before, running to the hut and hauling up a bunch of driftwood, so we called it an early night. I slept pretty well except for the two times I was woken up by something gnawing on the cabin. Probably a possum, maybe a rat. I did not get up out of my nice cozy sleeping bag to investigate.

Sunrise.

Bonfire debris. To their credit, they did pack out their trash...as far as we know.

On the way out we passed a lovely bog. Bogs (and other wetlands) have special environmental significance as you are probably already aware.

We called these ducks "Migo ducks" because they made a funny buzzing noise instead of quacking.

We stopped for an early lunch in this clearing so we could enjoy a bit of sun as most of this part of the journey was in the forest shade.

We made it out to the Control Gates quite quickly. It was advertised as being 4-5.5 hours but I think we made it in just under 4 (15.5km/9.6mi).

Sadly, we still had the 45 minute walk back to Te Anau which took us more like an hour due to tired feet.

A well deserved post tramp ginger beer.

We actually had about half a day left in Te Anau after the tramp, so after checking back into the holiday park, we went to see "Fiordland on Film - Ata Whenua (Shadowland)". This is a movie that was filmed by a helicopter pilot and has some absolutely incredible views of Fiordland National Park that you can only get by helicopter. It is an amazing film and the Te Anau Cinema was built specifically to show this film which plays about every hour on the hour. You can also see normal movies there, but usually those only have one showing a day. We went for a package deal which included drinks and a DVD of the film. Anyone who wants to borrow it is welcome to it, especially if you have a good t.v. (we are looking at you David and Marty!).

The day we left Te Anau the morning weather was miserable! We were so fortunate not to have had to tramp in bad weather!!!

It cleared up a little later in the day.

This is a tussock grass conservation area.

Heading back to Queenstown.

Either a paraglider or sky diver.

We were not in too much of a hurry, so we did stop for a view or two.

Queenstown is getting a bit commercialized!

We still did not do the gondola. Maybe next time.

Bird sanctuary car with a tuatara on top.

We ate lunch along the lake front. This is the T. S. S. Earnslaw which is a 1912 Edwardian vintage twin screw steamer that gives tours along lake Wakatipu. It is the only coal-fired passenger carrying steamship in the southern hemisphere and apparently appeared in Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. I could not figure out what TSS stood for, but I am beginning to suspect that it stands for "twin screw steamer". The Earnslaw is named after Mt. Earnslaw which is at the head of Lake Wakatipu.

The restaurant was a bit fancy, so I suspect that they purposefully use the silly tomato sauce container to mark riff-raff like us who ask for ketchup.

We also got the opportunity to do a little wine tasting at this wine store that kinda has wine vending machines. You get a card that you slip into a slot and then purchase either a taste (usually around $2.50), half glass, or glass of wine which then gets dispensed into your glass via a spigot. We found the Rieslings rather dry, but had a nice Pinot Gris and a really delicious Gewurztraminer. We also tried an expensive taste of 10 year aged Milford whiskey which is the only single malt whiskey ever produced in NZ. Sadly it was terrible. The exorbitant fee is mainly due to the fact that the distillery shut down and there are limited quantities of the stuff left.

Don't I look sophisticated in black and white?

Very artistic shot I tried to get at the mini golf course.

We again visited Caddyshack City which is an indoor actual miniature golf course with 18 very unique and interesting themed holes with really cool effects. We took many pictures of the place on our honeymoon, so the only one I took this time was of Scott's stuck ball at the chairlift part of the alpine hole.

Relaxing in the last bit of sun, our last night in the South Island.

Sunset.

The back of the camper van was very cozy.

We were actually somewhat chased out of the common room that night by people watching highlights of the royal wedding. We had caught a bit of the actual wedding our last night in Te Anau because there were a bunch of people watching it in the common room there as well. No matter what anyone says, the Kiwis are really into their royalty back in Britain.

Sunrise.

Queenstown airport.

There is only one short runway and we went right to the end before turning around and gunning the engines.

Goodbye Queenstown!

Well, goodbye South Island. I hope we will see you again someday. Sniffle.