After grueling multi-leg flight, JFK-LAX-AUK-CHC-ZQN, waiting and re-checking bags, watching “Dodgeball”, going through customs, walking to different terminals, getting out and getting back on the same plane, meeting up with Mark who flew on Air NZ in LA, we finally made it to Queenstown at 10am and two days later. It was raining lightly, an ominous sign for the whole trip.
We took a shuttle to Rydges Lakeside Lodge, hoping that we could check-in early and unwind. The “lodge” was an unremarkable white-washed concrete monstrosity overlooking the beautiful lake about half a mile from town. Unfortunately our rooms wouldn’t be ready until 2pm, so we left our bags and walked into town to the Department of Conservation (DOC) office. We had our own version of “dodgeball” trying to avoid getting run over by cars on the way over, crossing streets and trying to figure out which way and on what side the cars were driving was taxing on our exhausted brains.
We had previously reserved huts for the Routeburn track and we also wanted to “tramp” (kiwi for hiking) the Rees-Dart track. However these were partially closed or closed entirely because of avalanche danger. So after looking rather quickly at other possibilities we decided on Greenstone-Caples tracks with a side trip to one of the Routeburn track huts. We also reserved huts on the Keppler track for later. Having made so many reservations ahead of time, we had to continue to change our plans, so Lisa went to re-change the numerous bus reservations while the others went to Alpine Sports to pick up the rental stoves and gas burners.
Finally we were done at 1pm, and ate Thai food. We then walked over to Fresh Choice, a huge grocery store on the outskirts of town, and stocked up for our trip.
Arriving back at the lodge, Mark, April, and Bob’s room was ready, ours was not. The hotel “manager” could only compensate us by offering us coffee. Finally our room was ready at 2:45pm. We took showers and took naps. Waking up at 7pm, we called Mark. April was getting her massage but we were hungry then, so we went off into town and had Indian food. We ordered hot curries but they were only NZ hot, meaning medium hot, we kept that in mind for next time. Straggling back to the lodge, we promptly crashed into bed again, exhausted.
Miles traveled: too many
11.21.04 Sunday
Greenstone car park to Mackellar hut
The morning started off well with a deluxe buffet breakfast at the top of the hotel. There were some spectacular views of Lake Wakatipu which we enjoyed while stuffing ourselves with the buffet.
After breakfast we walked into town to wait for the 8am Backpacker’s Express bus. The bus took off, picking up various people along the way. At one point it had to go back to a passenger’s hotel because she forgot her camera.
We arrived at Glenorchy, a tiny town with a horse wandering around the dirt road. Mark and Bob went off to register our intentions with the DOC. Bob said the woman there thought we were crazy to want to hike from Lake Mackenzie hut to Mid-Caples hut in one day, this should’ve been another hint that something was bad.
Finally after a long delay in Glenorchy, we took the bus to the lake dock, where we got on a boat, to another bus to the start of the track. It was already 10am. We started the hike leaving Mark, April, and Bob, who were rearranging their backpacks, to catch up . They caught up with us soon after and we took some pictures over a swing bridge, but somehow got separated again and we wouldn’t see them again until that night.
A few other teams of two were hiking the same track. We passed two German guys who were wearing the official NZ tramping outfit: shorts, long woolen striped underwear and gaiters. We also kept passing a NZ guide (who had been an Orc in “The Lord of the Rings” movies) with her two older trampers.
The track was pretty flat, well marked, and muddy in places. It passed through mossy forests and huge open fields. Two hours into the hike we met up with the hut warden, happily digging ditches along the muddy trail. He told us that there were 14 people ahead of us, but that didn’t count the people coming up from The Divide (the start of the path coming from the other side of the hut). We thought we were going to be sleeping on the floor for sure.
Continuing on, we passed by the first hut around 1:30pm. The sign optimistically said our destination McKeller hut was only 4 hours away, in reality it was 5.5. Soldiering on, we stopped for a 15 minute lunch stop by a running stream. The weather had been pretty nice until then when it suddenly became very windy and cold. It didn’t help when we had to stomp our way through a deep stream, getting our boots wet. The main problem with our hike that day was our map scale. It was much too large and we couldn’t figure out when exactly we would get to the hut because the trail was either open meadow or forest, interchanging many times.
After being overtaken by a much faster couple in the late afternoon, we definitely thought we were going to be sleeping on the floor that night. Finally after numerous km’s under our feet we crossed a footbridge and saw the Mackeller hut. It took us 9 1/2 hours to make it there, and 29 km’s. We got the last two bunks however, but on separate sides. We were so tired and exhausted it was hard to make our boiled water and our freeze-dried food. Around 9pm, Mark, April, and Bob showed up, they ended up sleeping on the floor.
Km’s hiked: 29 Hours hiked: 9.5
Highlight: making it to the hut
11.22.04 Monday
MacKellar hut via Howden hut to Lake Mackenzie hut
Lisa was completely exhausted still and got woken up around 6am by disgustingly loud snorer. We made our breakfast and were ready to go, leaving our hiking mates again to catch up. The day started out misty, but it was a really soaking mist, testing our rain gear and turning the moss green.
We made it to Howden hut around 11am, and stopped for a lunch break. Just as we were leaving, M, A, B show up. We said hi and then left for Mackenzie hut. Besides Lisa falling off the wooden walkway, we had no mishaps. The rain was pouring down the trail. We passed by the Earland Falls, a thundering exposed waterfall, and the couple that had passed us the previous day caught up with us again there. They were pretty fast hikers, so we chit-chatted and they went on their way.
We knew we were close to Lake MacKenzie hut when we passed by the next door private guided tour hut. Then it was just a short jaunt through some ferns and our destination materialized out of the mist. Mackenzie hut was very nice, large, and modern. The Irish couple was already there, trying unsuccessfully to start the pot-belly stove.
The bunkroom this time was upstairs, and extremely spacious and clean compared to the previous night. We unloaded our stuff and then headed back downstairs and had a snack of hot chocolate. M,A, B showed up a little later. Everyone was pleased by the much nicer circumstances and uncrowded conditions of this hut.
April got the stove going, she had good training from her bonfire starting husband. Evan also helped out by roasting wet sticks on the gas stoves to dry them out.
The hut warden showed up later on, friendly and talkative, he told us hiking tales. The one about two people who tried to cross the Caples river because they were hurrying to catch their bus, but got swept away and died, struck a cord with us. It was still raining non-stop and the hut warden said it was too dangerous to go up to the Caples track. So we decided to hike out to The Divide the next day. After another dinner of freeze-dried food, we were full and happy. The stove was hot, the hut wasn’t crowded. After sitting and chatting by the nice warm stove we went to bed, while everyone else was playing cards.
Km’s hiked: 17
Hours: 7
Highlight: a cozy near empty hut and shoveling coal into the stove
11.23.04 Tuesday
Lake Mackenzie hut via Howden hut to The Divide
We all hiked out together. It was snowing in the morning, so we took some snow pics. Bob had no rain gear, so he got quickly soaked. We took the flood route underneath Earland Falls this time, as the hut warden had warned us about the wind blowing us off the cliff.
Howden hut was completely filled this time with Japanese tour groups, and a really obnoxious American tour group. One woman that sat at our table kept talking about her corporate life, it was annoying since we were trying to forget all that and relax, she was really uninteresting but was talking so loudly no-one could avoid hearing her. Their guided tour included a helicopter ride over the avalanche danger area that had stopped us from doing the complete Routeburn track.
After lunch we reached The Divide fairly quickly. We took a shuttle bus to Te Anau, where after some wrangling, got a bus back to Queenstown. We were returning one day early to Queenstown, so we tried our luck at Rydges, but they were completely booked. So we just walked down the street and inquired at the other hotels. Finally at the Lakeview Apartments we found a 3 bedroom apartment for cheaper and nicer than Rydges. We cancelled the rest of the Rydges reservations. Bob went off to his massage therapy session. We ate Indian food again for dinner.
KM’s hiked: 7
11.24.04 Wednesday
day hike in Queenstown
We did errands in the morning, setting up renting a car and stocking up again at Fresh Choice. In the late morning everybody sans Bob hiked up to the gondola. Evan and Mark hiked higher to a saddle. April and Lisa had meat pies at the gondola, then took gondola down, April arranged a massage for later. Lisa took a nap. We went to Speight’s Alehouse for dinner. It was filled with rugged and robust guides. We ate Banger’s and Mash, which really hit the spot. The waitress described a desert special as “apple and peeeehhhh crumble” this turned out to be pear! Went to bed happy and with the heat on full blast.
11.25.04 Thursday
Drive to Te Anau
The car rental people picked us up at our hotel and drove us to the car, which was right next to Fresh Choice.
Lisa drove, getting a feel for the other side of the road wasn’t too difficult on the long stretches of road encompassing sheep meadows, but in town was a little trickier. We finally made it to the DOC and tried different methods of finding a hotel finally ending up at the Te Anau information office.
We got rooms at the Te Anau Lakeview Holiday Park, conveniently located at the start of the next days trail. It was a rather sprawling complex of motor homes, camping, and semi-attached rooms. After getting our rooms we drove into town and ate some meat pies. Then went back and relaxed in our room. Dinner was at an Italian restaurant. NZ is not known for its food for a reason. Lisa had spaghetti w/too much sauce, Evan had a pizza.
11.26.04 Friday
Kepler track Lake Te Anau to the dam and up to Luxmor hut
Bob started his hike by taking a dingy to Brod Bay. Everyone else started from the hotel. April lagged behind to make a phone call. The track started out nice and easy around the lake. When we got to Brod Bay we took a break.
The next few hours were straight up on switchbacks. Mark and April went up fast and left us behind, maybe it was because April had bought a pair of striped leggings. Right before we reached the alpine meadow, a guy with a small backpack and poles was running down the hill. We figured he was training for the Kepler challenge, perhaps to try to beat the record of 4 hours 40 minutes!
When we reached the alpine meadow we met up with M & A and hiked the last few steps to the Luxmor hut with them. The views were spectacular. It was a nice day so we could see all the peaks surrounding us. Bob met us at the hut full of energy.
It was only 2pm so we took a break and then decided to do a side hike up to the peak of Mt. Luxmore which the guidebook said was only 1 hour away. Leaving our bags behind, we felt good going out. It was steep and uphill, and at one point April wanted to turn back. But soon after we were at the base of the peak and the sign said 15 minutes to the top. It was very “everesty”, snow, rocks, very steep and we climbed up one at a time. The top was very spectacular and windy. We ate Clif bars and then returned back to the hut.
Luxmore Hut was extremely full, but everyone friendly. Dinner was a freeze dried packet each and extra rice. Mark, April, and Bob had only two packets between the three of them. It seemed kind of sad, and Mark still looked hungry. After dinner, Bob and Mark presented April with her birthday cupcake and 3 candles. Everyone else saw this and started singing “Happy Birthday” to an embarassed April. This was very sweet and everybody was happy. After her cake, we gave her presents of hard liquor which she was pleased about.
The bunkroom was crowded and smelly, but we fell asleep quickly.
Km’s hiked:
Hours:
Highlight: summiting Mt. Luxmore
11.27.04 Saturday
Evan got up and went outside to see Bob talking to some Kea’s. After breakfast, we all started out at the same time. With our packs this time going up the route we had done the previous side hike to Mt. Luxmore, we made surprisingly good time. This was one of the best hiking days. Very sunny and the peaks were all around us.
We took a break at one of the emergency shelters. After the first emergency shelter the track was steep at parts, but well maintained with wooden walkways and wooden steps. At the second emergency shelter we ate lunch and took another long break. We knew that after this shelter is would be woods again so we wanted to enjoy the alpine scenery as long as possible.
We reached another side trip up a little hill, M, A, Evan went up while Lisa waited behind. Bob caught up and we started decending into the forest. A group of dreadlocked Israeli guys were speedrunning down the mountain. Bob got ahead of us on the decent somehow and made it to the hut before us!
When we finally got to the Iris Burn hut, Lisa heard people talking about sandflies and saw them putting on their bug juice. Everyone wanted to go swimming in the river. It looked really cold. Evan only got into his waist. Mark actually put his whole body in, he seemed immune to the cold. We ate dinner in the hot sun while slapping at the sandflies.
Km’s hiked:
Hours:
Highlight: Alpine scenery
11.28.04
We hiked through the forest for a while together, sometimes meeting up and sometimes not. At this time we were all tired of mossy forests so the trail wasn’t too exciting, same old ferns, mossy birch trees, mossy stones, etc… We ate lunch by a river, we went off the trail and walked out onto the stony ground. Right before the hut was a beach. So Evan and I decided to walk along the beach to the hut. Motorau hut had sandflies too. Everyone wanted to go swimming again and Lisa took pictures. This time Evan, Mark and April went in the whole way and were splashing around. We relaxed then ate dinner. We could only bare to eat one freeze dried packet between us, since we were so burned out on the taste.
After dinner a group of kiwi women went around giving away their excess food. There were about five of them and some wore pink tanktops that said “Tramp.” At one point we started helping them with their crossword puzzle. It was difficult though as the way it was done made it so you had to know the exact word otherwise you couldn’t get clues from other words because only two words connected at any one point.
Km’s hiked:
Hours:
Highlight: Swimming in Lake Motorau
11.29.04
Motorau hut to Te Anau to Queenstown
Left hut early leaving behind M, A, B. We decided to eat lunch early on a mossy overhang looking at the river. Right after lunch April caught up with us. It started raining so we put on our rain gear. At the control gates, M & B caught up. They all ate their lunch in the pouring rain underneath a tree. We went ahead to get the car parked at the holiday park.
It was a very rainy and wet way to end the hike and glad that we were done for a couple days at least. Mark drove us back to Queenstown. The weather was rainy but sunny, a phenomenom that happened there quite often. After finding hotel rooms, we walked into town and ate at Speight’s again. Lisa had Fish and Chips, Evan had steak. April had an extremely rare steak that she couldn’t finish because it was too raw.
We couldn’t find a desert place so we said our goodbyes in front of the Naff Caf.
11.30.04
Queenstown to Christchurch to Arthur’s Pass
We started off the morning with breakfast at our hotel. The only other person up with us then was a South African guy who was working in Australia, South of Broome, most likely at Port Headland, a big mining town. He was wearing an All Blacks shirt and was pretty friendly. He said hiking in Botswana was good but you had to watch out for the animals!
We dropped off the rent-a-car and the Kiwicar attendants drove us to the airport. Our flight was short and the other car rental guy met us in Christchurch airport. After a short ride to the rental agency, filling out the paperwork we were on our way.
The drive to Arthur’s Pass was pretty easy. It rained off and on, and we encountered the one lane bridge many times. It was raining steadily in Arthur’s Pass. We couldn’t tell where our hotel was so we stopped off at the DOC first. Inside we looked at hiking maps and decided to do an overnight hike from Avalanche Peak staying at Crow hut and returning the next day. The hotel turned out to be very close, so we decided to check in. The Chalet was an Alpine type lodge, very cozy and nice. We unloaded our stuff and walked into town to the Arthur’s Pass shops where we ate meat pies and our favorite coffees, long black and flat white. There were some people waiting for the bus, in this group was an older Hong Kong couple with their glamorous daughter who took numerous photographs of herself with the mountains in the background.
After our snack we went back to the hotel and took showers and relaxed before dinner. We got to dinner too late, so we couldn’t order the bangers and mash, so we ordered chicken kiev, which turned out to be fried half chicken but very good, instead. Lisa was still hungry so she ordered an additional spaghetti bolagnese.
12.1.04 Avalanche Peak
The day started out very sunny and glorious, but we decided to go back to the DOC before our hike to see if there was someone who could give us better information about Crow Hut and the trail to get there. Someone more familiar with the trail told us it would be easy to get to the Hut, we wouldn’t have to ford any large streams, but she seemed worried that we would try to come back the next day over Avalanche Peak as the weather was supposed to be snowy and bad. We decided it would be fine so we just registered our intentions and off we went.
Lisa was trying to remember details about the Avalanche Peak Challenge, but couldn’t remember where it went after the Peak or where it even started for that matter. As for our own challenge, we started off the hike trying to find the start of the trail. We had a false start up a cliff, which the trail ended up looking like, but not quite so early. Finally we found it, marked by a huge sign warning about avalanche danger. It was steep with rocks and tree roots to literally climb up. An older man with one hiking stick passed us fairly early on. Then some couples passed us. We were wearing our full packs so not as nimble as some without. This hike was engaging from the beginning, not one moment was wasted on anticipating what the trail would be like, every second you had to think about where to step, where to grab on, it was really great!
When we reached the tree line we stopped to take some pictures. Arthur’s Pass was straight down. Then it was more up and up through rocks and occasional mud. At one point we looked straight up and there was a kea sitting on a rock. They are fairly tame so we approached it to take pictures.
We thought we were near the top when we saw a few people sitting around eating. It turned out that they were just determining whether or not to attempt to climb the huge snow covered vertical slope. We didn’t stop and just plowed ahead. It was very steep, but other people’s footprints were easy to follow. Lisa found it fairly scary, and was happy once she finished the snow climb.
The trail then became us scrambling over flaky rock cliffs with sheer drops on either side. But we just went slow and finally reached the peak, which wasn’t too exciting. It was pretty small and there were other people on it already, so we stopped for a little bit, plus it was very windy and cold.
We tried to continue on to Crow Hut, but the trail was not marked. Evan determined the trail had to be in a certain direction, so he decided to climb down to see if he could see the trail. Coming back up the scree, he said he was positive the way was there, but because there were no markers or footprints, and we would have to trudge through more snow, which looked dangerous, we were resigned to climbing back down to Arthur’s Pass. Plus the weather forecast seemed really ominous, so we took Scott’s trail back down the peak.
This trail was supposedly “easier” but it was pretty hard getting down. We were passed by an overweight couple who we decided would not be able to peak that day because of their lack of condition plus late start. In the forest we were passed by another younger couple at an even later hour. They asked us how it was up there, and we said great. But since it was so late really wondered if they would make it as well.
Finally after many hours and a much longer time than we thought it would take, we made it to the bottom. We had to hike along the road back south to the village. The Chalet gave us another room, not as nice as the first night, but with an “en suite.” We decided to go down to dinner early so we could get a better seat by the fireplace. I had lamb shanks and Evan had a big pizza. This was happy hour at the Chalet and it got very crowded at the bar area with lots of locals guzzling beer and having loud happy conversations.
12.2.04
Arthur’s Pass Village to Maruia Springs via Greymouth
We woke up to rain, pouring rain as usual, and decided we made a smart decision about not going to Crow Hut. If the conditions were this bad down in the valley, up on the peak they would have been horrendous.
After breakfast and settling the bill where the hotel guy was wondering if I was the one who ate the huge pizza, we were on our way to Maruia Springs. The road was fine and we got to Greymouth early. We gassed up and passed a barber shop at which Evan said he needed a haircut but decided to look into it later.
We parked downtown and ran some errands. Evan bought some striped leggings. We had fish and chips then looked at some more sports shops. We went back to the barber shop but there were too many men waiting in line for only one barber! So we got back on the road and thought we could stop in another town on the way to the springs. This was a big mining area and passed by a lot of old mines.
Finally in ? we stopped for a coffee and snack. There was one hairdresser in town, a friendly kiwi who was piercing the ears of a cute little blonde girl. She chatted Evan up while she shaved his head. We think she was happy to talk to people from so far away and was wondering what we were doing there!
Evan now bald but had kept his beard to look rugged decided that he had enough courage to drive for the first time the whole trip. It was kind of scary because he kept really far over to the left, but we made it to Maruia Springs fine. Our room turned out to be very nice, very woody and chalet-like. We turned up the heat and went to go into the inside pools. Once inside we discovered it wasn’t like a real Japanese onsen because there were no towels, no soap, no shampoo, actually no people. This was a little disappointing, but was ok. Evan didn’t notice the hotter pool and only stayed for a little bit and was a little dismayed by the experience.
We met up for a meat pie at the restaurant and read the paper. Dinner was unremarkable, chicken teriyaki and handles of beer. Afterwards we went into the outdoor hot pools. It was freezing cold and pouring rain, so needless to say we had the whole pool to ourselves. We experimented with the different pools and found the hottest one. So we soaked underneath our umbrella with the rain coming down for a little bit, then we left.
12.3.04
Lewis Pass day hike
Originally we wanted to hike to ? but we couldn’t cross the numerous raging rivers. Disappointed that our plans again changed because of the weather and bad information, we decided to drive up to Lewis Pass and day hike on ? trail. It was raining non-stop and actually snowing at the pass. As soon as we got into the trees and started decending it was just rain.
Hiking through wet mossy rainforests was not the most enjoyable, and we were a little disheartenend. We reached Canibal Gorge bridge, so named because warring Maori tribes ate each other around there. We crossed the bridge, hiked a little more and ate lunch in the pouring rain. We had not seen anyone else that day. We turned around to go back. At one point another couple passed us, they looked like they were going to stay at a hut that night since they both carried full backpacks.
Our warm hotel room was waiting for us. We took indoor baths, this time Evan discovered the hotter pool. Dinner was the same as the previous night since I didn’t think I could trust them and Evan had Thai Mussels, huge green mussels in a curry sauce.
Finally tired of all the rain and hiking, we would fly out the next day.
Getting there:
Qantas and Air New Zealand often offer deals from the west coast.
We flew on American from JFK to Los Angeles for around $260 round trip. From Los Angeles we flew Qantas to Queenstown via Auckland and Christchurch for around $900 round trip. Discount flights and cheap one-way fares are often found on their website. www.qantas.com.
Mark flew on United from San Francisco to LA, and Air New Zealand to Queenstown. Air New Zealand sometimes offers layovers in Fiji. www.airnewzealand.com Where to stay:
Queenstown: Lakefront Apartments: 26 Lake Esplanade. A 3 bedroom apartment costs NZ$300 per night. http://www.lakefrontqueenstown.co.nz/
Te Anau: Te Anau Lakeview Holiday Park: 1 Te Anau-Manapouri Road. The Kepler track can be started from this place and you can even leave your rental car during your hike. http://www.TeAnauHolidayPark.co.nz
On the tramps we stayed in the track huts, tickets need to be purchased ahead of time at the DOC office:
Queenstown Department of Conservation office: 37 Shotover St, tel: 011 64 3 442 9708.
Te Anau DOC: Lakefront Drive, tel: 011 64 3 249 8514
What to bring:
Good rain gear including a backpack cover, warm clothes, and hiking boots with Gore-Tex liners and a good gripping soles are essential. We brought Pur water filters and Naglene water containers due to the faint Giardia threat. We also brought our own freeze-dried food, instant oatmeal, and Clif energy bars. Since our tramps were 4 days/3 nights maximum we might have cooked pasta the first two nights instead of eating the freeze-dried food every night. Sandflies can also be a problem on tracks close to marshy areas, so a good bug spray with DEET is recommended also.
Alpine Sports: 28 Shotover St, tel: 011 64 3 442 7099. Stoves can be rented for NZ$4 per day.
Getting around:
Queenstown official visitor center: i-site, located at the clock tower, corner of Camp and Shotover Streets, tel: 011 64 3 442 4100. Bus tickets and other info to get to the start of trailheads can be found here.
Queenstown Car Rentals tel: 011-64 3 442 9220. Have deals for NZ$29 per day which include free airport pickup and dropoff. http://www.queenstowncarrentals.co.nz/
For comments or more info about this hike or area please contact us below: