Hiking to new heights

I figured that it was finally time to tell you about some the tramping* that I've done since our journey really began, in Te Anau.

The first tramp that we tackled was, or course, the Kepler Track. It was our reason for the initial journey to the southern tip of the south island, also known as fiordland.  The trails difficulty rating is only at moderate, but because of the way it's structured, all of the effort (the main elevation gain and loss) can land in the second day of the trip. For most people, this is avoided by spending their nights at the three DOC** huts that are evenly spaced along the trail. But for people like myself that are doing their entire trip on a tight budget, there are two things we have to deal with: first, carrying the additional weight of your tent, and second, having to spend the nights at campsites along the trail that are not as evenly spaced as the huts. Why spend the night in a tiny tent instead of a DOC hut thats the size of a mountain chalet? Because the campsites are only $15 each, rather than $50 per person, per night :S. This charge is standard across the dozen or so of the best tramps or New Zealand that are classified as "great walks".

But enough whining about hills and costs! I have to show you just how amazing this trail is :) The first day begins with the 2km walk out of Te Anau to the trailhead at the lake control gates (yes, there are actually giant steel gates that control the water level of the lake). From there, the path wanders it's way through dense NZ jungle for 4 hours towards the first campsite called Brod Bay. The trail (which is immaculately maintained) is mostly covered overhead by the thick canopy of tropical trees and giant NZ crown ferns.

*note* before this hike, I thought ferns were only bush-like plants that grew to about 3 feet tall. Here, they are actual trees that grow to well over 20 ft! They look like miniature palm trees...

 





Brod bay

The Brod Bay camp site turned out to be one of the best ive ever stayed at. There were full fire pit BBQ's and concrete picnic tables at most of the 10 sites that were tucked just barely back in the tree line of a beautiful sandy beach which looked directly across the lake to the town we left on the Southern shore.



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Mt Luxmore Hut

While we slept to a star-filled sky, we woke to a grey, misty day before packing up to begin our second day of tramping. Here is where the real work started. The path winds its way upwards through many switch backs, still in a tunnel of jungle, for about 1.5 hours before breaking through the tree line at an elevation gain of roughly 700m. We were very drained and sweaty, so the cool breeze and spectacular view was the perfect reward. (Inset pic here with view and boardwalks) From this point it was another almost 200m ascent to the Mt Luxmore hut. This hut has bunks and full kitchen stoves to accommodate for 56 people! I wasn't kidding when I called it a mini mountain chalet. Again, this is where most people would spend the night, but because of our budget, our day was just beginning!

Although we were already exhausted, we had to climb nearly to the peak of mt Luxmore (an elevation of 1472m) and continue along alpine ridgelines for 14km. It was here that we were greeted by the most stunning views of the tramp. Steep, tightly packed, jungle-coated mounatins went as far as we could see. Some of them were only separated by thin arms of lake Te Anau.  Even though we had done most of the climbing work already, this section of the tramp was so grueling that wje had to stop for breaks in the shade of both of the emergency shelters en route to our camp site at Iris Burn. About a kilometer before the campsite, we had to lose about 800m of elevation through what even our guide books described as "endless switchbacks". Long story short ...my legs turned into jello.

From the morning of the third day, the rest of the tramp remained fairly

consistent; level, winding forest trail through light rainy conditions for roughly 32 km over two days. The only real highlights of this section were stopping on occasion to fend off masses of sand flies and mosquitoes, and to play around with some Kea,(NZ's native parrots).

In summary, the Kepler Track was the best 4-day tramp that ever kicked my ass, haha.This was the best hike I've ever done. Every one of the views were worth the effort it took to reach them :)

Thats all for now. I'll try to find the time to write about our smaller day hikes soon!

Cheers till then.

* "Tramping" is the Kiwi word for hiking

**  DOC is New Zealand's Department of Conservation. Like our parks & recreation back home  ...except better, haha