Upon our arrival into Te Anau we attempted to book the Doubtful Sound cruise...everything was booked out several days. OK, plan B...the weather was going to be mixed. We weren't planning on laying out tons of money to look at clouds in the Sound...we'll check the weather forecast. Thursday looked good...but today was Sunday. Okay, plan B is do the Kepler Track until Wednesday then do the Doubtful Sound on Thursday and hope the weather doesn't change it's mind. Perfect plan. We wanted to do one of the tracks anyhow so we went to DOC and booked our track/campsites. Then the Doubtful Sound trip we wanted was book so again plan B ammended to B-1 with another tour company. So many decisions to make we are spinning sometimes and I am not talking about the bike.
Once again...there's no possible way you can describe the magnitude of the landscape here. You try to compare it to different parts of the world but NZ certainly has it's own definition of beauty. When you're out there in the middle of it all and you realize the height, width, depth, etc. of everything you have to mash your eyes to grasp it all.
Kepler Track was a 3 day 2 night hike for us. Day 1 we hiked to Brod Bay campground late Monday afternoon. This was a short 3 hour hike from town to a campsite along Te Anau Lake. We had a leisurely evening lakeside just eating our usual vegetables and macaroni surprise and reading in our matching puffy coats and crazy creek chairs.
Day 2 (Tues) we hiked up and over the main ridgeline to Iris Burn Hut. We started the day with the lake misting at its surface and low clouds nuzzling the beech forest. We hiked up for a few hours through the clouds and surfaced above them with sunrays piercing the forest mist. We were on top of the world and found the end of the earth to rid ourselves of the Coca-cola bottle that had riddled our village with misery (for all you 'The Gods Must Be Crazy' film fans). The views were spectacular, surounded by steep mountains plummeting into the clouds below. We pressed on to Luxmore hut. And yes it is almost as nice as a Vegas hotel, but not in our budget. We summited Mt. Luxmore 1470m with even more spectacular views all around. We followed the undulating ridgeline for another 2 hours, the land falling away from us all the way to Lake Te Anau freshly revealed from the clearing day below. Pictures again don't do it justice. The trail then drops quickly, swirling to and fro through more beech forest and streams to Iris Burn Hut. This hike really became more difficult on the descent. Marijo contracted the worst heel blisteres in the history of heels or blisters. They were the size of 50 cent pieces. A well-earned rest after 10hrs on the trail and early to bed.
Day 3 We rose to a mild drizzle and made our way out of camp at 9:30. The track gained elevation at first but then was a mild down river descent for 22km (13.5mi) to Rainbow Reach. We were literally running to catch the 3pm shuttle back to Te Anau. We were absolutely spent, even finding it hard to make it back to our campsite from the shuttle. We collapsed into the lounge and watched movies until our luxurious thermarests beckoned us to bed.
Sorry folks - the uploading of pics is taking way too long. We are having troubles compressing them...We will try again later.
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