The most amazing 3 days in the woods.
We had good luck this morning when we were checking out of our Hotel. They said we could leave our car in their parking lot (or carpark in kiwi) while we were on the Routeburn, and they would also store our luggage for us at no charge. That made lots of things very easy on us, as we only had to get our stuff packed up and take a quick bus trip into Queenstown to get to our bus transporting us to the start of the Routeburn.
It was a little bit rainy, and the forecast called for somewhat unsettled weather over the next couple of days. It didn't really worry me too much, since we were prepared (clothing wise ) for temperatures down to freezing with rain and wind thrown in to the mix. We went into Queenstown a little bit earlier than we needed to, so we could eat a big lunch and ice cream before getting started. Lunch was a Furgburger, which is a legendary Queenstown burger joint that sells all types of burgers made from many different types of tasty animals. We then went to the department of conservation center next door and checked the weather. The forecast was for rain with the snow level at 1300m and 60kph winds at 1400m for tomorrow. That sounded like a pretty tough day, given that we would be hiking around 6 hours that day above tree line, and very exposed to the elements. I was wondering if I really had enough clothes, and figured I had just enough to keep me warm in that kind of weather. Katie and I grabbed an ice cream cone and sat at the Bus pickup.
Organizing a bus transfer for the Routeburn is a necessity, even though the track itself is only about 20 miles (if you do not do the side hikes), driving from one end to the other involves something like 225 miles of driving. The bus ride from Queenstown is about a 1 - 1.5 hour trip along the shores of Lake Wakitipu up through Glenorchy and to the end of the Routeburn road. As we were traveling along the Routeburn road which is gravel, the bus skidded to a stop. Everybody looked up out the front windows and in front of us, covering the entire road from side to side was a huge flock of sheep.
They were being herded down the road by a truck into the next pasture. They all froze in front of the bus and didn't know what to do.
There was a brief standoff until finally one brave sheep made a run for it and shot past to the left side of the bus. And the rest followed in a scared, flowing river of wool.
Everybody on the bus had a good laugh, and we continued on to the start of the track. We reached the start at around 2pm.
The first day of the track climbs up through a ancient beech forest. The trees, ground, and pretty much everything that is not moving or being walked on, is covered with a heavy woolly moss. Ferns are the dominant plant in this forest. There are numerous swinging bridges, which are a couple of 2x6's suspended by steel cables spanning the many streams and waterfalls along the track. They bounce and swing when you walk over them, but there are cables to hold on to if you need them. The track is very well maintained and surprisingly easy to walk.
At the first waterfall I stopped to climb down and take photos and noticed an older Chinese couple stopping there too for a quick bite to eat. After 3 hours or so, we came to the Routeburn river valley which was very wide and flat.
This is the site of the first hut on the walk, the Routeburn Flats hut. We were staying at Routeburn Falls hut, which was about 1.5 hours up the trail. The trail climbed continuously through the forest for another hour. The visibility to the other side of the valley is limited by the dense forest, but soon we came to a clearing that was the result of a landslide that occured in 1994. This opened up pretty dramatic views of the valley flats that we had climbed up from about an hour ago.
Shortly after the clearing we come to the hut. Which was amazingly nice. Built with a view of the valley, there were two bunk halls with bays of 4 bunks. The toilet area was separate from the bunk room and had flush toilets and running water. The kitchen area was absolutely huge and had about 30 very nice gas stoves with pots for heating water and sinks. It was like arriving at the Hilton. I started boiling some water and made our ramen noodles and added in the thai chili tuna. It went down fast, and I still felt a little hungry. The Chinese couple we saw earlier sat down next to us and proceeded to lay out a smorgasboard of fruit, sausage and rice that made me a little envious...
After dinner, I went outside to play around taking photos as the sun went down, while Katie relaxed in the Kitchen. I found a little steep path down to the base of Routeburn Falls, which made for some nice pictures.
I then walked up towards Harris Saddle, where we would be going the next day, and took a few photos as the sun was going down. It was really nice being outside, running around during that time of day. I then came back to the hut, and we got ready for bed. Most of the folks were already in bed and asleep by the time we got in there. There was a symphony of snorers tuning up for an all night performance. It was so nice to have a pair of earplugs.
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