Days 6-8 Routeburn Track

Day 1 - The Divide, Key Summit, Lake McKenzie

We were in the van by 8.45. A Diesel stop and a coffee stop saw us on the road by 9am, and parked up and starting our walk at 10:35am.

Another couple left the car park just ahead of us. We chatted a little bit because they were not quite sure what to do with their car transfer lock box.

More on them later. 

Last iced latte for a while

Straight into beautiful forest

Key summit was our first stop, and took us just an hour to reach it.  But we were distracted by the views and the tarn at the top of the hill.  It was a wonderful place for morning tea. We didn't depart until 1:20pm.

Looking back into the Hollyford Valley

Tarn at the top

They still look enthusiastic and clean

Late lunch was at the site of the old Lake Howden Hut - destroyed by a mudslide in late 2020 and won't be rebuilt.  There's still a clearing and a toilet here, as well as some picnic tables. It's a good place to stop and take in the views as you munch on your hummus wraps. 

It would be a nice hut to have, because you could arrive at The Divide at any old time and still make the hut. But I can see that with constrained budgets it's not a necessary hut to rebuild.

Looking at the map, now, I can see that it's a very short detour down the Greenstone track to Lake Howden. An opportunity missed. Though it looks like it's a nice easy day walk next time we're down this way.

The track is hewn into the rock from here.

The afternoon was a pleasant stroll. The track was nice and there was not too much up and down. 

Around 2:30pm we came across Earland Falls. Spectacular. We stayed here a while to admire the view.

Wow!

And onward

The only drama in our afternoon was a track detour. A slip had taken out the track and some contractors were preparing to blast out a new track into the rock face. Callan and Mike were very interested and quite keen to be allowed to press the button and set off the explosives.

We had to detour steeply up the face of the hill, and then steeply down again.

"It's this way!" says the man in the Hi-Viz jacket

Scramble up

Scramble down

It was quite an adventurous detour. We came across the couple from the car park at the end of the detour where one of them was frozen in fear trying to come down. We helped her a bit. Mike and Callan dropped their packs and were scampering about ferrying things. I don't know if that made the scared woman reassured or even more nervous.

It was 5pm by the time Iona and I got to the Lake MacKenzie hut. We "cooked" tea and played trivial pursuit.  We had the best question: what was invented first? Dishwasher?  Microwave?  Or lux [Vacuum cleaner]? I'll leave the answer for you to ponder.

Nice functional hut

Our hut talk was by Clive, a hilarious chap. He regaled us with stories, some probably factual, some quite tall and some that seemed to be utterly made up - for an hour and a half. 

I wish I had a recording, but here are some highlights:

• The original Routeburn track was hewn by hand, with a pause when the workers were all called up for WWI. They downed tools, and the tools stayed there until work resumed in the late 1920s.
• The workers got paid by length, so the path was initially 2 boot widths wide - no more.  
• Sir Edmund Hilary tested his Everest Expedition tents in the Darran mountains in 1952. He took a couple of different tents. The one that won out had a tunnel that you tied up, rather than zips - which froze solid and trapped you inside the tent when the weather was extreme.
• The Harris Saddle Shelter that we will pass tomorrow is right on the boundary between Fiordland National Park, and Aspiring National Park. Clive said his side is better.
• The shelter has been architecturally designed to be invisible on the skyline and fit in with the natural environment. Alas, it is too small and old and will be replaced sometime soon.
• In the ice age, our valley was carved by a huge glacier back in the day. Even so it was just a feeder glacier.  Another came down from key summit.  300 feet above was the glacier. Much bigger. 
• Lake MacKenzie, here, shows the remnants of the changes the ice age wrought on the environment.  Trees grow slowly here on top of the bare rocks left behind. 
• Now Clive went off on a first-person story when he was here just after the ice age, conversing with the birds, who were chatting about flying into the barren post-glacial valley and dropping seeds to start the regeneration process. This had me giggling.  I looked at Iona.  She was incredulous. We tried not to start laughing out loud.
• Then Clive moved on to describe Split rock, where we were going tomorrow. He guided a group through once. A larger lady ... got stuck. Now I'm crying with laughter. He said that we would all get through fine - but she shouldn't have gone. Oh no!
• Finally, after an hour and a half, the safety briefing. Which largely revolved around the delights in the guided lodge next door, that Clive was not allowed to set foot in. He was positively looking forward to the hut catching fire so we could evacuate ourselves over to the bar, the baristas and the clean white sheets of the guided lodge.

Alas I had a terrible sleep in the marae style beds upstairs. Oh well. Tomorrow is another day and another hut.

Day 2 - Lake McKenzie Hut to Routeburn Falls Hut

What an amazing day! The best day of the walk. 

I was up at 7am after my not-the-best sleep, to a scratchy throat. Iona was the same.

After a marvelous brekkie of scrambled eggs, spinach, cheese and chili flakes in a wrap - the envy of my hut-mates - we went off to explore Split Rock, about 30 minutes' walk around the lake from the hut, via rocks, bridges and catwalks hanging off the cliffs. It was great fun. The destination is exactly what it says on the tin - a huge rock that is split down the middle. You really can walk right through it.  The rock has been there long enough for regenerating forest to start growing on top of it and sending roots down and around it.

Leaving the Hut

Split rock

We left the hut at 8.45am to a steady uphill, with switchbacks to make it fairly gentle, for about an hour.  Great views back to hut and down the valley we came along yesterday. Kea were screeching about us, high in the clouds above.

Winter conditions are ... quite different to now

Looking up Lake MacKenzie to Emily Peak

And back down the Lower Hollyford

At last we popped around the spur and the Darran Mountains came into view. The weather was deteriorating a little - it was still nice but the high cloud patterns were complex and swirling and warning of not so nice weather to come.

Approaching the spur

The Darrans

This part of the walk was the highlight for me. We traversed high above the Hollyford Valley with spectactular views of the Darran Mountains on the other side, and out to the Tasman see far down the valley. Stunning.

Gunns Camp, flooded alas and unlikely to reopen

Approaching Harris Saddle

We were up at the Harris Saddle shelter by around 12pm. It's an architectural marvel according to Clive the MacKenzie Hut warden, being deliberately built to be low and as invisible as possible against the skyline. Unfortunately though it has got on in years and will need to be replaced sometime soon.

The Conical Hill side track beckoned, but alas the track was CLOSED (ICE). Clive had warned us not to go. Folks who were coming the other way, though, merrily proceeded up. We learned that night that  the warden in the next hut had a different story - go up as far as you feel safe and assess the risk yourself. Yeah, that was probably a better call. Oh well.

Harris Saddle Shelter. Nobody took a photo of it!
This photo is courtesy Annette Woodford

Harris saddle. Lake Harris and cascade out and down. Hut is great.

I grabbed Mike's PLB and walked ahead with Iona. The track wound around Lake Harris, and followed down the stream flowing out from the lake. There were several cascades and even a small patch of snow at the side of the track. The weather was lovely and the scenery stunning. I saw a deep rust-red coloured gecko and some skinks.

Lake Harris

Lake Harris outflow

Iona wends around the lake

Outflow

Looking down the Route Burn

And back at the gentle cascade off the lake

Here's the hut!

Back up at the Routeburn Falls above the hut

Soon the hut came into view, but not before we passed Routeburn Falls. Beautiful. Quite a few hardy souls were swimming in the beautiful pools below.

Routeburn Falls hut is great.  It's built up on wooden piles, many metres above the ground below as it slopes away. The hut is enormous, but it has nice big bunkrooms that are divided up into little alcoves so it doesn't feel like you are in with too many people. We secured a group of four bunks along with another pair. The common room is on two levels with lounge 'downstairs' and kitchen area a few steps up, which gives it a nice airy feel. There is a balcony the whole way around the hut. The views are really nice, you feel like you are in the forest canopy.

We met up with that couple we left the car park with again - but alas the woman had fallen over and hurt her arm quite badly - maybe it was broken.  Iona went into Nurse Mode, and sorted out a sling for her and told her what painkillers to take and when. They set off for Routeburn Flats hut, a couple of km on. Not much for it but to keep walking. 

We had a Scottish warden who told us a lot about the birdlife and played us the bird calls to listen out for. He also told the people heading uphill to give Conical Hill a go. 

I was starting to feel quite sick tonight and coughing a bit. I didn't eat much dinner because my appetite wasn't there. Hopefully I feel better in the morning. 

Day 3 - Routeburn Falls to Routeburn Shelter

It's our last Routeburn day. I was up and away by 8.30am, and down to Routeburn flats in less than an hour.  

The misty morning gave the bush an ethereal feel but it wasn't cold and the mist burned off fairly quickly.

The view from Routeburn Falls Hut

The beautiful valley comes into view

birdlife just like the warden promised

The others were well ahead of Iona and I. We found their packs on the ground at the sign to the Routeburn Flats hut. We didn't feel like following them so we waited for about 10 mins or so - and were rewarded with a visit from a wee robin.

Brave!

When the others returned, Mike reported that Routeburn Flats was a really nice hut - smaller and cozier beside a babbling stream and with an outdoor cooking area that made it very friendly. He's stay there next time given the choice - 'Falls' and 'Flats' huts are close enough that you really just choose one or the other.

He had also heard that the broken-arm couple had made it to the hut, and headed off and out very early this morning. It's a shame for them. They will have interesting stories about their Routeburn experience at least.

Routeburn Flats, the view from outside the hut

Babbling stream

Mike, Callan and Stacey pushed on ahead of us and got to the car park at 11:20 or so. Iona and I ambled out.  We got out just before midday.  

This part of the walk was lovely - following the Route Burn, which by now was a proper river, through  verdant beech forest. The track was broad, flat and easy with little in the way of up and down. We started meeting fresh faced trampers coming the other way, just starting their journey. 

A few big bridges... 

...with nice river views

The river got wider and wider

Callan and Stacey found a detour to a riverside campsite

There were some fierce side streams ...

... with beautiful falls.

Soon we joined a 'nature walk' that signaled our journey was about to finish; as well as daywalkers in t-shirts and sneakers looking oddly incongruous compared to our dirty gear and big packs. 

We were delighted to see our van, parked just where it should be at the end of the track. Thanks, EasyHike! The only sign of its relocation adventures were that windscreen, front bumper and wing mirrors were liberally coated in dead bugs. They must have brought it through at dawn or dusk.

We threw our gear in the back and headed straight to the Glenorchy pub for lunch. While Callan, Stacey and Mike tucked into burgers and steaks, Iona and I shared some chips. We were not feeling super well still and even after three days of tramping food we were not that hungry for a big lunch.

A very, very welcome sight

Glenorchy burgers

It was an hour or so to drive from Glenorchy to Queenstown. The road is spectacular. Mike and I remember when it was narrow and gravel; now it's sealed and it is at proper highway standard.

We stopped at a very large viewing spot on the way. It was worth it, walking up a small hill to get great views down the lake to the Queenstown rain.

Views back to Queenstown

Viewing stop

Soon we were into the bustle and confusion of Queenstown. The council is digging up the whole town and it was shambolic, with gravel and fences everywhere. We found a car park. We found our hostel. Iona and I found some cold & flu drugs. And we found Janine - who was joining us for the next chapter in our Southern Adventure.

Queenstown is quite the place to emerge from the bush to. The noise and lights and crowds certainly tell you that you are back in civilisation. 

We found a yummy Chinese restaurant to eat at, and then retired to our hostel room in the middle of town.

White and Wongs. Zoom in on the ducks behind us!